In 2020, even though the Democrats won the presidential election, the fact that President Trump received 74 million votes was, or should have been, a canary in the coal mine: The slogan “Take Our Country Back” resonated with 74 million voters. Not all of them were MAGA Republicans.
The same message was used by the Republicans in the 2024 campaign that just changed the form from “Take Our Country Back” to illegal immigrants flooding the country and committing crimes, illegal immigrants committing voting fraud, border crisis, and so on. They all led to the climactic shouting: the country is losing its identity. That was powerfully persuasive even to many Democrats. That explains the 69 million votes Kamala Harris received this election compared to Joe Biden’s 81 million in 2020; a sizable number of Democrats either did not vote for her or crossed the line and voted for Donald Trump.
The Democrats had been aware of the slogan’s power, but they were in between a rock and a hard place: they did try to be tough on immigration then they panicked when their base rebelled.
That was before November 5, 2024.
The question today is what will the Republicans do now that they gain total power: the White House, both houses of Congress, and a 6/9 majority in the Supreme Court? Will they wield this almost absolute power to clean up the immigration mess, correct and make America great again.
Or would they transform America into a dictatorial regime?
The 2024 election of President Trump runs the risk that MAGA’s extremist policies will be implemented, and the democratic political system will be tampered with. There is the risk that MAGA Republicans will try to do everything to maintain their political hegemony even undermining Democracy. And there is the risk that MAGA Republicans will become bolder to move forward with whatever sinister plan they have hashed. Four years of unchecked power could move the country into uncharted waters as the Democrats are completely sidelined. There is no counter force in sight.
Before November 5, 2024, there was hope that the so-called mainstream Republicans would have risen up to right the malaise of the party. That failed to materialize. Let’s just pray that the “I don’t like him, but I will vote for him” was their one-time tactic to preserve their options, not a sign of their losing the will to fight to protect the Constitution and preserve Democracy.
It is a daylight nightmare just to think that the prayer would never be answered.
JOHN P. LE PHONG.
