It is unusual for me to read an opinion piece in a leading US newspaper that is as long as this one and find practically nothing to disagree with.  It is all the more unusual when the writer is somebody like Robert Kagan, a leading neo-conservative voice whose best-known writings contain little I agree with.  Kagan’s central argument, laid out with his characteristic clarity and force, is that the United States is in a constitutional crisis. The crisis consists in the fact that one of our two major political parties is now largely committed to delegitimating and, where opportune, nullifying the free elections that are at the heart of any democratic constitutional system.

As it was, Trump came close to bringing off a coup earlier this year. All that prevented it was a handful of state officials with notable courage and integrity, and the reluctance of two attorneys general and a vice president to obey orders they deemed inappropriate.”

But the charismatic narcissist’s refusal to accept defeat, and his cultlike hold on the GOP, ensure that we will see a continued drive to subvert American democracy:

  …Trump and his Republican allies are actively preparing to ensure his [2024] victory by whatever means necessary. Trump’s charges of fraud in the 2020 election are now primarily aimed at establishing the predicate to challenge future election results that do not go his way…. Meanwhile, the amateurish “stop the steal” efforts of 2020 have given way to an organized nationwide campaign to ensure that Trump and his supporters will have the control over state and local election officials that they lacked in 2020. Those recalcitrant Republican state officials who effectively saved the country from calamity by refusing to falsely declare fraud or to “find” more votes for Trump are being systematically removed or hounded from office. Republican legislatures are giving themselves greater control over the election certification process. As of this spring, Republicans have proposed or passed measures in at least 16 states that would shift certain election authorities from the purview of the governor, secretary of state or other executive-branch officers to the legislature. “

So, our constitutional crisis didn’t end with Joe Biden’s inauguration; it is continuing, in full force.  It will continue at least until and unless a Democratic president is inaugurated in January 2025.  What to do?  First of all, we need to appreciate the gravity of the threat.  Kagan’s pleas seem to be addressed in the first place to Republicans who have not joined in their party’s embrace of the Trump cult, but who have yet to come out in clear opposition.  So, for example, seven GOP senators courageously voted to impeach Trump, but have not otherwise stood in the way of their party’s authoritarian drive. Kagan urges principled Republicans—both current office holders and elder statesmen—to join the resistance to Trumpism, but he doesn’t seem to be too optimistic that that will happen.

As for the Democrats, I think that at some point, the party leadership, from the president on down, has to frankly call our current crisis what it is: a war to preserve American democracy. A war in which the opposition is neither loyal nor honorable, but is ruthlessly determined to undermine the democratic system under which we have governed ourselves for over 200 years.  I say “at some point” because I don’t think we are at an opportune point right now.  With Biden, Pelosi and Schumer struggling to pass an ambitious legislative agenda, they unfortunately need to appease centrist Democrats who would chafe at any declaration of partisan warfare.  But a war it will have to be, not only to fire up the Democratic base, but also to appeal to the non-negligible minority of Republican voters who still consider themselves moderates, who need to understand that their party is not the party that their parents and grandparents may have supported. Today’s Republicans more nearly resemble the neo-fascist movements that have been gaining strength in Europe than they do traditional conservative parties.  If we are to have a responsible, conservative party committed to basic democratic norms, then today’s GOP must be crushed and transformed.  That is a partisan message that some Republicans—hopefully, enough Republicans—can understand and embrace.