Longacre: Trump’s cat is out of the bag, so what now?

Now that Donald Trump and his sycophants have shown us what is at stake in the next election — i.e., dictatorship or democracy — we will now be subjected to the next chapter: demotivation of people who might vote against them, crippling of the voting system and the defanging of the rule of law.

You would think that, given the stark choice above, the decision of whom to vote for would be a no-brainer, but you would be wrong. Millions have already decided for Trump based on his charisma and belief that “he alone can fix their situation” and the belief by a significant subgroup (so-called “evangelicals”) that he has been chosen by God (Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., is one of these).

But these people know that they are in the minority and, therefore, that they need to cheat to guarantee a win in 2024. As suggested above, the first task is “demotivation.” One way to do this is to make people question things they have always accepted as true. A steady drumbeat of mis- and disinformation can make people wonder whether Trump or Joe Biden is the lesser of two evils, despite all the readily available evidence.

The next and related task is to cripple the voting systems, especially in “battleground” states. This works hand in hand with demotivation: Why vote when your vote will not matter? Gerrymandering and voter roll purging are just two ways this is accomplished.

Finally, and perhaps most demoralizing, is the defanging of the rule of law. Most basic is the question: What role, if any, will the Supreme Court play in destroying our democracy?

Take this not as a reason to fear but as a call to action.

Frederick Longacre

Hockessin

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