JOHN SCHUMANN: Dear Democrats, if you don’t fight, you lose

In the face of President Trump’s rising authoritarianism, the Democrats are dithering and history won’t forgive hesitation, writes John Schumann.

A FEW WEEKS AGO, MSNBC journalist and political commentator Rachel Maddow asked:

‘How far will the American people allow Trump to go?’

Not before time, U.S. citizens are finally beginning to organise, but they’re crying out for a formidable, unifying leader to take it up to President Trump. A leader of the opposition, so to speak.

In this, a comparison with Ukraine is instructive.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States offered to evacuate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Kyiv. Famously, he declared, “I need ammunition, not a ride”, opting to stay to lead the military and the Ukrainian people. In doing so, Zelenskyy set the stage for Ukraine’s resistance, diplomatic posture and, indeed, its future.

As Maddow correctly implied, resistance to Trump is the responsibility of the people of the United States. However, there is a dismal lack of leadership. It’s instructive to contrast Zelenskyy’s courage with that of the Democrats, whose resistance to Trump seems to be confined to interrogating his appointees in various congressional and Senate committees.

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The United States of America and the world are at an epochal crossroads. Where is the Democrats’ version of Nelson Mandela, Volodymyr Zelenskyy or Alexei Navalny?

Trump – authoritarian, manifestly dishonest and terrifyingly divisive – dominates the landscape and the narrative. Aided by his band of sycophantic incompetents, Trump has already laid waste to his country’s global reputation. In five short months, he has jeopardised its economy, deconstructed its public sector and declared war on the U.S. judiciary, the academy and the media.

Like the latter years of Nero’s reign, Trump’s presidency is self-indulgent, tyrannical, scandal-prone, erratic and paranoid. Masked immigration officials are snatching people off the street, bundling them into cars and “disappearing” them.

The deployment of the U.S. military against its citizens is profoundly disturbing. Members of the military swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution. While they are subordinate to civilian authority, they are expected to remain apolitical, loyal to the Constitution rather than any individual leader or political party. It is a sacred covenant, and many senior military leaders, current and former, are very distressed at this unprecedented turn of events.

Hard-earned, important alliances are in tatters and an all-pervasive gloom has infected the international mood. A recent international survey of 24 countries found that more than half the adults in 19 of them have absolutely no confidence in Trump’s leadership. Eighty per cent of these people characterise him as “arrogant” and two-thirds describe him as “dangerous”.

Indeed, another recent poll in The New York Times on America’s current global standing reveals that it’s splintering through the floorboards. (While Australians have never been all that well disposed towards the United States, we are recorded as taking a particularly dim view currently — to our eternal credit.)

In spite of the Democrats’ failure to step up, there are some encouraging signs. Trump’s polling in key areas is underwater and elements of his MAGA constituency are said to be fraying at the edges. The recent military parade, timed to coincide with his birthday, was poorly attended despite dubious official estimates. On the same weekend, objective estimates are that between 4 and 6 million people participated in “No Kings” rallies in more than 2,100 cities and towns across America.

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Still, the Democrats appear to be lacking in courage, unable or unwilling to provide a single rallying point for this burgeoning resistance. The occasional Democrat whingeing on a YouTube podcast and the odd, uncoordinated outburst in the media do not constitute the sort of national leadership which the United States desperately needs.

The Democrats need to get into a room, elect an interim leader with some passion and charisma, rally behind him/her and just get on with it. I’m not arguing for former Vice President Kamala Harris necessarily, but Trump beat her by only 1.5 per cent. He campaigned for four years — she campaigned for 107 days.

The party’s younger members, not unreasonably, are calling for generational and ideological renewal while senior Democrats desperately cling to the spoils of defeat. The rest of the world would be grateful if they stopped fighting amongst themselves and turned their attention to Trump.

I’m not suggesting it’s easy. In the face of Trump’s quasi-fascist and seemingly popular agenda, the Democrats are understandably a bit gun-shy of their vaguely leftward policy positions. They need to get over that, too. Stand for something, anything. If you don’t fight, you lose.

I have no doubt that various Democrats have an eye to their own presidential ambitions and have no wish to peak too early or make themselves a hostage to fortune. However, there is much more at stake here for the planet than individual political aspirations.

Those of us old enough to have read a little history are aware that Trump is three or four chapters into the Hitler playbook. The global ramifications don’t bear thinking about.

Somebody needs to pick up a whip and drive this money-changer out of the temple courtyard. Despite America’s predisposition to theologically impoverished, arm-waving, “jump-for-Jesus” evangelism, Washington is hardly a house of prayer. It’s more like a den of thieves.

John Schumann is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Adelaide. He is best known as the lead singer for the folk group Redgum. Since 2005 he has been performing as part of John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew.