Republicans accused of causing the decline of American democracy
Not impeaching Trump over the January 6 events may encourage their repetition
Trump's incitement to violence on the Capitol has harmed American democracy.
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The congressional attack was instigated by Trump, and no one was held accountable for this crime.
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Democrats hate being reminded that the savior of American democracy is former Vice President Mike Pence, who continued his unwavering loyalty to ex-President Donald Trump until the decisive moment.
Fortunately for Republicans, on January 6, Pence resisted an attack that Trump incited a mob that entered Capitol Hill in order to alter the election result.
At the time, Trump warned his vice-president, "Either you go down in history as a zealous patriot or you become a petty person." Pence chose the first option and endorsed the testimony of the Electoral College.
But for him, incumbent President Joe Biden may not be his president.
calculated elasticity
It would be a mistake to attribute such flexibility to the US system as a whole. Other democracies, including South Korea, Peru, Lithuania, Paraguay, and Brazil, have removed and, in some cases, imprisoned their presidents. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to one year in prison (he has been staying at home) since September for illegally financing an election campaign. Compared to Trump, most of their excesses have been petty. Other democracies, some young and vacillating, have shown themselves better able to punish abuses of power.
Not holding Trump to account makes what he tried to do likely to be repeated. Most of the blame for the decline of American democracy rests with Trump and the Republican Party, which lined up behind his false claim that Biden stole the 2020 elections. States, during their administration by Republicans, have also passed bills that facilitate the annulment of the election result. Such efforts, in turn, would make it easier for sympathetic American judges to take their legal letter and ignore the spirit behind the subversion.
But a great deal of blame also falls on Biden, who is admirably shying away from implicating himself in responsibility for what happened in those times.
The same applies to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who sees his primary duty as restoring the independence of the Department of Justice four years after Trump's routine intervention.
Trump's last attorney general, Bill Barr, deserves to be commended alongside Pence for rejecting Trump's pleas to challenge the result of the 2020 election. Like Pence, Barr catered to Trump's whims until it became humiliating.
principled
Garland, former judge, a facsimile of Barr.
He is highly principled in his day-to-day work, yet he runs the risk of not caring about the big picture.
It doesn't matter whether some describe what happened on January 6 as an "attempted coup," a "rebellion" or a failed coup, the latter being my favorite description, as history tells us that democracies that fail to protect themselves by the force of law will not survive extinction.
As an "institutionalist", Garland refuses to prosecute a former president even though he has plenty of evidence to justify it. In 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller vividly documented 10 cases of Trump obstruction of justice. But Barr blew up this report. Even after he left office, Trump is no longer immune from prosecution.
Both Biden and Garland have their own reasons for failing to condemn Trump. But they should take a closer look at the ongoing House investigation into what happened on January 6, which this week has revealed more incriminating evidence. However, Congress has little enforcement power. Garland took so long to agree that former Trump strategist Steve Bannon would be impeached for contempt of Congress for ignoring his memoirs. Bannon's trial will not begin until July. If he is convicted, he can file an appeal. Time is running on Trump's side. In November, the Republicans are likely to regain control of the House of Representatives and close the investigation for good. So can Garland do something after that?
Biden can blame the failure of the bills to protect the US election process on the equal division between Republican and Democratic senators (50:50).
This week, the Senate was able to find a way around this division to raise the US debt ceiling by voting by a simple majority.
It seems that protecting democracy is a lower priority than avoiding a market crisis.
It can be hard for Americans to accept that their system is in danger.
Countries with radically different histories, such as South Korea, find it much easier.
But the United States finds it difficult.
It seems that what happened on the sixth of January will go unpunished, which means that it can be repeated again.
• Various democracies around the world, some of them young and vacillating, have shown themselves to be more capable than America in punishing abuses of power.
Edward Luce ■ Opinion writer for the Financial Times
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