Some 92 years ago in his first Inaugural Address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt called upon Americans to not give up and succumb to the darkness of the Depression when he famously said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” These words seem relevant today as we confront the inauguration of Donald Trump tomorrow.
As in 1933 the danger today is real, and in many ways even more serious. There is little doubt that if he follows through on his promises to challenge our democratic norms Trump will continue to use the tactics of a bully by seeking to instill fear of retribution by him and his core MAGA followers in order to secure his goals.
That retribution could be political or simply launching his supporters into a frenzy of social media attacks accompanied at times by a fear of violence. Now, however, is not the time to allow fear of such tactics to deter anyone from acting to challenge excesses of the coming Trump administration. And, it also is not the time to allow hangover from the 2024 election to control what we do.
This does not mean that Democrats should follow the path of blanket opposition to everything Trump proposes. If something is proposed which represents good policy that, of course, should be supported. And if they don’t like what is being proposed there is nothing wrong with working to make what is being proposed “less bad.”
While Democrats must fight for what they believe to be right — including with a laser focus on what will improve the economic plight of the average American — and challenge bad policies in court where possible, the result of the election means policies will be implemented which Democrats think are bad for the country.
How to respond to policy differences is one thing — that is what politics is, and should be, about. Threats to a free press, attempts to prosecute political enemies, misusing the military for law enforcement purposes, engaging in a campaign of lies to justify his actions, and commencing unauthorized wars are very different. These would involve attempts to undermine the democratic foundations of our country. Also different is any perception that a President Trump is sacrificing United States security interests because of his affinity for dictators like Vladimir Putin.
In these circumstances Democrats, Republicans and Independents should raise the alarm and resist these threats to our democratic values. That includes not just political leaders, but all of us who care about the future of our country. Indeed this is the time that Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other business leaders now bending to Trump’s will have to decide whether their financial interests are more important than our country.
This necessary resistance includes scrutinizing Trump’s proposed appointments to sensitive positions. A clear example is his attempt to install Kash Patel as director of the FBI. Not only are his qualifications for this critical post questionable, but he has been clear that the power of the government should be used to pursue political enemies as well as critics in the media.
Patel also has been the promoter of a variety of phony conspiracy theories, including that it was the FBI which instigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Sen. John Fetterman recently said that Patel assured him that he would not use the FBI to go after Trump’s enemies. But any senators who now accept efforts by Patel to disassociate himself from his past statements are either naïve or are themselves willing to allow the FBI to be used for Trump’s political purposes.
If we want to resist attempts by a Trump administration to investigate perceived political enemies, we should create a legal defense fund to help those individuals defray the costs of defending themselves from any investigations. Hopefully, if Trump follows through on his threats to pursue political enemies and the media there will be a strong backlash. For President Biden to issue pardons would only serve to focus criticism on and allow Trump to declare victory by claiming the pardons are an acknowledgment of guilt.
Private citizen and candidate Trump has made numerous statements indicating an intent to misuse the powers of the government. Let’s hope he does not follow through on these threats. But, if he does, fear of what he or his followers might do and political fatigue should not deter resistance to these actions, After all, as history teaches, acquiescence can itself lead to the undermining of democracies.
Davis is a former assistant Watergate special prosecutor and former assistant secretary of the treasury.
