Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.” 

ENTRY 431: Why are many Republicans anti-democracy? In some ways, this entry is a supplement to #430 “Sense Check.” What has been striking to me this past few weeks is the extent of support within the Republican Party, especially from the far right and from many members of Congress, for actions that will usher in an autocracy and destroy democracy in the US.

The support for autocracy by Republicans seems a bit ironic since 80 years ago this month the US declared war on three autocracies — Germany, Italy and Japan.   Each of these countries was defeated and has since become a democracy.  According to a recent ranking of democracies, each of the countries has a more functioning democracy than the US.  Even Greece and Slovakia ranked higher than the US.

Also this month, Germany had a peaceful transition of power after 16 years of leadership by Angela Merkel. Merkel, who was born in East Germany and trained as a scientist, became the defacto lead voice for many key issues in the European Union and stabilizing force for strong economic growth in Germany. Republicans should take a lesson from Germany on how to nominate credible candidates for office.

What did Republicans do to remember the US efforts in World War II to defeat autocracies? In no particular order of importance, key Republicans:

1. Claimed the attackers on the Capitol January 6, 2020 were really defending themselves from police aggression. Everyone knows how aggressive the Capitol police are.
2. Filed suit against the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. Such a suit likely will be dismissed in court but the suit convinces the Republican base that the Federal courts are biased against them.
3. Refused to testify before the Select Committee.  Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, first started to cooperate and turned over several thousand pages of documents to the Committee without any claim of executive privilege.  Apparently Trump called and Meadows decided not to cooperate, claiming some or all of the documents were privileged.  Prior to the claim of privilege Meadows published a book with some of the documents. Let’s look at Mark bouncing back and forth like a ping-pong ball.  Meadows, Steve Bannon and a handful of other Trump associates could easily end up doing time in Federal prison.  Wonder if Jim Jordon prefers stripes or orange?
4. Continued to harass election officials, including Republicans who certified Biden’s victory.  In some cases, low-level election volunteers have received death threats.  In addition to the investigation by the House Select Committee, at least one state – Georgia – is investigating whether Trump broke state election laws by trying to overturn a certified election.  To make sure the Georgia investigation gets squashed, Trump “convinced” David Purdue, who lost the 2020 senate race in Georgia, to run for governor.  Purdue has pledged loyalty to Trump and said he would overturn any election in Georgia where Trump was not victorious.   
5. Remained silent about the need for any type of control or expanded background checks for gun purchases, despite another mass school shooting, this time in Oxford Township, a sleepy suburb of Detroit.  
6. Supported a vaporware media company merged into a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). The SPAC will seek additional capital from foreign sources, especially the Middle East, and guess where the money will go? Yes, to Trump, who created the media company that will be acquired by the SPAC.  In typical Trump business fashion, the SPAC is already under investigation for violating SEC regulations.
7. Vowed to block any effort by the Biden administration to govern the country.

And this is just the short list of actions by Republicans.

What these actions by key Republicans mean is easy to understand. Trump, now king of the Republican Party, wants to become a permanent dictator and key Republicans are helping him.

An open question – who are the goons forcing changes in behavior by key Republicans?  Trump is about as threatening as a wet noodle.  His idea of a fight is hiring a crew of scummy lawyers and taking all involved to court.  Given Trump’s inherent weakness, who’s behind the threats? 

Why would Meadows turn so quickly, even after much of what he claimed was privileged was already published in his book?  Why on 01/02/2020 would the talking heads on Fox, notably Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, send texts to Meadows (still chief of staff), and possibly Trump, begging for Trump to call off the insurrectionists.  The same people later claimed the insurrectionists were patriots.  Even Don, Jr sent texts to Meadows asking him to convince the old man to call off the dogs.  Why the change in behavior?    

Some months or years might pass before the public finds out who the goons are – the Russians, the Chinese, the Saudis, the Proud Boys or some combination.  Whomever the source of the threats, none of the actions by key Republicans supporting Trump at any cost bodes well for a continuing democracy in the US.

As far as the likelihood of a 5^th US revolution, the Revenge Revolution, there seems little doubt that a revolution will occur – and an armed one at that.  The only issue is how soon after the 2022 or 2024 election and how many public officials will be assassinated.  END ENTRY #431

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