Chronicling and analyzing resistance to the threat that autocracy
poses to American liberal democracy, this book provides the definitive
account of the response to the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol
and Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 election and bias future
elections in their favor. In December 2020, Donald Trump invited
supporters to DC for what he promised would be a “wild”
demonstration against Biden’s victory. On January 6, 2021, he
directed the mob he had summoned to march on the Capitol, where it
ransacked the building, caused five deaths and hundreds of injuries,
and delayed but failed to prevent certification of the election.
Although some Congressional Republicans briefly distanced themselves
from Trump, the party quickly closed ranks around him. The business
community, similarly, initially expressed criticism but soon resumed
campaign contributions to Republicans. Democrats sought to impeach
Trump (for the second time), but Republicans blocked conviction.
Democrats created a House Select Committee, which exposed Trump’s
complicity through dramatic televised hearings and a comprehensive
report. Republicans responded by denying there had been a riot—one
calling it a mere tourist visit—and sanctifying those arrested.
Nevertheless, all but two of the nearly 1,400 charged were convicted.
Judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents harshly
condemned the insurrectionists, imposing sentences that did not vary
by the judge’s party preference. This book contextualizes these
continuing threats to American democracy through an opening chapter
exposing distressing parallels with the rise of Nazism in 1930s
Germany. The penultimate chapter examines the ways in which
Republicans persisted in seeking to overturn the 2020 election and
distort subsequent elections by gerrymandering and creating
obstructions to potential Democratic voters. All the chapters focus on
the multiple forms of resistance—politics, social action, economic
pressure, media exposure, and criminal prosecution—evaluating their
relative efficacy and comparing them with modes of resistance analyzed
in the author’s related volumes. This definitive account and
analysis of Trump’s and his supporters’ attempts to subvert the
2020 election will appeal to scholars, students, and others with
interests in politics, populism, and the rule of law, and more
specifically, to those concerned with resisting the threat that
autocracy poses to liberal democracy.
Les mer
Resistance to Trump and Trumpism
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781040388389
Publisert
2025
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Taylor & Francis
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter