“We will never, ever, in any way, shape or form be part of the United States,” says Mark Carney, Canada’s new prime minister, about Donald Trump’s designs on his country. “It’s crazy. It’s very simple. That’s all you can say.” That message would make no sense coming from a US governor, president of an Ivy League university or a Fortune 500 chief executive. But there is nothing to stop them from sharing Carney’s spirit of defiance. Many who in fair weather routinely cite the heroism that launched the US republic have held their tongues since the storm clouds arrived. When a government fears the people there is liberty, goes the saying, but when a people fear their government there is tyranny. The US establishment lives in dread of the kraken.
To be fair to America’s best and brightest, their counterparts in other backsliding democracies have been just as timid. Where were India’s captains of industry or Turkey’s profiles in courage when Narendra Modi and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were suppressing their civil societies? Which Hungarian can you name as having successfully resisted Viktor Orbán’s takeover of the country’s institutions? Yet American civil society is deeper and thicker than in other nations. Power has always been widely dispersed. But that only counts if it is exercised. Trump’s opponents are paralysed by a collective action problem. If one chief executive speaks out, that company will be punished. Only in numbers can there be safety.
Lest there be doubt that corporate and civic leaders’ silence is dictated by fear, ask any newspaper reporter how hard it is nowadays to get such figures to talk on the record. There are brave exceptions. Georgetown Law School’s dean, William Treanor, issued a professor’s version of the middle finger when a Trump attorney tried to dictate his curriculum. Random judges have been putting stays on some of Trump’s most blatant moves — such as claiming the right to deport any permanent resident whose speech he deems anti-national, or the unchecked power to identify domestic enemies under a revolutionary-era act that was meant for wartime. Such speed bumps matter. But Trump has so far encountered no road blocks.
There is a limit to how much pressure judges can take. When the president, the vice-president, JD Vance, the shadow president, Elon Musk, and Maga’s echo chamber starting with Fox News call for the impeachment of judges, it is time to take notice. Note that when Trump says something truly improbable, such as wanting to occupy the Gaza Strip, few repeat him. By contrast, all of Trump’s circle and beyond are echoing his call to punish judges supposedly protecting criminals and terrorists.
Musk keeps calling judges enemies of democracy. At another time, such words from an unelected plutocrat trampling on the rights of Congress, America’s first branch of government, might be amusing. In today’s Washington, they are menacing. So too is the recent spate of anonymous pizza deliveries to the private homes of dissenting judges — a move straight from a mafia film. “We know where you live,” is the implied message for the justices.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt allegedly said: “I agree with you. Now go out there and make me do it.” Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, could do with such pressure. On Monday, he called off a nationwide book tour that would have taken him out of the capital for the rest of this week. Schumer blamed it on security concerns. It would have been better had he cited America’s democratic crisis. This was no time for personal brand promotion.
In practice, however, Schumer has already let Trump have his way. By voting last week to keep the US government running on Trump’s terms, Schumer dropped Democrats’ sole leverage. Schumer said a government shutdown would have let Trump do what he likes. Since Trump and Musk are already doing just that, Schumer’s reasoning fell flat. This was the same day that Trump dismantled the Voice of America broadcaster. “If we continue to observe norms, if we continue to engage in business as usual, this democracy could be gone,” the Connecticut senator Chris Murphy said on Sunday.
Other Democrats are less clear-eyed. With one eye on the 2028 nomination, California’s governor Gavin Newsom has started a podcast. His guests have so far come from the Republican party’s Orbánite wing, notably Charlie Kirk, Michael Savage and Steve Bannon. It is good to disagree agreeably with opponents. But as Carney has spelt out, you cannot meet your enemy halfway. Is Newsom unaware of the republic’s knife edge, or just sensing a personal opportunity? It is hard to say which would be more damning.
edward.luce@ft.com
