Our democratic political system isn’t on the brink of collapse, but a group of people is hell-bent on making that a reality.
Chaos rules the Grand Old Party. Over the last few weeks, it hatched stunts intended to improve its standing among its base. Instead of using its political capital to help Democrats pass important legislation regarding border security and aid to Ukraine, Republicans in the House impeached Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security. The impeachment effort is likely to die in the Senate.
In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott rashly ignored his state’s obligation to follow federal law and installed a border fence despite the objections of the Biden administration.
These Republican stunts have backfired though. In dramatic fashion last week, Speaker Mike Johnson’s first push to impeach Mayorkas failed due to three defections from Johnson’s party, and a last-minute arrival from Democratic Texas Rep. Al Green forced a tied vote.
Concerning Abbott, the Supreme Court vacated the order from the Fifth Circuit that allowed Texas to prohibit Border Patrol agents from cutting down Texas’ makeshift razor-wire fences along the Mexican border.
Instead of pulling their feet off the pedal, Republicans are willing to drive themselves into the brick wall of reality. They’ve deluded themselves into believing that their resistance will contribute to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election this November.
The Republicans finally succeeded in impeaching Mayorkas for his leadership in handling the border crisis and “refusal” to enforce the law.
Not long after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Biden administration, Abbott and many Republican governors across the country openly revolted against the Supreme Court ruling, vowing to keep Border Patrol agents from doing their jobs.
If Republican stances on domestic issues weren’t revolting enough, Trump has endorsed the crippling of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Trump is concerned that allies in NATO aren’t spending the recommended 2% of their Gross Domestic Product on defense annually, and he questioned the need for the United States to defend NATO allies that don’t abide by the 2% principle.
The Republican Party is endorsing a world of anarchy. Instead of finding a solution to the border crisis, they want to hinder the Biden administration’s ability to deal with the influx of migrants. They have an infantile obsession with building a physical barrier to prevent border crossings yet fail to fund and create immigration courts that can deal with the piles of asylum cases that have only worsened this year.
Instead of helping take care of people in need, they send buses of migrants to liberal cities struggling to house them. While the bipartisan border deal was incredibly flawed, Trump’s intervention in scuttling the deal removes any possibility of meaningful immigration reform happening this year.
And on the issue of NATO, Republicans want to destroy the valuable relationships America has with trusted allies for the small, narrow-minded victory of getting our allies to pay at least 2% of the GDP for their annual defense budgets.
After almost a decade of Trumpism in American politics, stunts like these have become the norm. Bipartisanship and the spirit of compromise have fallen to populism and partisan gridlock.
Instead of supporting our closest allies that share similar aspirations for a democratic system, tyrants and authoritarian regimes are encouraged by America’s waning influence on the global stage.
In the lead-up to the presidential election, neither main presidential candidate will restore America to its former glory. But the fact remains that there’s one candidate who wants to preserve our democratic ideals and another (with his lackeys) who will fight for power no matter what.
Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 21-year-old political science and history senior from Alexandria.
