While the United States of America strategizes about how to defend itself and its allies against external threats, it may be that its biggest threat will come from within.

As the nation prepared for a government shutdown which thankfully was temporarily avoided, pundits have ruminated about why this is happening and has decided that the threatened shutdown is about nothing. In fact, it was dubbed the Seinfeld shutdown. Suppose their assessment is wrong. Suppose there is a larger purpose at hand here. It should not be a given that those who are elected to public office are lovers of a democratic form of governance. Nor should it be a given that elected officials are aficionados  of a country that has become a more perfect union from the perspective of diversity in governance and leadership in the running of the nation’s governance institutions.

Given the seemingly affinity for authoritarian personalities by GOP officials, it should not surprise people that the GOP seems to be a party that enjoys chaos. It is quite possible that this chaos is intentional and satisfies no one more than Vladimir Putin. In speaking about GOP Senator Rand Paul, the late Senator John McCain said “The senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin”

We can all agree that GOP Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz hates Kevin McCarthy’s guts but it is also true that Gaetz does not do anything without the imprimatur of Donald Trump who would like nothing better than to provide Vladimir Putin with a victory. While people can agree that the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker was inevitable, it is actually secondary to the fact that one point of contention over the threat of a government shutdown was funding for Ukraine which has been left out of the 45 day continuing resolution. This is a case where the media is focused on the shiny object namely rather than what may be a more insidious issue namely the destruction of the United States. 

Mark Twain said “history never repeats itself but it often rhymes.

It would not be the first time in history that some of America’s elected public officials seemingly had an affinity for the nation’s enemies/competitors rather than the nation whose constitution they swore to uphold. During WWII there were elected officials such as Minnesota Senator Ernest Lundeen who used his position to sway support for the NAZI’s. In fact, it was reported that some of his speeches were actually written by NAZI’s. Many may not remember Senator Rand Paul’s hobnobbing with the Russian Council in 2018 or Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s aiding and abetting Russian disinformation. In recent times we remember the infamous Helsinki meeting between then President Trump and Vladimir Putin, as he threw America’s intelligence agencies under the bus by sticking up for Putin. Marjorie Taylor Greene has become a darling of Russian media with her reiteration of Putin’s talking points about Ukraine as well as Matt Gaetz who has advocated for Russia to be on NATO rather than Ukraine.

Americans should also remember former FOX News host Tucker Carlson’s apparent love for Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Add this to Elon Musk’s recent actions which enable Russia to disseminate disinformation more readily.

As China and Russia question the efficacy of democratic institutions the extreme right seems to be anxious to intentionally prove them right.

The question that media pundits should be asking is why does the extreme right have this affinity for Russia. People of color would be correct in their assessment that a large segment of white Americans hate diversity so much that they would let the country be destroyed not by a manaical egotist but a cabal of elected officials who see Trump as their useful idiot. The current uproar over “being woke” is nothing more than a belief system supported by officials such Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville who stated “Our military is not an equal opportunity employer.” We’re looking for the best of the best to do whatever. We’re not looking for different groups, social justice groups. We don’t want to single-handedly destroy our military from within, and Governor Ron Desantis who believes that slavery was beneficial to slaves. The media would do a big service for the nation if it begins to delve into the affinity shown by many within the GOP towards Russia as well as other white authoritarian governments. The fixation by the media on Biden’s age while not giving equal coverage to this question of who really supports American democracy does a disservice to the vast majority of the electorate.

President Biden is correct in his assessment that democracy is presently at risk. It would be a much easier challenge to confront if the enemies of the nation didn’t seemingly have their allies within the government of the United States. 

The question that must be answered is how can the sane portion of America prevent this travesty from taking place. 

First, the Democratic Party must get its act together. Biden is running and it is time to rally around him. Officials such Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders have endorsed Biden’s re-election bid and the rest of the party needs to get in line such as Minnesota Democrat congressman Dean Phillips. Any attempt by him to launch a challenge should be met with a strong rebuke from the Democrat party including funding a primary opponent against him.

Second, vanity candidates like the renowned and quite frankly America’s best social critic Dr.  Cornel West or the seemingly mentally disturbed, former heroin addict  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must be called out for either being secret Trump supporters or useful idiots in his return to power. For those who consider themselves Democrats, it should be remembered that RFK’s uncle Ted Kennedy with his failed primary challenge against Jimmy Carter helped to facilitate the election of Ronald Reagan. 

Third, the so-called no-labels campaign must be called out for being the Trojan horse that it is. 

Fourth, the Biden campaign must continue to speak to the nation about voting as the antidote to the present and clear danger that America faces. A lot of people did not vote in 2016 under the guise of what difference does it make or they weren’t excited about the candidacy of Secretary Hillary Clinton. Because of that idiotic choice, Roe V. Wade has been overturned, the voting rights act has been gutted, LGBTQ rights are being questioned by people such as jet flying Justice Clarence Thomas and over 150 bills  have been passed around the country to restrict voting access. This is on top of Republican politicians trying to remove duly elected district attorneys who go after Trump.

Lastly, Trump is anathema to a significant portion of white female suburbanites and independents. It is said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. Now is the time to create political alignments that go beyond specific agenda items and towards a more fundamental question about the governance structure of the United States. 

Winston Churchill once said that: “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.” Democracy is not perfect and the reality is that within democracy lies the seeds of its own destruction. History teaches us that democracy and its institutions must be vigorously protected through civil discourse and participation. Authoritarianism did not come to nations such as Germany through military takeovers but through its own proper procedures which were not diligently protected by the populations. 

The world is watching as an American political debacle may be shaping up. Nations are hedging their bets as they try to walk a fine line between being friendly towards the United States, Russia and China. But they are witnessing potential political carnage. 

America is at a crossroads. With political dysfunction that may be more strategic than is readily apparent, it is time for Americans from different political spectrums to create a coalition as temporary as it may be to fight back against an attempt to destroy the American experiment.