Cara Brown McCormick
In his new regular column, Diamond on Democracy, democracy scholar Larry Diamond acknowledges that “[h]aving won the presidency fair and square, Donald Trump has earned the right to propose, and in many cases to implement, radical new policy directions.”
However, he adds that Trump “does not have the right to violate the law, the Constitution, and the civil liberties of Americans in doing so.” Diamond is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.
Appearing on a recent episode of The Political Scene, Diamond warned specifically of a growing culture of political intimidation and coercion in Congress:
"Congressional Republicans are confirming several appointments that they know are deeply wrong and dangerous,” he said. “I have heard from Capitol insiders that several senators who voted to confirm these controversial appointments…were explicitly warned that they would be primaried if they voted against them.”
Diamond said he knows of three cases in which Elon Musk “conveyed a personal message that he would form a political action committee and pour tens of millions of dollars into defeating [the senators] if they did not support these nominations."
From his piece:
“Joni Ernst, it was quite apparent, wanted to vote against confirming Pete Hegseth. Had she done so, he would not have been confirmed. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a medical doctor, was inclined to vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Todd Young of Indiana was signaling grave concerns about voting for Tulsi Gabbard to be director of National Intelligence. These were the Republicans who were publicly voicing concerns.”
He added that “many others were privately agonized, if not horrified. But fear prevailed.”
“I have heard multiple reports from Washington political insiders that Musk privately threatened to fund a Republican primary challenge to Ernst if she did not fall in line and that he did the same to Cassidy and Young as they wavered on their votes of conscience.”
Diamond noted that he can't verify these reports. However, he believes “it has long been obvious that Republican members of Congress have been running very, very scared,” and this kind of intimidation has factored into a decision by many members of Congress to retire.
This tactic, Diamond explained, is a hallmark of “creeping authoritarianism,” where fear of retribution forces political actors into submission. He suggested that US senators elected with ranked-choice voting (RCV) may be less fearful of SuperPAC retribution because of the way they are elected.
He told New Yorker journalist Susan Glasser that “there is another pathway,” noting that “Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, both of whom voted against several of these nominations, come from states with ranked-choice voting. Murkowski also benefits from a nonpartisan primary, so she cannot be primaried.”
“All you need is two other Republican senators to join with them and say, ‘This is going to end. And if it doesn't end, we will take control of the Senate. We will join with the Democrats. We will strike a deal. One of us will be the Senate majority leader, and you will no longer be in control of the Senate.’”
Public engagement, Diamond argues, is essential. "The American people are beginning to flood Congress with phone calls and protests. They must continue to show up at town hall meetings and make their voices heard."
He also included a final lesson: "The single most instructive lesson from instances of authoritarian regression is that early intervention is key. The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to reverse these trends."