‘A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.’

Roger Kimball writes in the American Spectator,

...no American, including no one from the Trump campaign, colluded, conspired, or coordinated with the Russian efforts. Moreover, although Donald Trump was (rightly) enraged by the cataract of abuse he and his administration was subjected to, not least by the Mueller investigation, he never attempted to impede, hinder, or obstruct the investigation.

...Barr added a dollop of human interest to his remarks. ‘[As] the Special Counsel’s report acknowledges, there is substantial evidence to show that the president was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.’

But here is the kicker: ‘Nonetheless, the White House fully cooperated with the Special Counsel’s investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and White House documents, directing senior aides to testify freely, and asserting no privilege claims. And at the same time, the president took no act that in fact deprived the Special Counsel of the documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation.’ Again my emphasis, which I needn’t add to this conclusion: ‘Apart from whether the acts were obstructive, this evidence of non-corrupt motives weighs heavily against any allegation that the president had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation.’

What has happened over the past two-plus years is a fundamental attack on the legitimacy of our democratic republic. Tactical partisan maneuvering has overwhelmed the institution of presidential elections. Note that this is a one-party party. It probably started in earnest with the election of George W. Bush in 2000. Al Gore withdrew his concession and put the country through months of legal wrangling. Republicans were unhappy when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and again in 2012. But there was no question of his legitimacy. But when Donald Trump won in 2016, the sort of anti-democratic forces that beset George Bush had mutated from an angry squad of activists into an army of deniers.

Should that substitution of weaponized tactical maneuvering continue to intrude upon the legitimacy of our elections, those elections will be decided less and less at the ballot box and more and more by interest-group jockeying, bribery, and intimidation.

In other words, it will remind us of the teeth in Ben Franklin’s response to the lady who encountered him after the Constitutional Convention and asked him what sort of government they had given the people. ‘A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.’

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