As he walked out of what is today known as the Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked if the framers had created a monarchy or a republic. “A republic” he replied and then added, “if you can keep it”.
The generation that founded the United States of America in 1776 launched an experiment in self-government, which has been emulated across the world by people who yearn for liberty and dignity. For centuries, the United States of America has inspired millions and stood as a beacon of self-determination and universal liberty.
The ideals of a republic are under assault, threatened by authoritarian impulses. The urges of a monarchy loom large. When China abolished term limits and declared Xi Jinping “president for life” Donald Trump suggested that the United States might one day “give that a shot”. Trump praise for North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and leaders with authoritarian inclinations like Vladimir Putin and Mohamed Bin Salman is beyond diplomatic delicacy. Trump’s admiration is precisely for the attributes that put these on top of the list of the worst violators of human rights.
The words of Benjamin Franklin, “a republic, if you can keep it” were repeated by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representative when she announced the formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on September 24, 2019.
The impeachment inquiry was triggered by revelations that Trump pushed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, a political rival, and a whistleblower’s accusation that the White House attempted a cover-up.
In his characteristic bluster, Trump entertains the view that to impeach him would trigger a civil war-like fracture from which America will never heal. Moreover, Trump has long whined about deep state operatives out to get him. The deep state theory reached a crescendo during the Robert Mueller probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections.
Keeping a republic requires that Congress is a co-equal branch of government with the mandate to discharge its functions, which include voting to impeach a president for high crimes and misdemeanour. In his efforts to defend himself, Trump has attacked the character of Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff, calling him corrupt and little. Trump has also urged that Schiff be charged with treason.
According to Thomas Jefferson, liberty depended on the freedom of the press and that freedom could not be limited without being lost. America’s founders imagined and believed that a free press was essential to keeping the republic. Since he rolled down the escalator at Trump Tower in Manhattan, Donald Trump has declared that the media is the enemy of the American people. According to Trump America’s mainstream media, except Fox, is fake news media.
Trump reminds us that despotic and authoritarian impulses are not uniquely African or North Korean or Chinese or Russian traits. Liberty, democratic rights and constitutional order are not inviolable or irreversible conditions. Citizens of all nations must fight to halt the march of the monarchy.
