We Must Defend Our Democratic Institutions—And We Can | Opinion

Obviously, following Donald Trump’s election to the presidency, many of us misunderstood the ultimate priorities of most Americans. The election suggests those priorities are problems related to three things: immigration, inflation, and inclusion.
It’s not that Trump’s opponents didn’t see some of the same problems. We simply gave priority to other problems which most Americans also saw but valued less. But those defeated priorities are as worthy as ever. They must not be abandoned.
For starters, no American should be above the law. Trump incited a mob to attack the United States Capitol, disrupting democracy and leaving as many as nine dead. He will face no consequences for it. That’s wrong, and people should say so. The people who attacked the Capitol injured more than 140 American police officers. These marauding miscreants will no longer be prosecuted, and they may receive pardons. That’s wrong, and law-abiding people should speak against it.
A second Trump administration should get a fair chance to carry out its policies. That’s democracy. But we must make it unacceptable for Trump to do it lawlessly—to exceed his powers, ignore the courts, ignore Congress, and, as he is wont to do, ignore basic morality while walloping his enemies and whipping his whims into other people’s nightmares. When it happens, we must not be silent. Neither should those he appoints to office.
Trump’s top aides, his cabinet members, and all the lesser officials who carry out his instructions will get none of the absolute immunity granted to the president. And if you work for him, remember before you go along with his schemes that he can’t pardon you from civil liability or state court criminal liability, and—on a whim—he may not pardon you at all. So, follow your leader, but don’t think you can get away with breaking the law just because your boss has.
It looks like “democracy” proved too cloudy a concept in this election. But democracy is about having elections—about allowing the people to pick Biden over Trump and Trump over Harris. We should call Trump out when he lies about our elections being rigged and riddled with fraud when he loses, but a mandate from the people when he wins. Trump’s willingness to subvert democracy is deeply immoral, especially the attack on the Capitol and the false claims about the 2020 election. No decent person should be mute about it.
Likewise, Trump’s commitment to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other autocrats should tell us something about his commitment to democracy around the world. It isn’t strong. It will almost certainly mean the defeat of Ukraine, a country struggling to retain its freedom from Russian tyranny. Allowing this defeat would be calamitous, and Americans should say so, loud and clear.
Many of us supported the bipartisan legislation Trump killed that would have beefed up our border patrols—and we would have supported more too. But we don’t want the military dragging off millions of peaceful men, women, and children to languish in detention camps. It would be unconscionable, and the Americans who put Trump in power must say so.
Finally, many of us still believe character counts, and we should defend it. Our military academies have a simple honor code that pledges students to not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do. We should not have tolerated a candidate who has been found to have lied under oath, to have cheated in his business dealings, and who attempted to steal the 2020 election. We should consider it a debt of honor over the next four years to redeem our values by demanding that Trump serves honestly.
Because honesty matters. It’s no surprise that some presidents have shaded the truth at times, but Trump—Trump slaughters it and chicken fries it. We should be able to believe our president on crucial matters like national security and public health. Lying to us about such vital matters is wickedness, and Americans should speak out when Trump lies again. We should do the same when he blames everything that goes wrong in his administration on his “enemies.”
The election is over. But the battle for the integrity of our institutions must continue.
Thomas G. Moukawsher is a former Connecticut complex litigation judge and a former co-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Employee Benefits. He is the author of the new book, The Common Flaw: Needless Complexity in the Courts and 50 Ways to Reduce It.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.