In this episode of Democracy Works from The McCourtney Institute for Democracy, the team discusses democracy’s many doomsayers and how to heed their warnings for the future without falling into despair.
Podcast: On democracy's doomsayers
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From Diplomat to Dissenter: Why I Protest Trump’s America
My ancestors immigrated to this country in the early 20th century from Hungary and Italy. My Dad’s father was a gravedigger who never really mastered English. Fortunately, gravediggers don’t need to speak much. As the grandson of an illiterate gravedigger, I know how fortunate I have been to rise to become an official representative of this country abroad in American embassies. I loved that job. Diplomats do tough jobs in some dangerous corners of the world. Many Americans understand little of what diplomats do, but if you travel and lose your passport or get arrested, you will soon discover how vital the services of an American embassy officer are.
But our country has fired—without cause—thousands of American diplomats in a DOGE-inspired hacking away at the federal workforce under some misguided notion of rooting out waste. Robbing embassies of adequate personnel opens the door for China—already investing more in its foreign policy professionals than we do—to continue its move toward world domination. Do we really want to live in a world where China decides everything on the world stage? That’s where we are headed.
Foreign policy has always been crafted in our country by professionals who adhered to strict notions of being apolitical. Today, the State Department is full of Republican-approved diplomats who have to pledge allegiance, not to our Constitution, not to our country, but to the 47th president. The politicization of diplomacy reduces policy choices to only those approved with an eye to a certain groupthink ideology. This does not serve the national interest, as it shuts out other ways of sizing up a problem and deciding how best to preserve what is best for our country’s future.
In order to flatter Trump, diplomats are choosing what he deems best. This 79-year-old president shows daily how ill-informed he is about our country’s history. We are being led now by someone whose “maybe the people want a dictator” is undermining the very principles established by our Founders. Principles of three equal branches of government with a system of checks and balances to prevent the rise of a monarch. The attacks on judges who disagree with the president are likely to lead to more political violence. After the assassination of Democrat politicians in Minnesota and Charlie Kirk, do we really want this?
photo courtesy of Michael Varga.
The deference Republican politicians show toward Trump’s decisions is setting up our nation as a pariah on the world stage, now apparently allied with Russia and North Korea, and some of the despots ruling in the Middle East. The State Department’s decision to no longer report fully on human rights abuses means that people around the world who are suffering under autocratic regimes are likely to get much worse. Is this the profile we want for America in 2025?
This moment has compelled me to take to the streets to raise my voice against what I see as a dangerous attempt to remake our country according to the Project 2025 blueprint. For me, resistance means showing up, standing firm, and saying NO. But each American must decide for themselves how best to respond. Some may choose the ballot box, others may write, organize, or speak out in their communities.
Whatever your conscience calls you to do more, I honor that. Love of country requires each of us, in our own way, to defend the core democratic values that have guided our nation for 250 years.
An Independent Voter's Perspective on Current Political Divides
In the column, "Is Donald Trump Right?", Fulcrum Executive Editor, Hugo Balta, wrote:
For millions of Americans, President Trump’s second term isn’t a threat to democracy—it’s the fulfillment of a promise they believe was long overdue.
Is Donald Trump right?
Should the presidency serve as a force for disruption or a safeguard of preservation?
Balta invited readers to share their thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
David Levine from Portland, Oregon, shared these thoughts...
I am an independent voter who voted for Kamala Harris in the last election.
I pay very close attention to the events going on, and I try and avoid taking other people's opinions as fact, so the following writing should be looked at with that in mind:
Is Trump right? On some things, absolutely.
As to DEI, there is a strong feeling that you cannot fight racism with more racism or sexism with more sexism. Standards have to be the same across the board, and the idea that only white people can be racist is one that I think a lot of us find delusional on its face. The question is not whether we want equality in the workplace, but whether these systems are the mechanism to achieve it, despite their claims to virtue, and many of us feel they are not.
I think if the Democrats want to take back immigration as an issue then every single illegal alien no matter how they are discovered needs to be processed and sanctuary cities need to end, every single illegal alien needs to be found at that point Democrats could argue for an amnesty for those who have shown they have been Good actors for a period of time but the dynamic of simply ignoring those who break the law by coming here illegally is I think a losing issue for the Democrats, they need to bend the knee and make a deal.
I think you have to quit calling the man Hitler or a fascist because an actual fascist would simply shoot the protesters, the journalists, and anyone else who challenges him. And while he definitely has authoritarian tendencies, the Democrats are overplaying their hand using those words, and it makes them look foolish.
Most of us understand that the tariffs are a game of economic chicken, and whether it is successful or not depends on who blinks before the midterms. Still, the Democrats' continuous attacks on the man make them look disloyal to the country, not to Trump.
Referring to any group of people as marginalized is to many of us the same as referring to them as lesser, and it seems racist and insulting.
We invite you to read the opinions of other Fulrum Readers:
Trump's Policies: A Threat to Farmers and American Values
The Trump Era: A Bitter Pill for American Renewal
Federal Hill's Warning: A Baltimorean's Reflection on Leadership
Also, check out "Is Donald Trump Right?" and consider accepting Hugo's invitation to share your thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
The Fulcrum will select a range of submissions to share with readers as part of our ongoing civic dialogue.
We offer this platform for discussion and debate.