At least Boris Johnson is taking it very seriously.
Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation, Johnson was asked what signal the acquittal of a president who stoked violence while casting doubt on a free election would send to the rest of the world.
“The clear message that we get from the proceedings in America,” the prime minister said, “is that after all the toings and froings and all the kerfuffle, American democracy is strong and the American constitution is strong and robust.”
Huh. That’s not the message I get at all. Quite the reverse. The message I get is that American democracy is broken and feeble, and desperately vulnerable to murderous corrupt demagogues like Trump.
Constitutional experts have not been as sure as Johnson that the episode painted America’s 233-year-old system of government in such a positive light.
Andrew Rudalevige of Bowdoin College told Axios: “Congress not even pushing back against a physical assault suggests that there’s a lot they will put up with.”
It does, doesn’t it.
Comments
4 responses to “All the kerfuffle”
Joe Biden said it was an indication of the fragile state of our democracy. That’s a much better assessment.
The message I get is that there are 43 senators who support the violent overthrow of an elected government.
Or alternatively you’ve got 43 Senators whose voters are fine with violently overthrowing an elected government…
That isn’t better…
BKiSA, it wouldn’t require that necessarily, just for the senators to believe their voters were fine with that. Unfortunately, in this case, it appears they are right.