Rep. Don Young has served in Congress, as a conservative Republican, for nearly half a century. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump-allied extremist, has been in Congress for less than a year. Yet, the Georgia freshman feels empowered enough to assert that Young is not a “real Republican,” because he voted in favor of the infrastructure bill crafted by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Don Young did not initially support Donald Trump in his bid to become president, describing his early success as “a bunch of idiots following a pied piper over the edge of the cliff.” Neither did Young support Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election. He did, however, twice vote against impeachment.
While Trump’s January coup attempt failed, Trump may be given a second chance in the same manner as other dictators: by spineless, deluded conservatives, attempting to benefit from a demagogue’s popularity.
Adolf Hitler’s supporters knew their leader opposed democracy on principle. Trump’s supporters, amazingly, see him as democracy’s defender. No, Trump is not Hitler and (most of) his supporters are not Nazis. Nevertheless, America’s democracy may succumb to an ailment analogous to the more severe one that claimed the Weimar Republic.
— Kenneth Baitsholts
Anchorage
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