Democracy 2024: # 4

This weekend, there is not much attention on political campaigning, even as former President Donald Trump has returned to the trail to hold relatively small-scale events in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Instead, much of the media focus has been on police body cams, even as the news cycle has shifted from massive coverage of two mass shootings earlier in the week in California. One of which was the release of video from last fall in which the husband of then Speaker Nancy Pelosi was violently attacked in his San Francisco home, immediately after police arrived on the scene. Thankfully, his injuries were not even worse as it was clear just how brutal the strike of a hammer was to the 82 year old. We had known for some time that the deranged assailant was one of the people who believed the lies of Trump regarding a "stolen election" and was targeting Nancy Pelosi herself for kidnapping and assault. In the wake of this story, there were ridiculous and ludicrous conspiracy theories and jokes spread among Trump supporters or apologists. They seemed very unwilling to admit that assailant was one of them. Of course, his actions did not represent the actions or intentions of the vast majority of Trumpists, but after seeing this video, a lot more people should probably feel the urge to apologize for how they treated this story.

The main story of this weekend though was the release of video showing the recent police beating in Memphis, Tennessee of an unarmed black man, who died days after being roughed up beyond belief by five police officers. There were many parallels to the infamous Rodney King beating of over 30 years ago, but King was able to survive that ordeal. Another big difference is that all five of the officers in Memphis were African-American as well. That has at least somewhat mitigated the risk of a racial powderkeg in Memphis and around the nation, but authorities were very clearly worried about violence in the streets after the release of the videos. Thankfully, there seem to have been very few instances of anything other than peaceful protest this weekend. The five officers were quickly fired from their jobs and are now being charged with second degree murder among other offenses. It is hard to see how they can escape justice. Their actions were unprofessional, inexcusable, and downright inhumane. Authorities in Memphis and in Tennessee are by and large being praised for quick reaction and moving to hold the fired officers accountable. Questions remain though about what will happen to some other officers who arrived on the scene later and paramedics who were not quick to render aid to Tyre Nichols. May his family's burden during this difficult time be as painless as might be possible.

America continues to be a nation on edge as the first month of 2023 concludes. We have heard much about mass shootings in recent years but the instances of Asian-American senior citizen gunmen targeting and killing, mostly other Asian-Americans, in California this week seem to defy what is typical. A shooter who seemed to have personal grudges targeting people celebrating the Lunar New Year at a dance hall near Los Angeles. The next day, he killed himself, after being cornered by police. Days later in Northern California, another gunman shot and killed fellow farm workers. He surrendered, on camera, without incident, and authorities are describing it as an act of workplace violence. Still, there will be the continued debates in the political realm over mental health and guns. Neither killing was done using an "assault rife", and the term "assault pistol" has now entered the lexicon by some. Any weapon used for evil intent is of course an assault weapon. Those who claim they only want to ban high profile assault rifles will find it hard to look the other way at gun violence done by smaller weapons.

Oh, and the classified document story continues to churn. This week, despite having said in interviews that it would not be possible, classified documents were found in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. Like Joe Biden, and unlike Donald Trump, he acted quickly to turn them over to the government and offer cooperation. Unlike Biden and Trump, Pence was willing to say that the mere fact he had the documents was wrong and he was willing to take personal responsibility. Frankly, it was good to see a politician react in such a way and he ought to be praised for that. Many are wondering if Pence, who might be a candidate for President soon, will get his own Special Prosecutor, as candidates Trump and Biden now have. All living former Presidents and Vice Presidents have been asked to double check their stuff to make sure they do not have anything they should not. I can almost picture Jimmy Carter rummaging through boxes.

 

The revelation of Pence also being in possession of classified documents might give some political cover to Biden but might also make it harder for the Justice Department to ultimately bring a case against Trump.

Finally yesterday, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was reelected to another term to lead the party. She will become the longest serving party chair in history. This was after being opposed by two candidates, the least successful of which was the maniacal Mike Lindell of MyPillow fame. After receiving just one vote within the RNC, even he could not claim the election was somehow rigged.

By a comfortable margin though, McDaniel (who does not use her maiden name of Romney anymore out of political consideration) was opposed by California RNC Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh-American. McDaniel had been the handpicked choice of Donald Trump to lead the party and she has certainly been quite loyal to him publicly for years now. 

 

Many within the party grassroots, understandably upset about the party's recent streak of bad elections, had been calling for a change in RNC leadership and largely through support behind Dhillon. The day before the RNC vote, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis joined them in making such an endorsement, expressing his disappointment with what has been happening to the party at the ballot box. This strategy did not work though as only a couple hundred people or so had actual votes on the matter. Trump, who remained neutral publicly, was said to have made phone calls to RNC Members to ask them to vote again for McDaniel. That apparently was enough to seal a win for her. It is hard to see if DeSantis might truly view this as an intra-party setback or merely something he had to do to make it a referendum on the party under Trump.

The irony is pretty thick though. While McDaniel certainly deserves criticism in my view for sticking with Trump, the losses for the party are definitely not her fault, as much as Trump himself. Now, those who are tired of losing who are associated even more closely with Trump, (such as Dhillon and Lindell) are the ones to want to move in a different direction. They simply fail to get it.