Sisters and brothers -
The Republican Party today is not only an increasingly reactionary party focusing on tax breaks for billionaires and working overtime to take away people's health care, but is also very clearly an anti-democracy party that has turned into a cult of the individual. Trump snaps his fingers and Republicans say "how high?" It sometimes amazes me how little resistance there is to him.
But as you read this, poll after poll shows the American people vigorously oppose the key components of Trumpism: oligarchy, authoritarianism, unprecedented dishonesty, kleptocracy, and economic policies which favor the rich while impoverishing working families.
Poll after poll shows they are unhappy with Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill; they are unhappy with ICE officers indiscriminately scooping people up off the streets; they are unhappy with inflation and the cost of living; and on and on it goes.
Is Donald Trump's response to reassess how he can address the needs of the people of this country and create a more popular set of ideas to take to the voters ahead of the next election?
No, no it is not.
Trump's response is to find new ways to undermine American democracy to protect his own political standing, no matters how unpopular those ideas are.
In other words, what Trump has done instead of making changes is decided he'd rather make it more difficult for people to oppose and defeat him.
He has attacked the media: suing ABC, Meta, the Des Moines Register and threatened legal action against The New York Times. He even sued Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal of all people.
He has threatened the chair of the Federal Reserve with removal from his post because he has refused to lower interest rates.
He has slashed the budgets of NPR and PBS, two of the most independent news outlets in the country.
He has attacked the courts, public education, and more.
And most recently, what Donald Trump has done is call up the Governor of Texas and other states and say he wants them to redraw their congressional districts in the middle of the decade to make it easier for Republicans to hold the House of Representatives in the next election.
It goes without saying, this is not the behavior of a country with a vibrant democracy.
But the Republican Party is not a party that believes in democracy.
They believe in the opposite -- and have consistently worked overtime to make it harder for people to vote and to express their political views: especially those people who might vote against them.
Every Republican in Congress and every state where Republicans have control may want to do it a little bit differently, but their end goal is always the same: make it easier for Republicans to win elections and make it harder for Democrats and others to win.
So what do we do about it?
First, it is a sad state of affairs that it has reached this point, but the Governor of California is right to fight fire with fire and threaten to redistrict if Republicans do the same in Texas. We cannot simply sit back and let Donald Trump redraw districts across the country in order to keep control of the House in 2026.
But more than that, while Trump wants to destroy American democracy, we must never stop our fight to expand it.
We must put an end to:
– Outrageous gerrymandering.
– The disastrous Citizens United decision.
– Voter suppression.
– The electoral college.
We must also imagine a country that makes it easier for all our people to participate.
Imagine a country where billionaires are unable to buy our candidates and elections.
Imagine a country in which every person is automatically registered to vote when they turn 18.
Imagine a country in which every person who moves to a new state is automatically registered to vote as soon as they have a new postal address.
Imagine a country that puts an end to the discriminatory practice of purging voters of color, young people, and low-income Americans from voting rolls.
Imagine a country where Election Day is a federal holiday so that we can increase voters’ ability to participate.
Imagine a country in which early voting is an option for all who need the flexibility, and absentee ballots are available upon request with no tests or conditions.
In short, imagine a country where voters pick their elected officials, not one where the elected officials pick their voters.
Can we have that kind of robust democracy? Yes.
Will it happen if Trump and the Republicans are in charge? No, not it will not.
Too many people have fought and died for the right to vote in this country. We must not fail them. Nothing less than the future of American democracy is on the line.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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