At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Secretary of War James McHenry recorded in the journal he kept during the Convention that politically and socially prominent Philadelphian Elizabeth Willing Powel had asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” McHenry wrote that Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.”
A republic is representative government without a monarchy. In a republic, a written constitution limits the majority and provides safeguards for individuals and minorities, which is what America’s Founders wanted.
As we close in on the most consequential election of my life, representative rule is threatened. It’s been threatened before, most notably during the Civil War. At that time our “better angels” triumphed.
Today, we face a different kind of threat: authoritarian nationalism, or fascism.
We have faced fascism before, of course. In the 1930s, the German American Bund dragged itself out of the muck to genuflect to Adolph Hitler. On 20 February 1939, more than twenty-thousand of them gathered in Madison Square Garden to hear Bundesfuhrer Fritz Kuhn wax eloquent about the benefits of Nazism. At this biggest Nazi rally ever held on American soil, he told them, “The Bund is open to you, provided you are sincere, of good character, of White Gentile Stock, and an American Citizen imbued with patriotic zeal. Therefore: Join!” The Nazi-loving Garden crowd consistently booed President Franklin D. Roosevelt and chanted, “Heil Hitler.”
Fritz Kuhn proved to be a non-entity. The German American Bund imploded on itself, and after Pearl Harbor, was heard no more. But other fascist groups consistently popped up over time. All of them lacked one important element — a galvanizing, charismatic leader.
Enter Donald Trump.
Trump replicated the German American Bund’s 1939 rally when he held his own version on Sunday evening in the same place — the storied Madison Square Garden.
This was a disgusting exhibition of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and just plain crazy cruelty guaranteed to bring out the worst in the MAGA universe. And it did.
One of Trump’s warm-up act speakers was alleged comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who delivered vile and racist attacks on Puerto Rican and Black Americans.
“There’s a lot going on. Like I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said.
He went on to say, “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.”
Not everyone in the crowd liked that, especially Hispanics. But the fact that he was allowed to say it — no improv here; Trump’s team vetted his repulsive screed, and he read it from the teleprompter — tells you all you need to know.
It is more than interesting to note Hinchcliffe’s depravity came as Vice President Harris was at that very moment in Philadelphia speaking at Freddy & Tony’s Puerto Rican restaurant, where she detailed her plans to assist the island and bolster its electrical grid.
Also from the teleprompter, Hinchcliff suggested that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce “might be the next O.J. Simpson,” the former NFL star, who was accused and later acquitted of murdering his ex-wife (but most people thought he really did it). Kelce and singer Taylor Swift are a couple, and earlier this year, Swift said she would vote for Harris. The crowd liked that one.
In another racist trope, Hinchcliffe described “carving watermelons, instead of pumpkins” with a Black audience member.
Later on in the appalling show, we got this: “America is for Americans and Americans only.” That echoed what Adolph Hitler said in a speech on 30 January 1939: “Germany is for Germans, and Germans alone.” This time it was said by one of Trump’s closest and most hard-right advisors, Stephen Miller, to a sea of roaring supporters in trademark red “Make America Great Again” hats. Of all Trump’s sycophants, Miller is the one who reminds me most of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s master propagandist.
And, never one to miss a chance to bilk some schmucks out of a few bucks, Trump turned the event into a fundraiser. Top donors were given backstage access or special skybox seating. The top tier “Ultra MAGA experience” was priced at $924,600 — the maximum an individual can donate to the former President’s joint fundraising committee by law — according to an invitation from the campaign. Such a deal.
The event lasted seven hours. For the first five, before Trump spoke, speaker after speaker, 17 of them, made a mockery of what democracy is all about. One after another, they threw MAGA red meat to the cheering crowd.
Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris “and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.”
Trump’s childhood friend David Rem called Harris “the anti-Christ.”
Former wrestler Hulk Hogan, who embodies the atavistic demeanor Trump values so very highly, used a crude, sexist gesture and told the crowd Harris had slept her way to the top.
Tucker Carlson, with his usual generosity and grace, riffed about Harris’s potential victory marking “the first Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.”
And, of all people, ultra Christian, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson spoke. He was caustic, fawning, and lied about Harris and her plans, but at least he wasn’t nasty about it. He lied in a reverent monotone.
On and on it went.
When Trump finally took the stage after all the bread and circuses, he gave the audience his usual stump speech with all its insults and deprecations. But after what had gone before, the wanna-be dictator seemed almost tame.
More and more, Trump and his Republican allies are willing to display their inner selves for all to see. It’s not a pretty sight. But it is revealing.
The election is now seven days away. Will America’s “better angels” once again appear?
“A republic…if you can keep it.”
