Former president Donald Trump’s recent praise of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has been a minor embarrassment for the Republican Party, but most leading Republicans have managed to avoid criticizing Trump for it. The popularity of the Ukrainian cause took the Republicans by surprise. Even Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is walking back his anti-Ukraine remarks, but like his fellow compatriots he remains loyal to Trump.
This loyalty by Republicans is one more sign of what can only be called a “cult of personality,” a symbol of of the party’s transformation from a traditional political party into an autocratic movement, which involves undermining the judiciary, courting the military, promoting censorship, calling for the jailing of political opponents and attacking the press.
Democracy is on the retreat in the world right now, with a growing number of formerly democratic nations embracing autocracy. India’s Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is undermining freedom for religious minorities in the world’s most populous democracy. Brazil has now embraced autocracy under Jair Bolsonaro. And Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly and systematically violates the rights of its citizens. More and more countries are substituting strong leaders for the slow, plodding and often frustrating democratic institutions that often seem unable to solve problems.
Autocracies are threatened by the idea of democracy, so they seek to undermine it wherever they can. Putin has attacked Ukraine because it is a fledgling democracy — a country struggling to become democratic. If Ukraine succeeds, he is threatened. He can’t allow that to happen. As Anne Applebaum (the author of “Twilight of Democracy”) says, Putin “perceives Ukrainianness as a threat. Not a military threat, but an ideological threat.”
Putin may be interested in re-establishing the glory of the old Soviet empire, in capturing important natural resources, or in gaining new territory for a Russian strategic advantage. But it is even more important to him to kill the idea of democracy in Ukraine and wherever else he sees it succeeding. He is safer when democracy is weaker.
At the same time, belief in the viability of democracy is weakening in the United States. A growing number of people believe our institutions are not working — that Congress cannot do its job, that public schools should be designed to promote patriotism, that the courts are inherently biased, and that the free press is lying to us. Disillusionment with our democratic institutions has even led a number of states to consider a call for a new Constitutional Convention.
Another sign of the growing frustration with democracy here is the anger that is replacing civility in both public and private life. A 2021 report by William Galston and Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution outlines the growing frustration with our democratic institutions. According to this report, 30 percent of Republicans, 17 percent of independents, and 11 percent of Democrats support the idea of resorting to violence in order to “save” America. Gun sales have skyrocketed, and informal militias are gaining strength. And on Jan. 6, 2021, we saw violence at the Capitol by people who felt they were saving us from the failure of democracy.
Will this growing frustration with what is perceived as a “broken” America lead to a call for a ruler who is free from legal restraints to save us? Will Americans be tempted by autocracy in the belief that it can solve the problems that democracy seems unable to address? Our democracy is more fragile than is often understood. It could be lost very easily.
The world is currently engaged in a war of ideas, and what happens in Ukraine is important to whether the world continues to embrace autocracy or whether it strengthens its commitment to democracy throughout the world and here at home.
What we think about our democracy will determine whether our democracy survives its current challenges. Ideas matter, and that is why Ukraine matters. We need to do everything we can to support the hope of democracy there in order to keep the flame of democracy from being extinguished here.
As Applebaum said, “Ukraine is now the front line — and our front line too.”
