Democracy Dies Through Thunderous Applause

I had told myself that I would not watch Trump’s speech, if you can call it that. I saw it as his official announcement of becoming dictator of the United States, and it was greeted with thunderous applause by the weak-minded Republican lackeys. To borrow a phrase from Revenge of The Sith, where Padmé says,

“So, this is how democracy dies through thunderous applause.”

Some accuse me of being hyperbolic, overreacting, and seeing things that are not there. To them, I say the following: Our governance is imperfect. It has many flaws, but compared to others, it stands out as the type of governance many would want to see in their countries.

Why do people who live in countries with relative freedom desire to come to the United States? Consider that for a moment. While pondering that, ask yourself, where would you like to live if you were not in the United States? If you are children of immigrants and your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents are still with you, ask them what brought them to this country.

There is no doubt from my perspective that we live in a country that places a high price on freedom, liberty, and the way of life we presently enjoy. We also live in a county that has blood on its hands for how they treated the native inhabitants here and allowed the deep blackness of their heart to support chattel enslavement of Black men, women, and children, and still dealing with the injustice of these evil acts but seem to have the desire to revert to those days.

What is significant about this statement is the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is supportive of taking the country back to those times of segregation where women had no rights other than what their husbands deemed to allow. To call Trump an anachronistic artifact is an insult to artifacts, but that is what this idiot is.

Watching Trump, I saw a man making his declaration of his dictatorship of the United States with his Republican flunkies applauding the demise of democracy as Princess Leia did in Revenge of The Sith.

Her comment, ‘So that is how democracy dies, through thunderous applause,’ is appropriate for what occurred on the Congressional Rep floor. I was most disappointed in democratic Congressmen and Senators sitting on their hands and holding up powder-puff panel signs instead of loudly voicing their objections.

Al Green, Congressional Rep from Texas, was the bravest among them, standing, waving his cane at Trump and letting him know in no uncertain terms that he was destroying democracy.

They should have stood in protest and shouted Trump down. Being led out by the Sargent of Arms would be their Red Badge of Courage instead of holding powder puff signs.

We need to understand that democracy is not a natural form of governance. Some will disagree with me and point to the Ancient Greeks. Yes. History tells us they were the progenitors of democratic principles, and our form of governance adapted many of their concepts.

However, it also adapted torts, portions of English law, and concepts from the Roman Empire, so it is vital to remember Franklin’s response to Elizebeth Willing Powel, ‘A Republic if you can keep it.’

From what I watched, we are on the road to Perdition, and If Trump keeps doing what he is, he will have no one to blame but ourselves.

There was a clear message of geopolitical agitation in Trump’s incoherent diatribe last night, but if you had listened closely, you would have picked it up.

Trump and his cast of billionaire supplicants are laying the foundation for ending democracy as we have known it for two-hundred-thirty-seven years; we have a democratic republic form of governance, and what is happening is Trump, and his cavalcade of billionaires are working to dismantle it and form it into an autocracy which favors the uber-rich and moves the country back to days of where a few wealthy, white men controlled the government and the ‘little people’ suffered extensively.

What would pose as government would favor them and not ordinary people. We don’t have to look far to see what it would be like; consider Hungary, where Victor Orbán is the country’s ‘strongman.’

Many Trump supporters look to him as an example they believe Trump should emulate, and some are in lockstep with him on his embrace of Putin. But the question is why?

The answer is simple: democracy, if practiced correctly, gives too much power to the ordinary person.

Those with the type of wealth who have aligned themselves with Trump do not favor people having the power they have through our form of governance. To these lickspittles, wealth, power, and total obsequious are what they want from those they see beneath them.

If our form of democracy is allowed to flourish as individuals like Douglass, De Bois, King, Lewis, and a host of others believed it should, there would be a level of equality among the people that would establish an unbalance of those who are uber-rich.

Many of us forget that as much as we desire to believe the founders’ words, there was an underlying construct focused on wealth, considering this new country successfully separated itself from the royalty many suffered under.

In the early stages of this country’s growth, generational wealth accumulation was possible without being a ‘royal,’ often done through participation in the enslavement of others. Still, there are cases where individuals did it without participation in that heinous crime.

One of the significant differences is the disparity between the groups where a majority of the wealth lies.

While the wealth in this country may not be directly related to royalty, they do have the propensity to behave in such a way that they see themselves as such. Providing insight into their views on the governorship of this country and why this class of people supports Trump and his asinine views.

Trump is no supporter of democracy, no matter what comes out of his mouth; Elon Musk, JD Vance, and all the members of Trump’s triumvirate have no genuine interest in the welfare of the American populous, let alone having a government by the people and for the people.

The following from Nancy Maclean’s book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America provides insight into the goals of Republicans;

“The Republican Party is now in the control of a group of true believers for whom compromise is a dirty word. Their cause, they say, is liberty. But by that, they mean the insulation of private property rights from the reach of government — and the takeover of what was long public (schools, prisons, western lands, and much more) by corporations, a system that would radically reduce the freedom of the many. In a nutshell, they aim to hollow out democratic resistance. And by its lights, the cause is nearing success.” ―Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America p. xxx.

The saliency of Maclean’s words is essential for us to understand as it provides insight into what Trump and the Republicans are attempting. For Republicans, they are working toward dismantling the social safety net Roosevelt established, and Johnson expanded to the utter contempt of Republicans.

Seeing this as in direct opposition to what they wanted under the guise of ‘limited government.’ Code, for ‘we want people desperate enough, they will take what we are willing to pay them and be happy with it.

Only those we deem worthy of education should have it, meaning anyone not white does not need an advanced education, such as college.

So, on March 5, 2025, in the Well of The House, what the country witnessed was thunderous applause from the Republicans for the end of our democracy and their equivocation of wanting to see Donald J. Trump become the first dictator of this country and the plunging it into such a tailspin we would find ourselves on the brink of another civil war.

A war that would crash our economy places China as the economic leader in the world and places NATO countries in dire jeopardy as Russia would continue its push into Ukraine to reestablish the Soviet Union, with a hungry look at what else it would attempt to swallow.

Both China and North Korea would make moves. China would take Taiwan, North Korea would march towards South Korea, and India and Pakistan would be in all-out conflict. Iran would attack Israel.

All this would take place while Trump would be chomping down on his Big Macs, fries quaffing down diet Cokes, as Airforce One is on its way to Mar-a-largo for his golf game and sending a text message to Mike Johnson telling him to be sure to blame Biden for the mess he created. When his followers realize what they have supported, things will be beyond recovery.

There will be no blaming Democrats, DEI, Critical Race Theory, Transgender, or failure to accept being a Christian nation. It will all be on them because they were some of the most fervent who engaged in the thunderous applause that killed democracy.