The Future of American DemocracyThis is all a code phrase for anti-Trump rants from Trump-haters.In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Barton Gellman, and George Packer about the ongoing threat to American democracy posed by Republican misinformation and disinformation regarding the 2020 Presidential Election and the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
The funny thing about it is that, even tho Harris assembled a very distinguished panel, their criticisms were insubstantial. They accused Trump of breaking laws, but admitted that his violations were all trivial and inconsequential. They accused him of being authoritarian, but said that he never used his Presidential power to do what he might have done. They had no significant complaints about his results.
What they did do was to gripe about his style and rhetoric. They were like a bunch of rabbis complaining that a newcomer was not behaving according to their unwritten congregation rules, and not taking their hints to change.
Sometimes I think that Harris is a closet Trump supporter, as makes such silly arguments. At one point Harris made a big pitch for free speech on social media like Facebook and Twitter, and that Trump is the only one who should be banned.
Their main points about Democracy were: (1) Trump has undermined democracy by claiming the 2020 election was stolen; (2) Republican efforts to reform election law may cause distrust in the 2022 and 2024 elections, because of the suggestion that election law needs to be fixed; and (3) Democrats need to reform election law in order to make our elections democratic.
Any pretense to neutrality was gone at this point. They just want election laws to favor their partisan political preferences.
If they really wanted democracy, they would favor elections where all votes are cast, counted, and witnessed on election day. None of the panelists favored that.
Our legal system has gone anti-White, as shown by the conviction of Kim Potter:
Kim Potter, the former police officer convicted in the death of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April 2021, was sentenced to 16 months in prison on Friday.Potter did not violate the law, as Alan Dershowitz explains. She is going to prison because she is White, and because a violent Black criminal resisted a lawful arrest.Judge Regina Chu handed down a sentence of 24 months, with 16 months served in prison. The rest of the sentence will be served under supervised release. Potter must also pay a $1,000 fine.
In December, a jury found Potter, who worked for the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Minnesota, guilty of first- and second-degree manslaughter.
During the trial, Potter's team alleged Wright was responsible for his own death. To refresh your memory: Authorities said they pulled Wright over for using an illegal air freshener and then discovered he had an outstanding warrant. Wright tried to drive off as the officers attempted to arrest him, at which point Potter shot and killed him. She testified that she mistakenly drew her gun instead of her Taser.
Defense attorney Earl Gray told the court that Wright "caused his own death." But the jury didn’t buy it.
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