It is worth listening to this tape at length.
It ought to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who believes in democracy.
What staggers me is that this sort of call is happening well into January, rather than on November 4th last year.
The Georgia result has been certified, for goodness sake.
What is clear to me from this tape is that Trump believes everything he is saying. He is so obsessed with himself that he has convinced himself that he won.
This man should be locked in a room where he does not have access to a nuclear weapons’ trigger.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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9 Comments
Oh dear,Paul. I gather from what you have said in the past that you are a bit of a fan of the US of A. I’ve been saying for years that the democracy which it trumpets at every opportunity needs a massive overhaul. But will it ever happen? Could our ‘democracy’ ever throw up a Trump? Who knows?
As JFK said on confronting the Berlin Wall, democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put up a wall to keep our people in. In Trump we have a man who wants to build a wall to keep people out, which is what the GDR claimed it was doing with its so called ‘Anti fascist wall’. We should have paid heed back then. Of course he should not be allowed within a million miles of those nuclear triggers.
I admire certain elements of the USA set-up. The written constitution. The lack of hereditary peers, appointed peers and religious appointees in the second chamber. The lack of an hereditary head of state. Very clear freedom of information and freedom of speech.
But there are certain elements that are bad. The enormous involvement of money is one. TV advertising is another. Political involvement in basic electoral management is another. The Electoral College is another.
And indeed this episode has highlighted another bad area, as pointed out by Rick Hansen today:
“If not for Biden’s significant margin of victory over Trump and for the courageous, politically risky actions of many Republican and Democratic election administrators and elected officials, this Republican attack on American democracy might well have been successful, securing an illegitimate second term for Trump.
To remove the potential for this sort of gamesmanship in certifying and counting each state’s votes for president, the country needs to adopt a number of measures in the next few years to eliminate the power of individuals to interfere with election results.”
I’m sure that the mechanism to punch in launch codes for nuclear weapons is deliberately clunky. It’s designed to allow time for reflection. It’s going to be annoyingly frustrating for a drunk or angry President. No big Red Button.
Similarly, the American constitution creates obstacles to those who pursue rash objectives.
On a smaller domestic scale compared to the dreadful Trump, it’s not that long ago a person familiar to Liberal Democrats as their candidate for Prime Minister said she wouldn’t hesitate to press the button.
On hearing this, enough folk living thirty miles from Faslane decided to switch their votes to support instead a party openly opposed to nuclear weapons. Paradoxically, the candidate for Prime Minister (and senior colleagues of many years) had believed such a policy would cost their party votes. Apparently not.
Phil Beesley is correct. Not long after Trump entered the White House in January 2017 one of the more sensible British newspapers (I forget which one) posed this question to a senior retired member of the US military, and he described the protocols used to launch nuclear weapons as secure against the actions of a rogue president – as a last resort, senior officers would refuse to obey what they considered to be an illegitimate order.
OK. I’ll reframe it. Why is this person even allowed access to a pair of scissors?
There is a precedent for behaviour like this in a previous US president…
https://www.theguardian.com/weekend/story/0,3605,362958,00.html
Just to calm any worries – Senior Military figures have already said that an order for a Nuclear 1st Strike from Trump would not be obeyed & that was before he Lost so Bigly.
On US Democracy – we have to be honest & admit that Fascism has substantial support among American Voters, more than it did in 1930s Germany. You could make a case for The USA as the birthplace of Fascism – both the German & Italian models were heavily influenced by The KKK.
Next he’ll be campaigning for a People’s Vote.