I was at a conference in Brussels about the civil society perspective on the rule of law in EU member states when it became clear that Donald Trump had won the US presidential election. People there described the feeling as the morning after the Brexit vote. Someone recalled 9/11.
After all the fears elaborated in the four years since he mobilised violence to subvert the electoral process, there was little mood yesterday to forecast how bad things can get. There was, instead, a sense of grim resignation. This was the world now and we needed to find a way to live in it.
One speaker pointed out that democratic standards worldwide had just fallen dramatically overnight. Washington was the world’s city on the hill. It was the oldest, most reliable democracy. It perfected the notion of separation and balance of powers: between the three branches of government and between city, state and federation. It adjusted itself to abolish slavery and segregation and to address discrimination.
Plagued by divisions, it found peaceful ways of improving itself, unashamedly seeking its improvement in a more perfect union enriched by waves of new arrivals from all over the world. Never free of injustice, she was the eldest sister of all democracies and the model we all referred to.
She was violated on January 6, 2021, the defences of her incredible might bashed through as chairs were smashed through the windows of the Capitol. It looked like the fall of Rome, an impregnable ideal exposed for its fragility. And now, four years later, it feels like her rape has been consummated.
Some will remind us that Trump has won the election fairly and that no true believer in democracy could dispute the outcome of an election. But even as democrats (not just the American ones) congratulated him for his victory with the comely politeness of these occasions, they’re all gripped by the silent horror that free and fair elections may be a thing of the past.
Tyrants everywhere now can point to Washington as the example that justifies their actions. It is legitimate to mobilise voters on the back of their fears and prejudices rather than policy and argument. It is ok to scapegoat minorities, to isolate the free press, to use technology for disinformation and to secure political funding from the tycoons who will benefit from a favourable electoral outcome.
It is ok to mobilise the implicit threat of violence. It is ok to stuff the judiciary with loyalists and ideologues, to legislate from the bench and to indemnify criminals from consequence just because they win elections. It is ok for multiple convicted felons to be crowned with political power.
Having mobilised violence to subvert democracy is not a disqualification from using that democracy to one’s end.
Tyrants everywhere will claim this licence for corruption, disloyalty to the truth and immunity from the rule of law now. It will absolve all corrupt leaders from the classic grounds of exclusion from public life. It will substitute the basic requirements for ethical conduct with the unhindered triumph of the will of men with access to an inherently unjust proportion of wealth.
The idea of this worldwide licence for corrupt politicians to win power in democracies had barely sunk in when whose face popped up in my Trump-dominated social media newsfeed? Jason ‘Deus Adiuva Nos’ Micallef’s face, that’s whose. The former PL general secretary, former media czar and present grandee of Malta’s supposed progressive Labour Party, hailed Trump’s victory as the second coming of the Messiah. As Micallef had been studiously uninterested in policy throughout his career, he had no interest in the politics of Trump’s election.
Jason Micallef is right. Joseph Muscat can come back. If Donald Trump could, why not him?- Jason Micallef
He was merely interested in the ability of a disgraced politician manifestly responsible for crimes against the law and against democracy, whose reputation had been in tatters and whose grip on political influence had been almost as unhinged as his grip on reality certainly was, to win elections again and come back to power.
Micallef was in awe to discover winning an election could exempt a criminal from prison, suspend prosecutions and even justify past crimes in the way Mao would have justified the unpleasantness of civil war in pursuit of a communist paradise.
In case you wondered, Micallef wasn’t speaking in the abstract. He was instantly fulfilling the prophecy that tyrants and tinpot crooks everywhere rejoiced that night at the election of Trump. Spraying his shorts, Micallef visualised Joseph Muscat’s return to Castille. After all, if a man accused of attempting to violently overturn the government of his country, convicted of false business declarations to cover up hush money to a porn star and charged with mishandling state secrets can be president of the US, what’s to stop Muscat from being Malta’s prime minister?
Why should a little bribery, corruption, forming a criminal organisation, undermining police investigations, retaining serial fraudsters on staff and accepting gifts from mafia dons come in the way of Muscat’s comeback?
With the world in the shadow of criminals subverting democracy to turn it to their advantage, you’ll be tempted to sigh and throw in the towel. It never felt as pointless as it does now to even hope for fairness. As these criminals take the reins of power, the logical thing to do is lie low and hope not to be burned by their violent retribution against those they have already identified as enemies.
Imagine what life would be like for his critics the day Muscat returned to power. Picture Micallef’s list of enemies and how he’d treat them if he were to have his way.
Micallef is right. Muscat can come back. If Trump could, why not him?
So, lie low if that’s what you think you should be doing. Or stand up to the tyrants. Say no to them. Denounce their corruption even louder. Fund your trusted independent news website.
Donate to pro-democracy NGOs and human rights defenders. Become one yourself. March at every protest, scream from the top of your lungs. Join class action suits. Campaign for lawfulness. Lead by example. Refuse to pay the bribe solicited of you or your business, whatever the cost to you or it.
Vote for the right people. If you can, drop what you’re doing and campaign for them. Even be the right people and run for office. Lose if you have to. But don’t let them have it easy. If they use the law against us, use it to fight back. If they use democracy against us, use it to defeat them.
The more it feels futile, the greater your duty not to give up. Not now. Not when majorities around you go mad with greed and anger and irrational violence. Now that it hurts most, you must do the right thing.