Wednesday
MSNBC’s brilliant Chris Hayes came up with the perfect poem for Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It was written by Bertolt Brecht after the Soviets put down an East German popular uprising in June of 1953.
Brecht at the time was living in East Germany, having fled there from the United States following Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist witch hunts. Prepared to call out abuses of authority wherever he encountered them, Brecht this time directed his attacks against communists.
Here’s Wikipedia’s description of the uprising and its suppression:
It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against work quotas during the Sovietization process in East Germany. Demonstrations in East Berlin turned into a widespread uprising against the Government of East Germany and the Socialist Unity Party the next day, involving an estimated more than one million people in about 700 localities across the country. Protests against declining living standards and unpopular Sovietization policies led to a wave of strikes and protests that were not easily brought under control and threatened to overthrow the East German government. The uprising in East Berlin was violently suppressed by tanks of the Soviet forces in Germany and the Kesemierte Volkspolizel [the militarized East German police] while demonstrations continued in more than 500 towns and villages for several more days before dying out.
Brecht noted the irony of the supposed people’s party cracking down on the people:
The Solution After the uprising of the 17th June The Secretary of the Writers Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited the confidence of the government And could win it back only By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier In that case for the government To dissolve the people And elect another?
A similar irony is at work in our case. Trump forfeited the confidence of the people but still expected the people to vote for him. When they didn’t, he looked for ways to “dissolve” the Biden votes in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, which gave the president-elect his 306-232 electoral win. In the eyes of Trump and his GOP enablers, democracy and the Constitution should be respected only when Republicans are elected.
Fortunately, it doesn’t appear that the military will be sending in tanks to keep Trump in office. In all probability, Biden-Harris supporters will not have to take to the streets, and I don’t anticipate seeing 10,000 people being detained and around 40 executed. Still, it’s worrisome that the GOP leaders have become, like the Secretary of the Writers Union, apologists for autocratic behavior.