When Bipartisanship Risks Undermining Democracy
Looking like a human grease fire, and burning nearly as hot, the right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon spat vitriol as he emerged from federal court on Monday afternoon. “This is the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden,” Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, insisted after appearing for the first time on contempt-of-Congress charges for his refusal to testify before the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.
About an hour later, during the signing ceremony for the long-delayed bipartisan infrastructure bill, President Joe Biden stood behind a podium to extol the virtues of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. “The bill I’m about to sign into law,” Biden declared, “is proof that, despite the cynics, Democrats and Republicans can come together and deliver results.”
The contrast between Bannon’s bluster and Biden’s soothing assurances encapsulated the paradox of the president’s approach to Republicans’ ongoing campaign to destabilize American elections. The Wyoming GOP voted last weekend to expel staunchly conservative Representative Liz Cheney from the party, largely because of her criticism of Trump over the insurrection and his unsubstantiated election-fraud claims. Meanwhile, former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich publicly called for Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, in a primary because of his conflicts with Trump, which are rooted in Kemp’s refusal to endorse the former president’s conspiracy theories about Biden’s victory in the state last fall.
