Jesse Jackson: Trump weakening the democracy that makes America strong

Have Republicans turned into Donald Trump’s party?

As this is written, Trump is about to win the New Hampshire primary. Unless Nikki Haley, the last opponent still standing, pulls off a last-minute surprise, he will essentially lock up the nomination. Trump will hail the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement as triumphant.

This is the result of a long and shameful history. In 2016, the establishment in both parties dismissed Trump and scorned his appeal to working people who felt working people who felt economically abandoned and politically ignored. Trump won the nomination handily – and then while losing the popular vote, won the presidency.

His presidency inherited a growing economy. He challenged our ruinous trade policies and used immigration as a blatant racial appeal to divide Americans. But the chaos of his administration, particularly in the face of the worst pandemic since the 1920s, made him a loser in the 2020 re-election campaign.

At that point, Trump went off the rails. His attempt to overturn an election that he knew he lost was an illegal and outrageous violation of the laws and the Constitution, ending in the sacking of the Capitol. Lives were lost as an overwhelmed Capitol police force suffered casualties in hand-to-hand conflict while Trump watched, apparently approvingly, on television. The Republican leaders in both the House and Senate denounced Trump, correctly naming him as responsible for the violence.