Deactivating the climate crisis means deactivating the democratic emergency

A year ago, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy were on the run for their lives when a violent mob invaded the halls of the United States Capitol. With their personal safety at risk, the two most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill finally took on Donald Trump. In a heated phone call, McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, unsuccessfully implored the President that call the mob. Senate Majority Leader McConnell later called the rioters “terroristsand said Trump was “morally responsible” for the violence.

But McConnell and McCarthy soon re-allowed Trump’s attacks on democracy. They fell silent as Trump insisted that the 2020 election was stolen and that anyone who disagreed should be removed from public office. They fell silent as Trump supporters threatened violence against election officials and Republican-dominated state legislatures rewrote laws and procedures to prevent a fair vote.

McConnell and McCarthy have blatantly put the party above country and ambition above duty, creating alarming ramifications for the future. Scientists have said for years that humanity faces a climate emergency and only swift and far-reaching action can preserve a livable planet. On the first anniversary of the January 6 attack, it is clear that the United States also faces a democratic emergency. Only swift and powerful action can preserve a government that is of the people, by and for the people.

The democratic emergency is closely linked to the climate crisis. Each is based on a big lie – that climate science is a hoax, which Trump won in 2020 – pushed forward by the same right-wing politicians and the same “news” propaganda outlets and embraced with cult devotion by supporters. of Trump. Left untreated, each threatens disaster. If Trump’s forces change enough electoral rules and personnel to guarantee victory in 2022 and beyond, there is no chance that the US government will take the strong climate action necessary to prevent a global catastrophe.

Therefore, defusing the global climate emergency depends on protecting democracy. To be sure, the United States is not the only country where undemocratic trends hamper climate progress. Most of the worst laggards at the November 26 COP climate summit were countries where authoritarianism is entrenched or on the rise: China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, India, the US But the collapse of US democracy would have climate consequences especially. harmful. Cutting global emissions in half by 2030, as the science says is imperative, would be impossible if the world’s largest economy and historic top emitter of carbon refuses to help.

How to defuse the emergence of democracy is too big a question to answer briefly. President Joe Biden and the Democrats surely must do more; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised a vote by January 17 on the reform of obstructionism to pass fair voting laws. A mobilized civil society is also vital. With Trump supporters trying to install supporters on electoral boards across the country, the Atlantic‘s Barton Gellman Notes that democracy activists can also work at the local and state level to block such schemes and ensure fair elections.

A free press is critical to democracy, and journalism must also rise to the occasion with open coverage. Monika Bauerlein, CEO of Mother jones, urges the media treat “the war on democracy” as the “big story” of 2022. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says political reporters should “stop … hiding that only one party is launching a campaign to suppress votes” and “demand that Republicans [officials] defend your participation in the big lie of a stolen election, ”and if Republicans try to dodge, keep asking the question.

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Aside from Trump himself, no one deserves more journalistic questioning than McConnell and McCarthy. Like leading Republicans in Congress, they have the stature to oppose Trump’s campaign for one-party rule. Twin profiles in cowardice have instead betrayed their oath to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

McConnell and McCarthy want the world to forget that a year ago, Trump’s mob was hunting them, prompting each man briefly to defend democracy. But the world must not forget. The press in particular must not allow McConnell, McCarthy, and most other Republicans to hide that they are allowing the gravest threat to American democracy since the Civil War, and in doing so, they promote a hellish climatic future.

This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic collaboration that strengthens coverage of climate history.

Mark Hertsgaard is CEO and Co-Founder of Covering Climate Now and Environment Correspondent for The Nation.