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Paul Jay
And that's of great significance right now, because what I'm hearing from people, and it's in the media, too, but I've talked to people that know some big shots on Wall Street, is that they've concluded that they do want Biden for president, but they're going to spend their money on a Republican Senate so they can gridlock any kind of reform they don't like.
Allan Lichtman
Doesn't surprise me one bit.
Paul Jay
There are already people organizing for mass protests. If Trump tries to, as you said, steal the election, and it's certainly sounding like that's the plan.
Allan Lichtman
That's what he's going to do. He's going to try. I'm not saying he's going to succeed, but take him at his word. He's not joking. He doesn't joke.
Paul Jay
So how does the American state react to this? Mass protests in the streets against Trump, a Supreme Court that's very likely to support him in stealing the election, even if it's obvious to everyone it's been stolen, but say the Supreme Court blesses it, even as unpopular as that appointment to the Supreme Court might be, as long as he has the power to do it and he doesn't care about the 57 percent that don't like it.
What's happening to the American state here? It's becoming dysfunctional.
Allan Lichtman
You're absolutely right. Look, you know, I've written about democracy. Democracy is precious. It's maybe the most precious thing historically humanity has had. But like all precious things, it can be destroyed. In the first golden age of democracy, right after World War One, we had dozens of democracies. Two-thirds of them were gone by the middle of the 1940s. Even today, Freedom House has reported that some 25 democracies around the world are sliding towards autocracy. You know, Americans have this complacent belief that no matter what happens, their democracy will be preserved. Not true. I think if, you know, we see this nightmare scenario that you laid out, it could be the death knell of American democracy.
The one thing though that keeps me hopeful is the young people. The young people really do seem to understand the importance of critical issues. They do seem to understand the importance of preserving our democracy. And the Republican Party is also ultimately doomed, because the one thing you can't fight is demography, as T.S. Eliot said, birth, copulation, death. That's all there is when it comes down to brass tacks. The demography is cutting against the Republican Party.
We are becoming a multicultural, multiracial society. California, Texas already majority minority. And it's getting very close to turning purple. So as time goes on, minority rule is going to become much more difficult. No question. Republican rule is minority rule because of the Senate, and because of the Electoral College. But that is going to become much more difficult to sustain over the next decade or two. I might not be around to see it, but my children and grandchildren will.
Paul Jay
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