Historians told the president that the current situation in the United States is “one of the most dangerous in modern history” for democratic governance.
American newspaper The Washington Post says the president Joe Biden and a private meeting of historians raising concerns about the poor state of democracy in the United States and other countries.
According to The Washington Post’s anonymous sources, the historians participating in the discussion said that the current situation in the United States is “one of the most dangerous in modern history for democratic governance.”
A special feature of the meeting held on the fourth of August was that the participants focused on addressing the rise of totalitarianism in different parts of the world and the threats to American democracy.
For the magazine the source who opened the conversation said it was a way for Biden to hear from scholars and think about the larger context in which his tenure is taking place.
“Much of the discussion was about the broader context of competition between democratic values and institutions and global trends toward totalitarianism,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the paper, most of the scientists present have spoken openly about the threats they see to American democracy.
According to researchers, the threats became more concrete after the Capitol riot in January. Researchers add that threats are also fueled by some Republicans’ continued denial of the results of the 2020 presidential election and their efforts to run for state office.
In conversation also discussed the similarities between today and the time before World War II, when the growing authoritarianism abroad found an echo in the United States as well.
Similarities were found, for example, in the years before the 1940 elections. At the time, the president Franklin D. Roosevelt struggled against growing fascist sympathies and opposition to joining World War II. When Germany Adolf Hitler and Italy Benito Mussolini consolidated their power in the 1930s, pastor Charles Coughlin used his radio program to spread a populist and anti-Semitic message in the United States. Also a senator Huey Long incited Americans against Roosevelt and showed sympathy for dictatorial regimes.
Worry Biden, who started his campaign for the 2020 presidential election by stating that there is a “battle for the soul of the nation” has been talking about anti-democratic trends for a long time.
Democrats widely expect the same ideas to be central to Biden’s re-election campaign if he decides to run.
Biden has brought up these themes in his public speeches. Most recently, in July, he criticized his predecessor Donald Trump for his failure to take immediate action on January 6, 2021, when rioters inspired by him stormed Capitol Hill and attempted to overturn the outcome of the presidential election.
“You can’t be insurgent and pro-democracy,” Biden said in a speech to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.
“You can’t be pro-rebellion and pro-American.”
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