Trust me: Dictators don't leave office willingly once they get in. They stay. If they do gain power under a weakened democracy, they twist the system to ensure their longevity. They gladly hold fake elections to garner the sheen of unearned legitimacy.
But they don't leave.
I have spent much of my career working overseas, often representing the United States. My task: to help governments and businesses of other countries to strengthen both democratic institutions and the rule of law needed for modern commerce.
I have lived under authoritarian regimes and flailing young democracies. I have watched their endless lies and plunder up close. I have seen U.S.-welcomed reform efforts abroad wither as cynicism and frustration mount, as friends in opposition are silenced and flee. I dread seeing it here. As my fear of speaking up begins to rise, my need to do so rises faster.
America's wannabe dictator, true to form, refused to leave. Those American leaders who deny the reality of Donald Trump's coup attempt play an extremely dangerous game with our futures. Count our entire Arkansas congressional delegation among the gamers. Trumpism is part of a much larger, longer and deeper game. In it, reactionaries poison our public discourse and steal our freedom under the guise of prayerfully defending it.
So, yet again, I get a constituent newsletter from Congressman French Hill, a decent but compromised man, that contains complete silence about Jan. 6. This latest one, like too many others, sidesteps the fact that our ex-president goaded his armed henchman to put spear heads on flagpoles to storm the Capitol for him. He glides mutely by the elephant in the room.
He uses none of his power to alert constituents to how democracy is endangered, much less to try to save it. My congressman instead uses his loudspeaker to treat constituents to misleading complaints about inflation, or stories about his made-for-Fox News visits to the border. He keeps strictly to the Trump party line. He feeds the lies.
With the shameless Supreme Court-sanctioned gerrymandering of Pulaski County, I will remain unrepresented in Congress. I will continue to be ruled by officials who are willfully blind to the true threats to our Constitution, the true threats to American strength and leadership. I will remain captive to their well-honed, blame-shifting talking points as they duck all collective responsibility. Were it not for the strength of a handful of embattled neo-cons like Liz Cheney, the GOP's fake ignorance of Trump's attempt to overthrow our Constitution would be complete, their whitewashing perfect. It's terrifying.
While Cheney puts her colleagues to well-deserved shame, my congressman remains consciously oblivious, firmly locked in his usual pleasant blandness, threatening nothing, accomplishing little, concealing insurrection, laying the foundation for dictatorship. His studied blandness cannot cover the stench.
What will it take for hundreds of Republican elected officials like Mr. Hill to emerge from feigned slumber? What will break the spell? When will our country-club defenders of privilege wake up and protect us from fundamental dangers? Can they, or are they too trapped in NRA money and our system's decay, too self-interested to defend us when they must? Or did they never really care about democracy, and now jettison it readily, smugly confident that they will stay on top in the dictatorship they enable?
I keep waiting for a sign of courage. Our timid, calculating leaders' silence is deafening. I wait in vain while they hide behind bullies. They do not deserve to rule us. But, sadly, many dictators who do not deserve to rule hang on for decades. They govern systems corroded by elite collusion, where institutions are gutted, elections are faked, money circulates mostly among crooked friends, and where submission, not freedom, reigns. This is the future the Arkansas congressional delegation, flag-wrapped and dripping in piety, seeks to bequeath us. Reject it. Reject them.
They and their Trumpian colleagues are building a sadder, more dangerous, and far weaker America than the one we know. Don't let them fob it off as strength. Our enemies hope for them to win, while our allies wait in horror for Trump redux, or worse. Trumpism channels darkness. It channels America's fall from grace, from honor, from leadership by positive example. It's a crying shame. Old, greedy and endlessly self-absorbed, MAGA will bring us down.
Yes, dear Republicans, please make America great again. Make it better than ever. Restore and expand true democracy. Defend our beleaguered commons. Work for the good of the people. Start by being honest about Trump. Take the first step, and maybe, just maybe, we can work together to heal our country and our Earth. It's urgent. Defend your integrity, Congressman Hill. Start with stopping the lies. Deep down, you know what's right. Please do it.
Paul Dodds of Little Rock is a Harvard Law-trained corporate lawyer and policy adviser. He has worked in Europe, Asia and Africa on technical assistance projects for development agencies including USAID, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the British, German and Dutch governments.