The Latest from the Prospect ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??
View this email in your browser [link removed]
**DECEMBER 5, 2024**
The American Prospect was founded at a time of turmoil and doubt for the progressive movement. We were built for this moment, and now we need you more than ever to support us so we're stronger than ever in 2025. This December, we have a goal to raise $75,000 to support our ambitious reporting projects in the upcoming year. We plan to do what we do best-follow the money, expose corruption, and hold the rich and powerful to account. But we can't do it without you. Please consider making a donation today [link removed] to power our newsroom-we can't afford to slow down now.
Meyerson on TAP
****
****
****
****
****
****
****
**** South Koreans Are Committed to Democracy. Our Own Republicans, Not So Much.
That nation's legislators overturned their president's attempt to seize power. Our Republicans played along with Trump's.
As of this writing, Donald Trump, from what I've seen, hasn't tweeted or commented about South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol's out-of-the-blue declaration of martial law, or the unanimous vote in that country's National Assembly to oppose it, Yoon's withdrawal of his declaration, and now, his impending impeachment. Trump has often displayed his own proclivities toward tin-pot dictatorship with his fanboy appreciations of other countries' autocrats (Putin, Xi, Orb??n). So far, though, he's somehow managed to restrain himself from gushing over Yoon's power grab. Whether that's because Yoon quickly backed off is not yet clear.
But one thing that is clear beyond all doubt is that Korea's National Assembly members have a fundamental appreciation of democracy that is utterly lacking in our own Republicans. Korea's legislators voted, one and all, to reject Yoon's power grab; some of them reportedly climbed though the Assembly's windows, when the army had blocked the building's doors, so they could get to the floor and cast their votes. No such commitments to democracy and the rule of law were evident among the Republicans who voted to reject the Electoral College tallies from Arizona and Pennsylvania on January 6th, or who subsequently voted against impeaching and convicting Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Yoon, by contrast, is now sure to be tossed out of office by the Assembly for his attempt to seize power.
Today, some Republican senators appear opposed to allowing Trump to make recess appointments to high government posts, as that would effectively strip them of their hard-won power. Similar thoughts doubtless informed the members of South Korea's National Assembly. But January 6th was not only a direct assault, but also a
**physical**assault on Congress and its powers, and the Republicans let it pass.
[link removed]
As David French has outlined [link removed] in
**The New York Times**, our Constitution does not directly give the president the power to invoke martial law, but it does give him the power to authorize the Army to repel an invasion (which is how Trump and his fellow Republicans characterize undocumented immigrants' border crossings), while the 1792 Insurrection Act authorizes the president to send in the troops to suppress "any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination or conspiracy." This would not be cause for worry but for the fact that Trump and his MAGAnauts see and define "conspiracies" much as they see and define "invasion," to mean any impediment to their agenda and rule.
Would congressional Republicans object to such purely political deployments of our armed forces? Well, they didn't object, in sufficient numbers, to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, or even his summoning a mob to attack them.
How to account for the greater appreciation that South Korean legislators and the South Korean public show toward democratic norms and constitutional order than that shown by today's Republicans? Clearly, Yoon is nowhere near as skilled a demagogue as Trump. And I confess I have no idea whether Rupert Murdoch or somebody like him has a "news" outlet in Seoul, or whether South Korean talk radio and social media are befouled by the kind of fetid falsehoods that dominate ours.
That said, how about we trade our congressional Republicans for South Korea's National Assembly members? Those Koreans have a commitment to democracy that our Republicans palpably and dangerously lack.
~ HAROLD MEYERSON
Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter [link removed]
On the Prospect website
Manhattan Medicare Murder Mystery [link removed]
Only about 50 million customers of America's reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO. BY MAUREEN TKACIK
Billionaire Gifts and Cuts for Everyone Else [link removed]
The numbers don't work for Trump, and neither do the politics. BY ROBERT KUTTNER
Missouri Lawmakers: Show Me a New Abortion Ban [link removed]
The legislature could spend early 2025 debating how to upend the constitutional amendment on reproductive rights that voters just passed. BY GABRIELLE GURLEY
The Magic Thinking of Kennedy-ism [link removed]
The hero worship of the family of American royalty has a dark side: a tendency toward conspiracism that fits with the MAGA movement. BY RICK PERLSTEIN
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to subscribe.?? [link removed]
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
??
[link removed]
??
[link removed]
??
[link removed]
??
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM [link removed]
The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States
Copyright (c) 2024 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here [link removed].
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here [link removed].
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters, click here [link removed].
