The Obamas’ statement

After Kamala Harris’s concession speech, Barack and Michelle Obama released the following statement:

“Over the last few weeks and through Election Day, millions of Americans cast their votes—not just for president, but for leaders at every level. Now the results are in, and we want to congratulate President Trump and Senator [JD] Vance on their victory.

“This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues. But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power.

“Michelle and I could not be prouder of Vice President Harris and Governor [Tim] Walz—two extraordinary public servants who ran a remarkable campaign. And we will always be grateful to the staff and volunteers who poured their heart and soul into electing public servants they truly believed in.

“As I said on the campaign trail, America has been through a lot over the last few years—from a historic pandemic and price hikes resulting from the pandemic, to rapid change and the feeling a lot of folks have that, no matter how hard they work, treading water is the best they can do. Those conditions have created headwinds for democratic incumbents around the world, and last night showed that America is not immune.

“The good news is that these problems are solvable—but only if we listen to each other, and only if we abide by the core constitutional principles and democratic norms that made this country great.

“In a country as big and diverse as ours, we won’t always see eye-to-eye on everything. But progress requires us to extend good faith and grace—even to people with whom we deeply disagree. That’s how we’ve come this far, and it’s how we’ll keep building a country that is more fair and more just, more equal and more free.”

I think this is a big mistake.

First, it (further) normalizes Trump and Trumpism. What Donald Trump “disagrees” with the Obamas about is that he should abide by the results of elections he loses, that he shouldn’t try to jail or kill his opponents for the crime of opposing him, that it’s a bad thing to create concentration camps for 20 million American residents in the process of trying to deport them with no due process of law, that one shouldn’t treat the federal civil service as a spoils system for his most zealous supporters, and on and on and on.

Second, the Democratic leadership, and in particular Kamala Harris, just spent the presidential campaign claiming Trump is a fascist, which, to be clear, was and is an accurate label.

The notion that supporters of liberal democracy, from Alexandra Ocasio Cortez to Liz Cheney and everyone in between, are supposed to be “extending good faith and grace” to fascists like Donald Trump makes a total mockery of those claims. It says “we didn’t really mean that at all, that was just some over the top rhetoric in the heat of the campaign, now let’s get back to normal politics with our opponents, who are normal politicians as well, although maybe they used some over the top rhetoric as well.”

When Robert Paxton wrote that successful fascist movement succeed by “working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites,” he was making the point that every successful fascist regime, prior to its final stage of total radicalization or eventual entropy, has to work with the existing power structure in order to fully take power.

Donald Trump won the election, and that reality has to be acknowledged and lived with, because at least for the moment the alternative is worse. But the last thing Democratic elites ought to be doing at the moment is signaling any willingness to cooperate with his completely explicit goal of trying to destroy the democratic process that just put him back in power. When dealing with fascism, the difference between cooperation and collaboration is non-existent, and statements like this obscure that critical absence of a distinction.

The options for defenders of liberal democracy are to resist, flee, or surrender. Bipartisan cooperation isn’t on the menu with Trump and Trumpism, and anybody who claims otherwise is either a fool, or thinks that they can cut a deal with Donald Trump while somehow still keeping their own hands clean at a time like this.