David Frum writes:

Are constitutionally committed Americans doing all they can to prevent a pro-Trump plot to pervert the 2024 election?

Maybe not.

But along with that question, here’s another: Are constitutionally committed Americans doing all they can to prevent Donald Trump from winning the 2024 election fair and square?

The Biden administration’s numbers are slumping in the fall of 2021, opening the way for Republican gains in 2022 and the return of the twice-impeached ex-president as a presidential nominee. The schemes and machinations of the pro-Trump movement are part of the story. But if we’re heading toward a crisis of the republic, the mistakes and misfortunes of the anti-Trump coalition deserve a mention as well.

This is not a “both sides to blame” complaint. Only one side is “to blame” for the crisis: those willing to reelect a corrupt and authoritarian president, even by disenfranchising legal voters if that’s the only way to do it. But given that reality, it’s more than an everyday political imperative that the other side govern successfully. It’s a unique moral imperative.

That success is proving elusive. The troubles of the Biden administration could empower Senate, House, and state Republicans to restore Donald Trump to office. These troubles are intimately interconnected, but for clarity I’ll separate them and discuss each in turn. [Continue reading…]