A “demagogue” is a leader who appeals to popular desires, prejudices and fear instead of rational arguments.
It’s a word folks have had to learn this year. Prejudices that should be obsolete turned out to be alive and well in the GOP electorate, as Donald Trump stoked the fires of racism, misogyny and bigotry to muscle his way into victory in the presidential primaries.
Now Trump is the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Seeing the power of demagoguery in action, some leading Republicans have hitched their horses to Trump’s wagon. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has joined his team. GOP Chairman Reince Priebus is in Trump’s corner, too.
But many of the party’s former leaders have refused, so far, to back Trump — including House Speaker Paul Ryan, both Presidents Bush and former GOP standard bearer Mitt Romney. They say he doesn’t represent the best their party has to offer.
I’d like to give them credit, but I’m not sure it’s deserved. After all, standing up to demagogues should be a minimum requirement of civic leaders. But their opposition made me wonder about Trump’s self-described precursor here in Maine.
Gov. Paul LePage has endorsed Trump and claimed to be “Donald Trump before Donald Trump,” saying the two brash men are cut “of the same cloth.”
It’s true. The governor is no stranger to demagoguery.
He used prejudice and fear to gin up opposition to refugees, whom he called “the biggest problem in our state,” saying they bring “foreign type of diseases” into Maine.
It didn’t matter to him that public health officials quickly debunked his claims — the same kind that were used against my grandparents when they came here from Ireland. What mattered was his ability to use xenophobia to support his indifference to legally present immigrants seeking a better life in America.
More recently, the governor used misperceptions about the drug crisis to support his opposition to Narcan, an overdose antidote that’s been used for years to save lives and give people a shot at recovery.
The governor invented a story about a Deering High School junior who “had three Narcan shots in one week. … He didn’t go to the hospital. He didn’t get checked out. He was so used to it. He just came out of it and went to class,” LePage said.
The story played up prejudices against people suffering from addiction, portraying them, as the governor often does, as beyond saving — unable or unwilling to stop abusing drugs. It didn’t matter that it was complete fiction.
And like Trump, LePage has resorted to racist tropes and racial resentment, such as when he ranted about “guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty — these types of guys,” who come to Maine to sell drugs and impregnate young white girls.
So when I saw those few GOP leaders who are opposing Trump, it made me wonder: Where were the Republicans in Maine when it was time to stand up to the governor’s demagoguery?
Where were they when LePage hijacked the party of Olympia Snowe and Margaret Chase Smith, the same way Trump has now hijacked the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan?
Democrats have stood up to the governor when he’s used falsehoods to stoke fear and division. Unfortunately, the media have enabled LePage the same way they’ve enabled Trump. They’ve given him a soapbox, breathlessly reporting comments that turn out to be lies. At times, they’ve given those lies false equivalency, treating the truth like it’s up for partisan debate.
After six years of this, I understand why our critiques of the governor barely register for most Mainers anymore. The media has told them it’s just partisan bickering, so that’s how they treat it.
That’s why it’s no longer enough for Democrats to be the only ones standing up to the governor. The stakes are too high. Now, it’s time for Maine Republicans to stand up, too.
Donald Trump reminds us that there is no limit to the lengths demagogues will go. The parallel of his entreaties to violence against his opponents are clear in the governor’s own call for Maine people to “load up” to go after people they suspect of dealing drugs.
Trump’s rise will only inspire the governor to be bolder, to hurt more people with his fear-mongering and his lies. It’s time for Maine people and the media to ask Republicans this: Are you with Trump and LePage or not?
The way they answer that question will tell us whether the Maine Republican Party of the future will be a safe haven for demagogues and bigotry or return to its pre-LePage tradition of moderation and reason.
For the future of our political system and our state, it’s a question that has to be asked.
Sen. Dawn Hill, D-Cape Neddick, is the assistant minority leader in the Maine Senate.