Populism, democracy, and the post‐2020 Republican Party in Congress

Abstract

Populist chief executives tend to weaken democracies by undermining the rule of law and horizontal accountability. For insight into the resilience of American democracy against such threats, this article takes a close look at how the Republican Party in Congress responded to President Donald J.Trump's attack on the legitimacy of American elections following his loss in the 2020 elections. It examines post‐2020 congressional Republicans’ decisions about party positioning, legislative party leadership and membership, and Trump's status as party leader. In each set of decisions, congressional Republicans pursued their own interests rather than echoing Trump's claims or taking direction from him. Congressional Republicans, however, largely declined to criticize Trump directly in light of their voters’ continued support for him, support that was evident in the 2022 Republican primaries. The overall conclusion is that the self‐interest of separately elected members of Congress offers a significant, albeit imperfect defense against a populist chief executive's bid for hegemony.

House Republicans were rewarded for supporting Donald Trump’s ‘stop the steal’ efforts

“…Frances Lee attributed the ambiguous posture of Republican members of Congress toward Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election primarily to electoral pressure, noting that 2022 primary outcomes “pointed to significant danger for congressional Republicans in opposing Trump” and concluding that “the ultimate fate of Trumpian populism rests more with the voters than with the party in Congress” ( 6 p. 15). However, our findings suggest that electoral accountability to “the voters” was neither here nor there in the fallout from Trump’s “stop the steal” efforts.…”

“…“They made no attempt to gatekeep him from future office” via impeachment, nor did they “try to lead their voters away” from him. “They largely refrained from direct criticism,” ignoring or downplaying his “dangerous and unfounded claims about a stolen election” ( 6 p. 15).…”