By Donald Gilpin

Three different speakers at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University last week warned of the precarious state of our democracy.

On Monday, Charlie Sykes, MSNBC contributor, former host of WNYC’s Indivisible and author of 2017 How the Right Lost Its Mind, described how he “was excommunicated from conservative circles for not supporting Donald Trump.” He also claimed that “the damage to the culture is going to be long-lasting,” and called for “a coalition of the decent from both parties” to come together in opposition to the current status quo in Washington.

On Wednesday, Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer, author of Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies (2009), recounted the August 12 clash in Charlottesville between white nationalists and counter-protestors and cited this era as “a terrible chapter in our history.” Though ultimately coming to an optimistic conclusion, Signer quoted, “When you dance with the devil, you don’t change the devil. The devil changes you,” and observed, “that’s what has happened to a significant part of our political establishment.”

And Thursday last week, in a talk focused on international issues and titled “Is There a Contradiction Between Peace Processes and Human Rights Advocacy?”, Princeton University professor and former ambassador to both Israel and Egypt Daniel Kurtzer warned that President Trump’s recent decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “has isolated the United States from every other country in the world. The ramifications for U.S. diplomacy are profound and long-lasting.”

“At the crossroads of scholarship and governance,” the Woodrow Wilson School, according to its website, “is a major center of education and research in public and international affairs.” It offers a full calendar of lectures and other events open to the general public, including last week’s speeches, each attended by audiences of 100-200 in the University’s Robertson Hall.

Conservative Voice

A leading conservative voice standing in opposition to Trump and the alt right, Sykes argued that the American conservative movement had lost its values. “I’m horrified by the acquiescence of people I thought I knew,” he said, focusing less on the president’s effect on the populace. “It’s about what Trump has done to us, what his election says about us and our culture. Most alarming is what he has exposed about us as Americans.”

Warning of the fragility of our democracy, Sykes described recent political history as a four-act play, where Trump’s rise to the presidency constitutes the first two acts, and the third act is the current situation with the Republican Party having capitulated completely to Trump with “no significant opposition.” As for the fourth act, “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

Describing himself as “a longtime conservative who thought I understood the conservative movement,” Sykes continued, “The Faustian bargain is playing out: you get what you want, but the price is greater than you realized. That’s act four.”

Claiming that “we live in a post-truth political environment,” Sykes condemned “the moral failure” of Republicans who “did not push back,” in opposition to Trump, ”because it was not convenient for them. The Republican Party is now the party of Donald Trump, and it’s going to become the party of Roy Moore.”

Sykes, the author of nine books, has not given up, but he admits, “Sometimes there’s a fever and you have to wait for the fever to break, and you don’t know when that will be.”

Charlottesville Mayor

A 1995 Princeton University graduate, Signer described “two Charlottesvilles,” one with a legacy of racism and a high poverty rate affecting minorities disproportionately. He argued that Charlottesville should not be defined by recent negative media images. Though depicting his city as “a tolerant, loving, and welcoming community,” he admitted, “We have a vast amount to do in changing the narrative and telling the full story of race through our public spaces,” including a controversial statue of Robert E. Lee that became a focus of the August 12 protests.

“When a progressive Southern city deals at long last with its history of race,” he said, “the irony is that this made us a target for many forces who don’t want us to change the narrative and tell the full story of race.”

Signer noted the “grace and kindness that emerged in defiance of extremism and intolerance around the nation.” In describing Trump as a demagogue, he noted the president’s responsibility for “bringing extremist groups into the mainstream of U.S. politics, and the president’s comments equivocating” in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville.

Signer concluded on a positive note. “I am an optimist,” he said. “We will overcome this dark chapter in our country’s history.” He cited rallies and demonstrations throughout the country opposing the extremist demonstrators in Charlottesville, and he noted that the Democratic victory in the November election was also in part a reaction against the events in Charlottesville.

“Our democracy is alive and kicking,” he said. Calling for the rebuilding of “a deliberative center in American life” and calling for a “repudiation of the darkness,” Signer concluded, “There’s nothing that’s wrong with us that what’s right with us can’t fix. It comes down to us.”

Global Ambassador

Kurtzer, who was presented with the 2017 Adlai Stevenson Award from the Princeton-Trenton area chapter of the United Nations Association of the U.S.A. for his career of service to the global community, discussed at length the complicated balance between the quest for peace and the quest for human rights, citing examples from South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East, and elsewhere. For the peace process to work, he asserted, “we are going to have to deal with the people who’re most challenging to achieving that peace.”

In commenting on the recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Kurtzer criticized the lack of nuance and creative thinking. “Trump inherited a moribund peace process,” Kurtzer admitted, “but he raised expectations. He said he could make the ultimate deal, and shot himself in the foot.”

Kurtzer suggested that the U.S. could have positioned itself as an honest broker. “What if the U.S. had said it would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but also recognize it as the capital of Palestine when a Palestinian state is created?”

Kurtzer argued that the possibility for a two-state solution remains, but expressed concern about the U.S.’s loss of credibility and disarray in the current State Department.