Trump may be a major force within his party, but not among the broader electorate

David Zurawik and Steve Peoples, Tribune News Service/AP

Facebook extended the ban on former President Donald Trump from its platform until 2023, the social media giant announced Friday. It is, according to Facebook, the toughest sanction it can apply under its current rules.

That might sound tough, but is it really enough given the perilous moment our democracy now finds itself in thanks in large part to Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and his false claims of voter fraud? The answer is no.

The ban, which also keeps Trump off Instagram, initially went into effect Jan. 7, the day after the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. It will come up for reconsideration on Jan. 7, 2023, according to the decision announced on Friday. The attack followed a rally filled with inflammatory rhetoric from Trump urging those in the crowd to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.” The conflict that followed led to five deaths.

In announcing the original ban, which was then for two weeks, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Trump used the platform to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”

So, why would you ever let someone who used your creation to incite violence against the government back on? And with the ban up for reconsideration by Facebook in January 2023, why would you leave the door open for him to possibly be sowing more discord and lies among your tens of millions of followers during the 2024 presidential campaign? If this seditious action by a then sitting president is not enough for a lifetime ban, what is?

This is not about liking or disliking Trump. This is about the damage that has already been done to democracy and the grave danger we now face as a nation because of Trump’s media lies. It’s a threat, by the way, that far too many people don’t seem to get even as we get new intimations of danger every day.

As desperately shocking as images of that bloody insurrection were to some of us, we have a Senate that voted not to investigate how it happened and who was involved. We have a retired general and former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, suggesting at a right-wing gathering last week that a military coup, which would put Trump back in office, might be a good thing. (He has since tried to walk it back without much luck.) And we have Trump using every media moment he gets to keep spreading the Big Lie that he won the November election and it was stolen from him.

In a statement issued by his office on Friday, Trump called Facebook’s decision an “insult” to the millions who voted for him.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our country can’t take this abuse anymore!” he added.

Trump on Saturday pushed Republicans to support candidates who are loyal to him in next year’s midterm elections as the former president launched a new more active phase of his post presidency. Trump, 74, teased the prospect of another presidential bid of his own in 2024, but vowed first to be an active presence on the campaign trail for those who share his values in next year’s fight for control of Congress.

“The survival of America depends on our ability to elect Republicans at every level starting with the midterms next year,” Trump charged early in a rambling speech that spanned nearly an hour and a half.

Trump’s speech to hundreds of Republican officials and activists gathered for the North Carolina GOP convention was the opening appearance in what is expected to be a new phase of rallies and public events. Out of office for more than four months and banned from his preferred social media accounts, the former president hopes to use such events to elevate his diminished voice ahead of another potential presidential run.

His advisers are already eyeing subsequent appearances in Ohio, Florida, Alabama and Georgia to help bolster midterm candidates and energise voters.

Some party leaders worry that a rise of pro-Trump candidates in the coming months could jeopardize the GOP’s fight for control of Congress in 2022. While Trump remains a dominant force within his party, he is deeply unpopular among key segments of the broader electorate. He lost the last election by 7 million votes after alienating Republican-leaning suburban voters across the country.