by Craig Wiesner – San Mateo Daily Journal – Dec 9, 2024
Taking a course on East Asia Affairs at the State Department in 1985, our class was glued to the television to watch the return of exiled South Korean opposition leader, future president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Kim Dae Jung. We suspected he might be assassinated as he stepped off the plane. The tension was thick as we watched the plane land, taxi, the doors open and the passengers begin to disembark. No shots were fired but Kim was forcibly separated from his American escorts, including two members of Congress. He was beaten and then placed under house arrest. He wasn’t freed until a few years later. Kim’s eventual election as president marked what most hoped would be a turn from dictatorships to liberal democracy, a forward direction for the country most hoped would not be reversed. Last week that reverse almost happened.
On December 3rd, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, facing low approval ratings and opposition to his agenda in Parliament, suddenly declared martial law in a 10:30pm address. Martial law banned all political activities, protests, rallies, and actions by political parties, with media/publications under martial law command. The military surrounded the Parliament Building to keep its members out. Soon, thousands of South Korean civilians gathered outside and members of Parliament confronted the military, demanding access to their building. One civilian, in a courageous act of civil disobedience, went as far as to stand in front of a military vehicle shouting “OVER MY DEAD BODY.” The vehicle did not move. One woman politician scuffled with an armed soldier, pushing his rifle away when he pointed it at her. 190 members of Parliament courageously forced their way past the military blockade and voted unanimously to end martial law. By dawn the president capitulated and later the Defense Minister resigned.
Having spent eight years serving in the Air Force as a linguist and instructor, focused on East Asia, I know what autocracies and dictatorships look like. As a civilian, one of my favorite rally chants has been “This is what democracy looks like!” As we approach January 20th, 2025 I wonder, what will it look like here in the United States? President Elect Donald Trump has said that he wants to be a “dictator on day one.” When pressed on what that means, he and others in his orbit have said he would “fire Special Counsel Jack Smith, launch the largest deportation program in American history, and drill baby drill.” He has stated that he will use active-duty U.S. military to enforce his orders if anyone tries to thwart him, perhaps invoking the Insurrection Act. There are reports that his team is looking at our current highest-ranking national military officers and in each state’s National Guard, to determine which ones should be removed. He has threatened to order the FCC to take away the licenses of news organizations like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and CBS and has called members of the free press “enemies of the people.” None of this is what democracy looks like.
Unlike the South Korean president’s current situation, Donald Trump will walk into office with a 50.4% approval rating, his party in the majority in the House and Senate, and a Supreme Court that will likely turn away most challenges to Trump’s actions. Will he focus on what he rightfully has the power to do or will he overreach? He could choose the former but his history portends the latter. That same Supreme Court has also told him that he has near absolute immunity from prosecution in his official actions, which to be frank is quite frightening to me regardless of who holds that office.
Trump faces over 74 million people who voted against him, and around 80 million eligible voters who didn’t vote at all (according to University of Florida’s Election Lab), and even some who voted for him potentially disliking some action he takes or becoming dissatisfied with the state of the world. When that turns into resistance what will he do? I worry that our military will have to face the difficult decision of whether something he demands constitutes a lawful or unlawful order. I’ve been there, done that, it was awful.
And I worry about those who may choose violence. I was horrified to see Trump grazed by a would be assassin’s bullet at a rally, and then threatened by another on a golf course. That’s not what Democracy looks like. I expect to see Americans peacefully protesting, with some committing acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, and accepting the legal consequences. I pray that Trump does not overreact, as the South Korean president just did. For now let’s organize, work for the world we want, hope for the best, and be prepared for that 10:30pm address.