Analyse. In the United States House of Representatives, the commission of inquiry into the assault launched against the Capitol on January 6, 2021 continued its work as the midterm elections approach, Tuesday, November 8. It is carrying out its investigations into the responsibility of Donald Trump and his entourage in these events which occurred when parliamentarians were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. However, this investigation does not weigh very heavily in the campaign for the midterms of Tuesday 8 november. While 71% of Americans believe that democracy is in danger, the economy remains their main concern, according to a poll published by the New York Times in July. The hearings nevertheless shed light on the role played by certain intellectuals in supporting Trumpism.
Among the latter, the one who is considered the architect of the day of January 6: John Eastman. This jurist and former law professor wrote the plan that Donald Trump wanted to implement in order to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. This worthless legal scaffolding made Vice President Mike Pence the central cog in allowing the billionaire to stay in the White House.
Through John Eastman, Americans discovered the influence gained under Trump by a little-known think tank. The lawyer is indeed a researcher at the Claremont Institute. This think tank, located in the suburbs of Los Angeles, employs various thinkers who, like John Eastman, spread a hate speech, insurrectionary and strongly imbued with authoritarianism. Until recently, the Claremont Institute was respected within the conservative establishment. Its radicalization, through the adoption of illiberal and intolerant positions, shows to what extent certain American intellectual elites allow themselves to be seduced by democratic regression.
Arbitrary powers
The Claremont Institute was founded in 1979 by Harry Jaffa (1918-2015), a brilliant intellectual who could be uncompromising. It is he who would have inspired Barry Goldwater, Republican presidential candidate of 1964, a lapidary formula: “Extremism in the defense of freedom is not a vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is not a virtue. » Barry Goldwater, who was backed by the more radical wing of the party, was speaking at the Republican convention at the time. With these two sentences, he put an end to a security and war-mongering discourse. But Harry Jaffa is a character that is not limited to this formula. He is also the author of a widely acclaimed work on Abraham Lincoln, the visionary president who abolished slavery in 1865. Disciple of the philosopher Leo Strauss (1899-1973), tutelary figure of neoconservatism, Jaffa is the initiator of the current West Coast Straussians
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