Rep. Clyburn has a lot to get off his chest about Trump and the future of American democracy 

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., has a lot to get off his chest. As the nation’s capital prepares for the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, the 84-year-old lawmaker told theGrio he has grave concerns about the future of American democracy and the lengths to which Trump and his allies will go to attack their political enemies and suppress once-regarded democratic institutions.

“I’m seriously not sure whether or not we are experiencing the beginning of the ending of our democracy,” said Clyburn, who said the political resurgence of Trump is eerily similar to the rise of former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. He queried, “How was it that Adolf Hitler could get elected chancellor of Germany … how could people allow themselves to be so hoodwinked as to elect this guy?”

Congressman Clyburn warned that attacks on the press and dissident voices from Trump and his orbit reflect similar historical times in other parts of the world where democracy had fallen to the wills of dictatorships. 

The longtime congressman had sharp words for the media, which he said hasn’t done enough to call out the dangers of a second Trump administration. He named Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, as a warning sign of a potentially sliding U.S. democracy. 

“Ya’ll keep writing about Joe Biden pardoning his son, there ought to be headlines about Kash Patel being in charge of the FBI and saying he’s going after the media … That’s the kind of stuff that happened in Germany,” said Clyburn, who also noted that before Trump’s reelection, he warned about the dangers of the pro-Trump Project 2025 as “Jim Crow 2.0.” He added, “So all you people in the media, it’s not just about us in politics, it’s about y’all too.

“If this guy succeeds in this, we will not have another election in this country,” the congressman said flatly. Clyburn said of Trump, “I never thought that this country would elect a convict … but this country just did.”

Clyburn also expressed concern that some Republican senators seem “reticent about holding on to their powers of checks and balances” by not questioning the qualifications of some of Trump’s cabinet nominees.

“There are people in the Senate who support giving up the right to vet these nominees … people don’t want these nominees to have FBI background checks. I’m wondering why. What is that about?” said Clyburn.

He expressed particular outrage over Pete Hegseth — Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department – who is embroiled in controversy, including allegations of sexual assault, financial mismanagement and alcoholism. 

“So you can put the guy in charge of all of the defense of this nation, who … says, ‘But if y’all give me the job, I won’t drink anymore.’ That sounds like an alcoholic to me,” said Clyburn. 

Despite reporting about former Fox News colleagues and a whistleblower report at a veterans nonprofit Hegseth ran accusing him of excessive drinking, Hegseth denied that he had a drinking problem.

Clyburn, a close confidant of President Joe Biden, has been so concerned about what President-elect Trump would do in office that he personally recommended that he pardon his son, Hunter Biden, weeks before he ultimately did so. The congressman also advised the president to consider broad pardons for current and former government officials deemed Trump’s political enemies, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and federal prosecutor Jack Smith. 

Though Trump declined to commit to going after his opponents through his Department of Justice during a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he signaled that he would leave any criminal investigations up to his attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi. 

Clyburn, along with other Democrats and advocates, has been calling on President Biden to issue pardons and commutations for those unfairly sentenced for marijuana convictions, among other offenses. 

Clyburn said, given the stakes, he is “not through asking him to do some unusual things in order to be as protective of our democracy as he can possibly be.” He added, “Because I do think our democracy is under threat.”

When asked if Biden would answer the calls from Democrats and others in his final 42 days in office, the congressman said, “I think the President will do what he’s always done, irrespective of what we say.”

“Joe Biden has the greater capacity of compassion than I’ve seen in any public servant,” he told theGrio. 

Clyburn added, “Joe Biden is catching a lot of hell from a lot of people today because he’s doing the right thing, and people are using social media to misrepresent what he’s doing, but history is going to be very kind to him.”