Ken Martin is a devotee of his land, Minnesota, where he is already serving his fifth term as president of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), a branch of the American Democratic Party. He is the longest-serving leader in office that the DFL has seen in its 75-year history. He is also President of the Association of Democratic State Presidents (ASDC) and Vice President of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and from the way he speaks, slowly but energetically, passionately, I would say—perhaps that of an idealist—one realizes realize why.
He is a close and smiling guy and the ins and outs of American politics do not seem to have diminished his enthusiasm. During the interview, he remembers that phrase attributed to Chamberlain — a translation of a Chinese curse, it is rumored — which said: “May you live in interesting times”. May you live in interesting times. “And yet, boy are they interesting!” he notes.
He is waiting for me in a bar in Sagrada Familia, accompanied by the Pennsylvanian Candice Kerestan, general president of Democrats Abroad (the arm of the Democratic Party for Americans living abroad), the Texan Katherine Tullos, delegate in Spain, and Chris Reilly, of the Barcelona demarcation. The reason for the meeting, they explain, is to mobilize the vote abroad in view of the intermediate elections in November. "There are about six million Americans living abroad," reports Kerestan. "Only in Spain - adds Tullos - there are about 42,000 US residents, and this figure does not include tens of thousands of students and many others who come for short stays".
How relevant is the foreign vote?
It is a crucial vote. In the 2020 elections, he made the difference in favor of Biden. For example, in Georgia, 19,500 votes came from abroad, of which 90% were Democratic votes. Biden won there by nearly 12,000 votes.
Abortion occupies much of the debate. Will it be a main theme in November?
Fifty years of existing law in the country were invalidated by a conservative extreme right court. Not just Americans, but peoples around the world are concerned about the Supreme Court's decision. 1,410 girls under the age of 15 had abortions in 2019. After Roe, most states that have banned abortion will require such girls to give birth, including in cases of rape and incest. Many young women will grow up with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers.
This will have breathed new energy into the Democratic Party.
Definitely. Nobody expected it, neither the women who fought for the right to abortion fifty years ago nor the new generations, and they are ready to fight. All kinds of decisions that were made under the auspices of privacy rights are now in jeopardy. People have realized what the country is playing for in court. This has given us an opportunity to remind you of the antidote: win at every level so that we have opposition to fight back.
How significant are midterm elections?
Every choice has consequences. It's about choosing who we are and who we should be as Americans. The midterms are critical for us, but the upcoming elections are critical for the world. Case in point: The Obergefell case, in which the court upheld the right to same-sex marriage, is likely to be dropped next year. There are only eighteen states that legally recognize same-sex marriage. This means that if it is invalidated, the LGBTI community will only be able to marry in those states. One way to prepare for this is to win at the polls.
Trump talks a lot about making America great again: "Make America great again."
Trump wants to go back to those bygone days, but we don't want to go back. We have to move forward. My hope now is that people understand how connected their own rights are to elections, because when we disengage, things like this happen. We avert our eyes from the most dangerous branch of government. Still, I'm optimistic.
Is the Republican Party becoming a far right party? A cult party of the leader?
Absolutely. There is a certain fervor among Trump supporters, and that is very problematic because people know that the cult of personality does not lend itself to good dissent in debate within a political party. You just have to watch both games. Democrats have socialists, social democrats, progressives like me, moderate conservatives… There is racial, ethnic and geographic diversity. In contrast, the Republican Party is very homogeneous. Discussion is not allowed.
Has the essence of republicanism been lost?
It is no longer the Republican Party, but the party of Trump. This is dangerous in many ways. This is how dictatorships begin.
Trump has shown great control over his party, despite no longer being president. Of the deputies who voted to remove him, only two remain ...
It's alarming how blindly people follow what he says. Liz Cheney voted to impeach Trump and has lost the primary in Wyoming because she stood up for her principles. The influence is not limited to congressmen. In schools they are banning some reading that does not fit with Trump's vision. This destroys critical thinking.
And this happens in the United States, the cradle of modern democracy...
For years, people came to our country believing that not only did we have a democracy that protected everyone's rights, but also that regardless of who you were, where you came from, and what social class you were born into, you had a chance, but now not even the Americans are living that.
Has the American dream been lost?
The ideal is still there and people keep coming, but what is good about America is now very difficult to appreciate because of what is so broken. I often think of Emma's poem Lazarus, the one inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. She says: "Give me your exhausted, your wretched, your huddled crowds who yearn to breathe free." It's not just what's happening in Congress, it's spreading at all levels, above and below.
How do you evaluate these two years of Biden's mandate?
We've cut child poverty in half, appointed the most justices since Kennedy, passed the largest expansion of health care in our nation, enacted gun violence prevention laws, lowered prescription drug costs, and made the largest investment in clean energy in history. We are seeing wage increases for the first time in decades. All this in two years!
Still it seems that Trump occupies the media spotlight.
We have to stop hanging our heads. We have a great story to tell. There is no president in our nation's history with a better record of achievement. To focus on Trump and polarize the conversation around him is to fall into the trap, because that way we don't talk about what we have done: we have turned the page, we have restored a little sanity, decency and compassion.
The age of the President is much discussed. Is it worth looking for another candidate?
I always refer to the facts. It is unfair to criticize Biden because of her age. I worry that the Democrats are looking too far ahead. For now, I think we should focus on November. The President may or may not decide to run again. Great candidates ran for president under our banner in 2020. All of them would have made good presidents, but given the struggles we've faced the last two years, I doubt anyone else would have accomplished what Biden did. If he decides to run again, he has my full support.
