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And so we find ourselves this news cycle at a strange thematic confluence of democracy, MLK, and the Emmys.

Let’s take democracy first.

Over the weekend in Asia, our AAPI ancestral home, the pro-democracy movement appears strong, as voters in Taiwan have rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and have elected Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president. Many Taiwanese abroad, including the U.S., even flew back to cast their votes. (Think folks like those in the fictional “Brothers Sun.”)

Meanwhile, in our country, which reportedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses are about to show the world how Americans feel about authoritarianism. The front runner in the Republican Party is the former president who claims he should have immunity from criminal liability in America, including the murder of political opponents.

Last week, Federal DC Circuit Judge Florence Y. Pan, coincidentally a New York-born Taiwanese American, asked a Trump lawyer this: “Could a president order Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act.” (See last week’s column here.)

Trump lawyer D. John Sauer answered: “He would have to be and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution.”

It’s a big assumption that everyone in the Senate would go along to impeach and convict. After all, a U.S. president with the immunity Trump seeks could also order Seal Team 6 to kill all his opponents on the Senate.

That would be preposterous in a democracy.

So Pan asked the question again: Could a president who ordered Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, be subject to criminal prosecution?

The Trump lawyer wanted to say no to defend his client, but then meekly replied–“a qualified yes.”

That should be the exchange of the year that makes crystal clear the real intent behind Trump’s push for immunity. Trump wants carte blanche to do anything we wants. It’s the stuff of kings, autocrats, and dictators.

That didn’t go unnoticed at last week’s Republican debate in Iowa.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis usually attacks Trump with all the force of a rubber knife. This time he was slightly more aggressive, saying compared to Trump, he was always “going to follow the Constitution.”Of course, that would come with one notable exception, DeSantis’ trashing of the First Amendment and his push to ban books in schools.

DeSantis also said front-runner Trump would lose his immunity claim and force Republicans to consider if he’s really the right person for the campaign. “If Trump is the nominee, it’s going to be about Jan. 6, legal issues, criminal trials,” said DeSantis.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was more aggressive. Trump’s claim and the Seal Team Six question? “Absolutely ridiculous,” Haley said. “We need to use some common sense here. You can’t go kill a political rival, and then claim, you know, immunity. . .I think we have to start doing things that are right.”

By that, she meant looking at how Trump has divided our country. “It’s divided over extremes,” she said. “Divided over hatred, it’s divided over the fact that people think that if someone doesn’t agree with you they’re bad.”

Haley said Trump’s leadership brought on chaos and that “we don’t need this chaos anymore.”

But Trump still leads this weekend in the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll this weekend, with 48 percent of likely caucusgoers, to Haley’s 20 percent and DeSantis’ 16 percent.

Do Americans prefer authoritarianism? Trump drops huge breadcrumbs about his aspirational dictatorship and Iowans seem to be too cold to care.

Let’s see how they caucus neighbor-to-neighbor, and if common sense prevails.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

I’ve commented on MLK Day for years. It’s a powerful thing to shut down financial markets, banks, the post office, and many government and business offices in your honor.

For a day, a revolution.

And then it’s back to work and we’re back to dreaming again.

But maybe it would be better in these divided times if we remember the civil rights leader by simply being civil toward each other. Take it to the extreme if you want. Show genuine love toward a fellow American. Hug even--if you’ve started hugging again.

All the time. OK, just one day.

One day is all that Trump said he’d need, when asked about being a dictator.

Given the moment, I can’t help but think back to Judge Pan’s questioning of Trump lawyers about assassination of political rivals.

Previous presidents knew better than to ask. But that doesn’t mean the government didn’t go after rivals using questionable means.

It wasn’t a hypothetical when in 1962, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover got approval from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to wiretap a close advisor to King suspected of being a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America. The FBI even had files of famed Filipino American author Carlos Bulosan.

Looking back, the FBI going after suspected Communists seems tame compared to what Trump wants. A second term under an immunized Trump would make the president as powerful as any leader in a communist country. Finally, he could look Kim Jong Un eye-to-eye.

Trump’s immunity idea seems to target anyone who speaks out or stands in his way.

And you know what people tend to stand in Trump’s way mostly.

This MLK Day 2024, we’re also weathering the Supreme Court dismantling civil rights programs such as affirmative action. And now, the next phase appears to be undoing all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in higher ed and the corporate world.

In this election year, the anti-immigration talk is also growing, as Republicans use the Southern Border as a leverage point on every policy issue it considers. It only leads to blaming all America’s problems on immigrants of all ethnicities.

We could use more civic love on MLK Day 2024.

If it seems bad now, I remember not being all that happy when MLK Day fell on a remarkable moment in 2013.

That year MLK Day came on the second Obama inaugural.

I should have been happier. We all were happier then.

THE EMMYS

Because of the Hollywood strikes, the timing of the Globes and the Emmys are a bit off.

But I’m predicting the TV winners should be the same.

The modern Asian American hero’s journey is on full display in “Beef,” and that should win big for limited series, just as it did at the Globes.

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb. But it would be a surprise if it doesn’t win. “Succession” and “The Bear” are in other categories. Would “Dahmer,” the limited series on the cannibal who ate Asian boys, upset “Beef”?

I don’t think so.

Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, and Lee Sung Jin should clean up here.

It’s really the first time an Asian American TV project got both community AND the artistic acclaim from the industry during awards season.

The last time Asian Americans hit it big like this was when Alan Yang won in 2016 telling Aziz Ansari’s story.

That was eight years ago. A lot has changed. And a lot has stayed the same.

We just don’t have days like this, when MLK Day, the election year’s first votes, and the Emmys take place.

Maybe we’ll have lots to cheer about when it’s done.

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NOTE: I will talk about this column and other matters on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” my AAPI micro-talk show. Usually Live @2p Pacific. Livestream on Facebook; my YouTube channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www.amok.com.