MAGA Movement Attempts to Reverse Earth’s Rotation to Turn Back Time

There is a thrilling scene in the first Superman movie, which hit the silver screen in 1978. When Lois Lane suffocated and died after her car fell into a deep crevice and was entombed with soil and debris, Superman devised an ingenious plan to revive his beloved. He understood that by flying at extremely high velocity around the Earth in the opposite direction of its current rotation, he could reverse the Earth’s spin. By so doing, he could turn back time.

Miraculously, our “man of steel” succeeded in saving his woman, this time before her car was swept away, and in the process, without the Earth incinerating, or rivers and oceans washing over the land, or mountains crumbling.

Attempting to take a page from Superman’s playbook, the Republican Party through its MAGA wing following it leader, Donald J. Trump, has been attempting to reverse the social, political, and legislative rotation of the United States by turning back the advances the country has made over the years.

Donald Trump has painted a gruesome image of a post-apocalyptic U.S.-America, replete with vicious marauding gangs, gunshots whizzing throughout inner cities, decrepit crumbling structures and highways, rampant poverty, declining health care systems, imminent terrorist attacks, ruthless criminal-drug-dealing-rapist invaders from our southern border.

After inciting violence at his rallies, leading to the deadly insurrection by his fascist militia at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and his second impeachment, and fear, stereotyping and scapegoating all Muslims and so-called “illegal aliens,” after promising to punish women who had and their doctors who performed abortions, after asserting that he will reestablish the Supreme Court to an ultra-conservative majority, and after promising to reverse both Roe v. Wade and marriage equality, and most importantly, after promising to “Make America Great Again,” Heir Donald non-so-solemnly proclaimed during his meandering diatribe in 2016 at the Republican National Convention:

I am your voice! I alone can fix it. I will restore law and order.

Trump never asked anything of his supporters other than their total loyalty to follow by placing their complete faith in him. And the authoritarian personalities followed brown-shirted in lockstep.

Trump had his followers wax nostalgic to the television shows from many of their youth: “Father Knows Best,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “Ozzy and Harriet,” “Leave it to Beaver,” “The Brady Bunch,” “Happy Days,” and “Full House,” all reflecting the mainstream popular image of the U.S.-American family as white, middle class, with a nice home in the suburbs, and with all family members accepting their assigned raced and gendered scripts.

Today, with Trump as its presumptive leader, the Republican Party has set its sights further in reversing the rotation of the planet by becoming the Party of the far distant past by morphing into the Part of No:

• No Abortion
• No Federal Funding of Women’s Healthcare Clinics
• No National Healthcare Plan
• No Appropriate and Quick Response to Public Health Emergencies
• No Governmental Food Subsidies
• No Trust in Climate Science,
• No Trust in Vaccines
• No Paid Parental Leave
• No National Childcare Plan and No Eldercare Plan
• No Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives in Businesses and Schools
• No Knowing about Critical Race Theory
• No Knowing about Race in Schools
• No Knowing about Gender in Schools
• No Knowing about Sexuality in Schools
• No Knowing of “Hard” History
• No Reading of Controversial Books
• No or Restricted Government Funding of Public and School Libraries
• No #Black Lives Matter
• No #Me Too
• No #March for Our Lives
• No to Indigenous First Nations Peoples’ Land Claims
• No Reparations to African Americans
• No Progressive Movements for Change
• No Bilingual Education Programs
• No Free Public Higher Education
• No Judges & Justices Nominated by Democrats
• No Marriage Equality
• No Public Accommodations for Trans People
• No Gender Confirmation Medical Procedures for Trans People
• No Non-Binary Definitions of Gender
• No Personalized Pronouns
• No Separation of “Church & State”
• No Limits on Religious Exemptions to Civil Rights Laws
• No Constraints on Christian Nationalism and White Supremacy
• No Consumer Protections
• No Government Infrastructure Projects
• No Labor Unions & No Collective Bargaining
• No Guaranteed Federal Minimum Living Wage
• No Workers’ Rights
• No Regulations on Unfettered Capitalism
• No Authority of the Federal Government over States
• No NATO & No United Nations
• No Engagement in World Affairs
• No Criticism of Brutal Authoritarian Dictators
• No Aid to Ukraine
• No Hesitation to Restrict Promotions of Military Personnel Jeopardizing Arms Forces’ Readiness
• No Limits on Fossil Fuel Emissions
• No Limits on Gas & Oil Drilling, Mining, & Deforestation
• No Cleaning of the Environment
• No Commitment to Clean Energy Sources
• No Gun Regulations of Any Kind
• No Black & Brown Immigrants & No Immigration Reform
• No Path to Citizenship for Black & Brown Undocumented Immigrants
• No Police Reform
• No Public Safety Net Programs of Any Kind
• No Reductions on Student Loan Debt
• No Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
• No Reduction in Prescription Drug Prices
• No Voting Rights & No GOP Limits on Gerrymandering
• No Trust in the Electorate to Make Informed Decisions
• No Trust in Elections Unless Republicans Win
• No Equitable & Fair Tax Policies
• No Narrowing of the Massive Income & Wealth Gaps
• No Social Security, No Medicare, & No Medicaid
• No Government Regulations on Business & Industry
• No Prosecution of Capitol Insurrectionists & Any Republicans
• No Accountability
• No Acknowledgement of the Systemic Nature of the Many Forms of Oppression
• No Acknowledgement of the Unearned Benefits and Privileges of Dominant Group Members
• No to Woke
• No to Knowing
• No Interest in Solving Problems
• No Desire to Govern Even When They Have the Power to Do So
• No Restraints on an Unrelenting March to Fascism
• No Ethics, No Truth, No Facts, No Decency, No Compassion, No Empathy
• No to the Constitution of the United States of America
• No Democracy

Democracy, though, demands an educated electorate. Democracy demands responsibility on the part of the electorate to critically examine their politicians and the issues of the day so they can make truly informed decisions. Democracy demands us never to relinquish our freedom and authority for some promise of a comfortable security by returning to a fairytale past.

Those peaceful bygone days where lovely children played in beautifully landscaped yards within lily-white neighborhoods surrounded by rainbows above and unicorns strolling down the freshly cleansed sidewalks never existed except in the mind of the cult believers.

Besides, if someone or some forces were actually to reverse the Earth’s rotation, the planet’s center of gravity would fail, the planet would instantly explode into a great conflagration, spin out of its orbit, and sling out into space to become a giant meteor.

Metaphorically (meteorically), maybe that is Trump and his MAGA followers’ intention.

—

This Post is republished on Medium.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything

—

Photo credit: iStock