Consider the following small sample of recent ‘normal’ right-wing discourse and planning — just ‘business as usual’ for the vast sedition wing of today’s GOP:
* A far-right extremist openly advocates “overturning American democracy” — at an influential Conservative Political Action Conference. Applause follows.
* Ex-president Trump, when asked if he’ll become a dictator if he’s re-elected, deflects and quips that he’d ‘only’ be a dictator on Day One.
* Heavily red states are starting to simply ignore federal laws and Supreme Court rulings that they dislike — while actively demonizing and working to castrate the federal government.
* The ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, in concert with the Trump re-election campaign, developed a detailed plan — Project 2025 — to eviscerate the federal government and consolidate much more power in the executive branch and the (presumed) Trump presidency.
* Texas governor Abbott has shifted to the extreme right, and now makes opposition to Federal immigration laws and policies — including recent Supreme Court rulings countering his actions — the centerpiece of his ‘reign’ and current draconian initiatives.
* Despite the U.S. being a putative democracy, most red states have been working overtime to make it harder to vote — especially for people of color.
* Many right-leaning Americans now insist that our country was intended to be, and was founded as, a ‘Christian nation,’ despite the fact that our founders specifically worked to separate church and state, and tried to guarantee complete freedom of religion — for ANY religion.
* At his rallies and in his frequent Truth Social rants, ex-president Trump constantly claims he’s being ‘persecuted’ by the evil Feds and the ‘Deep State’ via endless, baseless ‘witch hunts.’ He’s cleverly using his four major indictments — which include 91 criminal counts — as a rallying cry for his base (and major money-maker for him), and keeps instigating right-wing rage at the U.S. government and our justice system. Amazingly, his devious ‘spin’ on his many indictments has steadily increased his popularity and power — just as he intended.
* Many right-wing citizens increasingly believe that red states may need to secede from the U.S. — or even that a second, bloody Civil War is not only needed, but is coming soon.
Growing disdain for the principles of democracy and our Constitution
Scarily, what all these beliefs, policies, or events have in common is a growing disregard and disdain for the principles and procedures of democracy, and for our Constitution.
It’s well-known that ex-president Trump, while in office and ever since, prides himself on being a ‘rule-breaker,’ norm-buster, and fierce enemy of the ‘libtards,’ the supposed ‘Deep State’ … and liberal democracy itself. His influence has been both insidious and devastating.
Largely due to Trump, American political discourse has been moving further and further to the right — often into the realm of far-right ideology and conspiracy theories — and has basically been ‘hijacked’ by Trump’s aggressive, confrontational style and constant rage-inducing demagoguery and incitement.
But we can’t just casually observe and ‘report on’ these happenings — and then stop our inquiry, stick our heads in the sand, and pretend things will somehow go back to normal. For it’s become crystal clear that the prior American ‘normal’ no longer exists, and old-style (meaning pre-Trump) politics has also ceased to exist — for the GOP especially.
Meanwhile, intensifying hate, racism, anti-democratic ‘ideals,’ paranoia, bullying, and partisan political violence are increasingly being normalized and even actively promoted.
Unfortunately, our American media are primarily right-leaning (and gutless), so they don’t look too deeply into most of these events or issues. Worse, they often adopt a lazy, hands-off ‘boys will be boys’ attitude — which just compounds the problem(s), and tacitly encourages bullies to be bullies … or enables bullies to become outright, violence-prone fascists.
The rule of the ‘strong men’ and (White) bullies
Most Americans don’t seem to fully realize it yet, but these dangerous trends and negative societal shifts have blossomed into a full-scale catastrophe for our nation and our system of government. Without any exaggeration, it looks like we’re now embroiled in a true nightmare scenario which could well lead to the total collapse of the U.S.
Even after almost a decade of this blatant and seditious idiocy, we still haven’t fully ‘gotten’ the whole, awful picture — and we desperately need to understand exactly what is replacing our former commitment (weak as it was) to democracy and to our Constitution. So let’s return to my statement, a few paragraphs back, that read “American political discourse has … basically been ‘hijacked’ by Trump’s aggressive, confrontational style and constant rage-inducing incitement(s).”
Over the past 8+ years, the U.S. and our entire population have been subjected to an infernal, seemingly endless sociopolitical ‘experiment’ revolving around Donald Trump — and the purpose of the ‘experiment’ seems to be ‘Let’s see just how far we can push democracy, morality, the media, and our system of government before it all breaks down — and after that, let’s also see how quickly we can replace old-fashioned democracy with something much more to the far-right’s liking.’
So, what kind of society and government would be more to the far-right’s liking? First and foremost, it would be the rule of the strong, the bullies, and of course the Whites. For the far right, their primary M.O. appears to be ‘Might Makes Right’ — and the rule of law is purely secondary, or is ignored altogether. That’s because they must of necessity rule by force; they are always in the minority, and the only way for a minority to rule over the majority is through fear, intimidation, and brutal force.
A ‘purified’ America based on White supremacy and Christian nationalism
Their long-term vision for a ‘purified’ America is based on racism, White supremacy, and Christian nationalism.
As Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement loudly and continually proclaims, what made America ‘great’ in the past was White (male) Christian rule and the subjugation or second-class citizenship of everyone else: Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, Blacks, other ‘inferior’ races or ethnic groups … and even women in general. (Witness rising attempts and successes, across the country, to ban abortion, effectively make IVF illegal, limit women’s choices, and control what they do with their bodies and families.)
America’s overall response to fast-rising hate, misogyny, racism, and anti-democratic activism has been puny and ineffectual, so far. Clearly, we haven’t really grasped or fully admitted the depth of our predicament. And that’s probably because we’re all totally used to living in a nation of laws, having actual rights, and having our rights protected by those laws.
We’re so used to the protections and comforts of a lawful, relatively peaceful society that we apparently can’t truly imagine what life would be like without all that — without those rights and legal protections.
Sadly, our deep lack of imagination in these areas may prove to be our undoing.
The long rightward shift of the U.S. is coming to its horrendous fruition
For over four decades now, the right has been gaining power throughout the U.S. Obama’s 2008 election, and subsequent re-election, spurred a massive right-wing counter-reaction — which led directly to the rise of Trump and his nasty, racist, mean-spirited brand of ‘winner-take-all’ politics.
People like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Newt Gingrich, and other far-right firebrands paved the way over several decades, and shifted the national dialogue far to the right — and now Trump, MAGA, and millions of radicalized Republicans and ‘conservatives’ (who no longer deserve that name) are itching to finish the job and de-construct/destroy our current diverse, more inclusive ‘liberal democracy.’
Their ultimate goal, apparently, is to jettison both the ‘liberal’ and ‘democracy’ aspects of our society, gradually remove or limit many of the rights we’ve taken for granted, and simultaneously impose a stricter and stricter theocratic regime on the U.S. and its citizens.
Already, the U.S. is teetering right on the edge of democratic collapse — after almost a decade of what is politely called ‘democratic backsliding.’ In truth, we’ve been losing our semi-democracy — one law, guardrail, norm, policy, or process at a time — for quite some time. The stakes for 2024 and this election cycle couldn’t be higher.
A puny, ineffective response is all the U.S. can muster — so far
Yet the U.S. is still not grappling effectively — at all — with the grim sociopolitical realities (including outright sedition) we’re facing this year and into 2025. Some Democrats and a few truly patriotic Republicans are occasionally speaking out, but for the most part, politicians seem to be clamming up, hunkering down, and trying to just survive the coming political chaos.
At this point, I deeply hope and pray that our police, county Sheriffs, the FBI, and our National Guard are running active ‘war games’ scenarios for the coming tumult and likely violence, and preparing to defend — literally — our democracy and our society.
Because make no mistake, our semi-democracy, our society, and our ‘modern’ way of life are all under vicious attack, and this year will almost certainly bring intense social and political chaos and increasing far-right violence.
The stakes — for all of us — couldn’t possibly be higher.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism | Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box | The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men |
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