A senior member of the Trump administration talks to Olivia Nuzzi from his car:
“This is confirmation of so much that everyone has said for years now — things that a lot of us thought were hyperbolic. We’d say, ‘Trump’s not a fascist,’ or ‘He’s not a wannabe dictator.’ Now, it’s like, ‘Well, what do you even say in response to that now?’”
For four years, people like this official — lifelong Republican operatives — have convinced themselves that Trump’s obvious faults were worth tolerating if it meant implementing a conservative policy agenda. These officials believed the benefits of remaking the courts with conservative justices, or passing tax reform, outweighed the risks that a Trump presidency posed to democracy and to the reputation of the country in the world. Now, at the 11th hour, with 12 days left before Joe Biden is sworn into office, it’s clear to some that it was always a delusion.
“This is like a plot straight out of the later, sucky seasons of House of Cardswhere they just go full evil and say, ‘Let’s spark mass protests and start wars and whatever,’” the senior administration official said.
“I went through Access Hollywood, Charlottesville — all of these insane things. There’s some degree of growing accustomed to the craziness. It’s not like my heart is racing, like, Oh God, how am I supposed to react to this? It’s just more that I’m depressed. For people who devoted years of their lives to dealing with the insanity in an attempt to advance a policy agenda that you believe in, all of that has been wiped out. The legacy of the Trump administration is going to be that the president sparked an insurrection and people died because he tried his best to not abide by the Constitution and the tradition of a peaceful transition of power that’s been the norm since our founding. Nothing else is even going to be a side note.”
This is a pretty good encapsulation of why I am actually gratified to see the Trump administration end this way. I’m truly sorry that there has been loss of life. I’m not unconcerned that more violence is on the way. But, to be clear, this is the true nature of Trumpism I’ve been describing for years. It’s a logical development of the Conservative Movement’s natural trajectory in a demographically diversifying country.
What I feared more than a failed coup was a failure to recognize the truth about this movement. I worried that Trump would be rehabilitated much like George W. Bush and things would continue to move in a fascist direction until it is too late to stop a successful coup.
That possibility remains, but it’s less of a threat today than it was been at any point since Newt Gingrich took control of the House of Representatives in 1993.
So, I’m glad that Trump assaulted the U.S. Capitol. It opened more eyes than all my writing ever could. In one planned but still impulsive act, Trump massively disempowered himself and this movement. He sparked an insurrection and people died, and he revealed who does and does not support fascism. We’re better off for it, and better prepared to confront and smash the fascists like our grandparents did in the 1940s.
Indeed. Rock bottom is when there’s nobody else to blame. Is this really rock bottom? I sure hope so. The silliness of the “it was actually ANTIFA” conspiracy theory just shows that there really is nobody else to blame.
I find it interesting that the story keeps growing, almost as if it were all a big lie. Oh wait ,it is.
I hope you’re right. But I suspect we will be dealing with armed jihadists and their sympathizers in law enforcement and those operating in society with a veneer of respectability that we don’t even know about for at least a generation. Constant vigilance will be needed to prevail over this insidious cancer from within that is ravaging our guts.
We’re better off for it.
History will not be kind. And it started being written as it happened.
.
The big lie seldom ends, like the southern lie after the war that continues to this day. It may grow and it goes on and on and on and ….l
Somehow I still don’t feel that we are out of this mess. I sure hope so. And I very much doubt we will escape more of this conservative scourge. It will be here forever it appears. There is no end to their lies. I mean they have found a thing talking about our debt and so called conservative values, whatever the hell that is.There are always those who somehow feel wronged and just loves them some make believe conservative goodness, perhaps now served by Hawley or Cruz. They do tell the nice tale.
The problem is a good chunk of the nation is still mesmerized by him while the rest of us scratch our heads, not understanding the appeal. I agree that some real good came out of the Trump years. It ripped the mask off the Republican party for those who care to see. The crazies roaming the halls of the Capitol really scarred a bunch of people who might have been tortured, beaten to death or strung up if captured by the occupying army of morons. Perhaps there’s a sobering effect that goes with that.
But Republicans still have to find a way to deal with the fact they really are part of the “party of Trump”. It still is Donald Trump’s party at the grass roots. Sooner or later the party will split. I’m not sure we’re there yet. Two thirds of Republican reps cast their votes on Wednesday remain afraid to cross him.
CNN had a segment this morning about what it was like in the middle of the crowd outside the Capitol. In a word it was terrifying, they really are crazies. But it is also true that Trump is now the leader of another lost cause and that sort of thing is built on lies and feelings of loss. And boy they have lies and their own self justified feelings of loss and that has nothing to do with truth. The question for the rest of us is how to defeat this. I think we need to demand justice and we simply cannot allow this to stand. So the challenge is what will the new administration do about it. Let it alone and it will only grow. But that is my feeling and YMMV.
I have used a wine analogy for the longest of time – since he came down that elevator:
In winemaking there is a step called fining – especially for white wines – where a fining agent, such as egg white is added in tiny amounts to coagulate all the undesirable precipitates.
Trump is the fining agent for the conservative movement in this country! He will take it all down in one fell swoop!
Unfortunately, I don’t see a clear desirable liquid remnant of the conservative movement. I look for balanced conservatives anywhere else in democracies – not a single one has that. Certainly not the unprincipled disheveled mass in UK. After this steady progress of the radical right agenda, what do they have left to offer except hubris?