The word is that President Biden will mark the 500,000 COVID-19 victim threshold by holding a candle lighting ceremony at the White House. It seems appropriate since more Americans have now died of the coronavirus than on the battlefields of World War One, World War Two, and the Vietnam War combined. A large percentage of these deaths were preventable and would have been prevented by barely competent presidential leadership. But Donald Trump actually made the numbers higher than if he had done absolutely nothing, mainly by actively discouraging people from limiting the spread.
Despite this lethal record of bad leadership, a strong plurality of Republicans would leave the GOP if Trump started his own party.
An exclusive Suffolk University/USA TODAY Poll finds Trump’s support largely unshaken after his second impeachment trial in the Senate, this time on a charge of inciting an insurrection in the deadly assault on the Capitol Jan. 6.
By double digits, 46%-27%, those surveyed say they would abandon the GOP and join the Trump party if the former president decided to create one. The rest are undecided.
It’s numbers like these that explain Lindsey Graham’s behavior. Despite announcing on the Senate floor after the January 6 insurrection that he was done with Trump, he’s down in Mar-a-Lago for a multi-day strategy session with the ex-president. He feels that the future of the Republican Party, depends on Trump.
“If he ran, it would be his nomination for the having,” Graham said of Trump in an interview. “I don’t know what he wants to do. Because he was successful for conservatism and people appreciate his fighting spirit, he’s going to dominate the party for years to come. The way I look at it, there is no way we can achieve our goals without Trump.”
In one sense, Graham is obviously correct. A new NBC News poll shows that the Republican Party is rapidly becoming blue-collar, and this shift is occurring among all races. These are not traditional Republicans, and this helps explain their loose allegiance to the party. It also helps explain why 58 percent of Trump voters agree that the January 6 coup attempt was “mostly an antifa-inspired attack that only involved a few Trump supporters.” It doesn’t explain it entirely though, because the gullibility of Trump supporters transcends educational attainment. As Byron York reports, the insurrectionists, many of whom were from the struggling entrepreneurial class, were suffering from a mass delusion:
For the rioters who are alleged to have committed serious criminal acts, more information is coming out in court papers filed in the Justice Department cases against them. And now, specifically, there is a new indictment against nine people who are said to be members or associates of the Oath Keepers militia. It’s a revealing document…”
“The indictment shows what they were saying to each other on social media in the days and weeks before the riot. Read together, their social media posts suggest people living in a kind of fantasy world in which they could take the Capitol, while carefully obeying Washington, D.C.’s strict gun control laws and carrying no firearms, change the course of U.S. history, and then head home.”
If Graham is thinking these folks won’t stick with the GOP if it goes back to the free trade country club party of Bob Dole and George W. Bush, it’s hard to argue with his judgment. And maybe it’s too late to make the effort. Too many professional class Republicans have left for good.
Yet, when Graham says “there is no way we can achieve our goals without Trump,” it’s reasonable to ask what goals he’s talking about. After all, Trumpism resembles nothing so much as the propaganda of Gottfried Feder, the “economist” behind the Nazis’ early anti-capitalist program which posited an industrious middle class, “crushed from above by taxation and [finance] interests, menaced from below by the subterranean grumblings of the [organized] workers.”
It’s a party for failed shopkeepers and disorganized proles, not the stuff of Kennebunkport or Wall Street. Is this the motley crew whose goals Graham wants to advance? If so, he’s for fascism–full speed ahead.
That’s certainly where inertia will take the GOP. After all, this is a party whose leader just attempted a coup to overthrow our representative form of government. They refused to punish Trump for this, and most of their voters won’t even admit that they’re responsible, blaming antifa instead.
Maybe Graham should consider the possibility that his party deserves to lose for a while. Maybe there are principles worth fighting for, and they aren’t fascist principles. But he apparently can’t see that far. All he sees is a party that can no longer compete with Trump and therefore absolutely must keep Trump within the party rather than have him forming a third party.
That’s where we’re at as a country. These are the alternatives to the Democratic Party.
You put your finger on it except that it’s not just Lindsey. Even among leadership, a healthy majority have made clear they would choose power over honor, party over country, and would have gone right along with Trump had he managed to steal the election.
Trump was setting the stage for months about a stolen election. Had he been able to convince MI’s State Legislature to switch their electors, who knows how many other Republican State Legislatures would have followed.
MI switches their Electors, and maybe another state does the same, and now all of a sudden, on January 6th, 20x the amount of violent rioters show up to “really” stop the steal.
This was a near-miss. Everyone whistling past the graveyard on this one makes me really nervous about 2022 and 2024.
All of this has been clear for decades. It’s why I’ve never shied away from using the word fascist when describing the Republican Party, and why I always prefer to use the correct word to describe the base of the fascist Republican Party: Right-wing Authoritarians.
Right-wing Authoritarians will have no problem killing you and your family if they get the order. The order, given by a rightful authority figure, is inherently valid. That’s the whole point of being a Right-wing Authoritarian.
Trump got 74,000,000 votes AFTER the past 4 years. They WON House Seats. They lost 2 Senate seats by 150,000 votes, out of 9 million votes, in GEORGIA. Had the Republican Party only lost 2 seats instead of 3, Mitch McConnell would still be Senate Majority Leader.
43,000 votes in AZ, GA and WI is why Trump isn’t on his second/permanent term right now. Had he actually closed borders in February, encouraged masks/distancing, and sent out every American $$$, thereby not getting hundreds of thousands of people unemployed or dead, he would almost certainly be the current President.
It was said in another thread that the US Military has no precedent getting involved in elections. Had Trump been slightly more competent, he would have stolen this election, and our country would be dead. The military would have stood back and stood by. Trust that.
So, yes, the Republican Party is all-in on fascism.
Just a reminder…
5% of House Republicans voted to Impeach a President who lied to the American People for months and encouraged an Insurrection against the United States government.
Or: 95% of House Republicans voted to allow a Republican President to incite Insurrection against the US Government.
16% of Senate Republicans voted to Convict a President who lied to the American People for months and encouraged an Insurrection against the United States government.
Or: 84% of Senate Republicans voted to allow a Republican President to incite Insurrection against the US Government.
We have to be successful EVERY TIME the Republican Party attempts to steal an election or overthrow an election they lose.
They only have to be successful ONCE.
This is also why, again, it isn’t just a right, but a responsibility, to safely own and operate a firearm. Look, you aren’t taking anyone’s guns away, and if/when a Cotton/Hawley becomes President, you’re going sit on your hands while the ProudBoys or OathKeepers in their Camoshirts, start rounding up “communists” and other undesirables? Fuck that.
It isn’t bravado. It isn’t trying to sound hard. It’s about defending your country and your countrymen. No, don’t open carry your AR-15 into Costco. But if you don’t own a firearm, and know how to safely operate it, when shit hits the fan you’re going to be cowed into submission by the right-wing authoritarians who aren’t afraid of firearms. Feel free to disagree and argue that safely owning and being able to operate a firearm isn’t a good idea, just a little rant there. By the way, there is a Socialist Rifle Association, so owning a firearm isn’t some conservative/fascist/Republican thing.
“Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary”.
Karl Marx
Thanks for your comment, and for your analysis of the GOP’s comfort with fascism and using anti-democratic means to seize/maintain power.
With respect, I disagree that is “a responsibility to safely own and operate a firearm”. Let’s set aside, for the the purposes of this discussion, the philosophical, religious, and theoretical arguments against using violent means to seize and/or maintain political power, and focus instead on the practical, pragmatic issues at hand.
First, owning and operating a firearm in isolation is largely useless when confronted with a large, well-organized, well-trained, well-equipped police and/or military force. Your (or my, or anyone else’s) AR-15 isn’t going to make much of a difference (and arguably might contribute to your demise) if your house is surrounded by forces under the command and control of a fascist government.
Second, given that protecting a democracy like ours requires consistent and persistent large-scale action, which set of tactics and strategies—violent or nonviolent—offers the better odds of success? According to Erica Chenoweth, Gene Sharp, and other folks who’ve studied these (and related) questions, the answer is clear: massive nonviolent action is a more effective strategy for protecting and strengthening democracy.
We saw this over the past four years as the Trump administration’s worst impulses were repeatedly constrained and ultimately defeated (albeit narrowly) by the nonviolent actions (including voting) of tens of millions of citizens, and by the actions of leaders of some of the key pillars—the military, the courts, the media, etc.—of the society (pillars without which no dictator can govern).
Own a gun if you want to. Learn to use it safely if you do. But if you want to defeat fascism and strengthen democracy in the US today, do what tens of millions Americans did over the last four years, and did nine decades ago (the last time the country faced major internal fascist threats): invest your time and energy into making democratic politics work.
To be honest your idea seems to boil down to “trust me Johnny we really don’t need guns,” . I hope you are right but if we lose just once we face Queen Ivanka and her descendants for heck knows how long, So got me a gun just in case.
I agree that if the US military is barreling down your street, the dumbest thing you could possibly do is attempt a Rambo maneuver.
I’m not talking about defending myself from the US military. If and when that is an issue, it is far, far too late.
What I’m talking about is if/when the fascists win the one time they need to win, and after non-violent protests fail.
I tried to be clear in that, when I brought up the Camoshirts rounding up communists and other undesirables. That is what will come first. It will be semi-organized right-wing paramilitary groups, and other assorted insurgents, who go a step or two further than what the fascist government is actually calling for. It’ll be groups like Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, 3%ers, etc. Right-wing death squads. They already wear the gear and wear the badges saying so. They’re all just itching for the say-so.
Safely owning and operating a firearm will allow you to defend yourself, your family, and what remains of the country, if and or when the fascists win the one time they need to win, and after the non-violent protests fail. The reason I believe they’ll fail is because the fascists will win DEMOCRATICALLY, and then will competently dismantle the guardrails that “held” in 2020. Trump was a test run. The competent fascists have learned the lesson.
Owning an AR-15, a handgun, and a shotgun…knowing how to clean and operate those firearms…holding enough rounds to defend yourself…is not creating any extra inherent danger. If those firearms are all safely locked up in a safe, they aren’t just sitting loaded waiting to be used in a school shooting or whatever. Also, it’s a basic investment, as I can guarantee you those firearms won’t decrease in value over the next 100 years.
Yes, let’s just go ahead and win EVERY TIME going forward. I have lots of ideas, as do serious politicians like Sanders, Warren, AOC, etc, on how to do that. But, unfortunately, we have people like Joe Manchin who want to continue the Senate’s destructive hold on this country. Nuke the filibuster TOMORROW, pass everything along party-line votes so Americans can see that Democrats are going to fight for them, and WIN VOTERS.
But I don’t see that happening. I see Manchin and the filibuster putting the nails in the coffin. I can see the Republicans winning back the House and Senate, and replay of 2010-2012, only the fascists will have a playbook of how to do it right.
So, sure, I’d rather avoid fascism altogether. But safely owning and being able to operate a firearm doesn’t make you inherently less safe, and it isn’t so you can Rambo out against a tank and A-10 targeting your neighborhood.
Good piece, thank-you. It’s somewhat common in right-wing circles, especially among social and religious conservatives, these days to bemoan that we’re living in “Weimar America”. After some amount of trail and error, the question that seems to most effectively get them thinking about the implications of what they’re saying is, “Isn’t the lesson of Weimar Germany for pro-democracy conservatives that when you’re faced with a choice between allying yourselves with pro-democracy centrists and liberals or allying yourselves with anti-democracy conservatives, it’s really important not to choose the latter?”.
For right-wing authoritarians, it’s always about allying yourself with the strongest figure who you consider a rightful authority, full stop. It’s a corollary to the “conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed” theory of how the Republican base voters choose their candidates.
Hitler (Godwin’s law, etc.) argued that his radicalism was because he loved Germany so so so so super dupery much. This is what Boebert, Taylor Greene, Gaetz, etc, are arguing right now. The Rightful Trump Successor is out there, right now, figuring out how consolidate the right-wing death squads who murder for them. As we saw with the House and Senate votes in the last Impeachment/Acquittal of Trump, the vast majority of Republicans are not going to vote against a Republican who is willing to incite deadly insurrection against the government to overturn an election/control the government.
They do believe Biden’s America is a Weimar America. Just like Hitler’s failed Putsch, they had their little failed Putsch.
For the republicans, authoritarianism started out as the means to and end, but now it is the end in itself. What does “MAGA” mean, if not fascism?
Republican base voters are right-wing authoritarians. Authoritarianism has always been the ends, they just tried to couch it with as many different “wedge issues” to give themselves democratic legitimacy.
Excellent post and comments. I am more optimistic than most commenters. I think that, in the end, history will see Trump as an object lesson and Trumpism as a near miss. But it will only happen if the Republican party is destroyed. That is the lesson of Lindsay Graham. The entire lot of them have to go.
N1cholas is right to fear both 2022 and 2024. The Republicans have to be thumped at least once more and probably twice. The challenge we have as anti-fascists is sustaining the rage through the next two elections.. We have to circle the wagon’s around every Democrat (the corrupt, bigoted, or misogynist excepted) and every Democratic policy until the Republican party is dead.
The only priority is to deliver good government while dumping on Republicans 24/7 until they are done.
Agreed. I’d love it if Manchin gave up his Republican proclivity to use the Senate to strangle this country and it’s people, and agree to nuke the filibuster. Either you’re a Democrat who wants to help the country, or you’re a Republican and you’re in it for tax cuts and power. Someone needs to tell him, “pick one, motherfucker.” I realize he’s from WV and that he has to basically hate Socialism to hold his seat, but it’s just a slow poisoning of the Democratic party as anything that can do what is necessary.
Also, right now one of the best things you can do is donate to organizations that are focused on getting voters registered, informed of voting laws, and to the polls. Stacey Abrams might as well be the MVP of the 2020 election. I know I’m looking forward to voting her in as governor, if she so chooses to continue specifically helping Georgia.
If we want to avoid fascism, we need a Stacey Abrams in every US state, right now. If Texas Democrats aren’t having strategy sessions with Abrams right now, then they’re fucking morons, because NOW is when you start to turn Texas Blue. Cruz and Abbot just made themselves huge targets, and AOC just took a gargantuan step towards showing Texas how libruuls aren’t out to getcha’. Flipping Texas Blue for a Senate seat in 2022, and even more importantly in 2024, is almost the “easiest” way to defend against the current Republican fascist movement. Remove Texas from their EC tally and “take away” their Senators, and maybe that “demographic shift” we’ve been talking about for decades will be enough to get us past this current moment.
As long as Manchin votes for a Democrat for leader (done) and as long as he provides the 50th vote for the Covid relief package (apparently done), I’m going to live with the rest of him. I will also defend him to this extent – he seems to vote the right way when his vote is the difference between success for Democrats or failure.
He is often the lightning rod. When he says he won’t vote to nuke the filibuster, you can bet the Dems don’t have the other 49 votes they will also need. Bernie Sanders isn’t willing to nuke it either, but he can fly under the radar on the issue because Joe Manchin put the kibosh on it. It is his role in the party.
(See? I will even defend Joe Manchin! Because he is on my side in the fight against fascism.)
We should forget the filibuster for now. If Biden delivers nothing except controlling the pandemic, passing the relief bill and restoring the public service, the Democrats will be in good shape going into the 2022 election season. That is the goal. More would be nice, but I’m not going to bitch about not getting more because we are running against the fucking Republicans and we cannot afford to lose.
I agree that we need to clone Stacey Abrams and make the Republicans fight for every southern state. Gain a few senate seats and Joe Manchin can continue to be Joe Manchin,
And here’s Manchin not confirming a woman of color to a government post because she said mean things on Twitter.
Manchin had no problem voting to confirm an open segregationist as Attorney General, for a Republican President who was open about being a fascist.
Manchin is poison to the Democratic Party. Yes, he’s mostly a “yes” vote for some legislation, but he’s also the reason why the Democratic Party won’t be able to do what they need to do over the next 2 years.
Part of the reason why we’re where we’re at is because too many Democrats are not actual active Democrats. We can argue all day about what his “constituents” want him to do, but holy shit the whole point of Representative Democracy is that the Representative is supposed to make the best choice, not necessarily the choice that his constituents would make.
I agree about Tanden. It is outrageous and it is exactly the type of Manchin vote I hate. I won’t defend that shit.
But I can’t see the poison argument. He is not the reason we cannot have better legislation over the next two years. We don’t need to do anything except win the midterms. If he did not exist, his seat would be held by a Republican and we would get zero votes from him. There are 50 other seats now held by Republicans and I would trade every one of those seats for a Joe Manchin clone.
I certainly wouldn’t get everything I wanted from a Senate with 10 more Joe Manchins in it but I am a pragmatic progressive. I’d rather have a Democratic caucus with 45 progressives and 15 Joe Manchins than a Democratic caucus with 45 progressives. I’d like to believe a progressive could win in West Virginia or South Dakota or… but I don’t. It is grit our teeth and live with Manchin or lose the seat.
Along with Rudolph, Lindsey is the leader of Santa’s Elves, his right wing nut jobs that repeat whatever fascist fantasy the boss whispers. We need to defeat these fuckers, and badly or the fantasy will only get worse. Tell me once again what disqualifies Neera Tanden, if not not right wing racism. It has got to go and now. I do not agree to make nice with Queen Ivanka or those assholes, not now not ever.