Photo from the run-up to the assault on the Capitol.
Note: This post is a follow-up to the previous one.
The first thing we need to understand is that Trump and Trumpism are not the same thing. Trumpism is much bigger than Trump, and much older than his relatively recent influence on our political condition. In an MSNBC opinion piece, Steve Benon cites an article from Philip Bump in The Washington Post where he offers a concise description of Trumpism:
... a sense of robust self-confidence, rejection of inconveniences as personal or legal slights and an acceptance of what one wants to hear over what's demonstrably true. This undercurrent predated Trump, but he helped make it central to right-wing politics.
A proper "ism" requires some "ists". You know, socialism has socialists, imperialism needs imperialists, and so forth. I have tried to determine what a real Trumpist is, and it's tough. It's not Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, and their ilk, who I am sure, behind closed doors and off the record would tell you that Trump is full of shit and a pain in the butt. These guys are not idiots, they're riding the Trump wagon to improve their career prospects. They follow this path not out of ignorance, but worse, out of dishonesty and greed. Much better representatives of Trumpism are Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert (ostensibly representing working class constituents), and disciples of "the big lie" commonly found in red-state legislatures, which is where the real destructive work is being done.
Who They Are
I have put some effort into trying to learn the origins of this weird comingling of the white evangelicals and the monied corporate elite that is the recent incarnation of the Republican party. It was likely more a gradual process than an event that can be traced to one particular cause. There was a convergence of need in the later years of the Twentieth Century as both groups sought to reverse the gains made in social justice, social equality, feminism, environmental regulation, workplace safety, unionization, etc. by liberal activism in the post-war decades and into the 1970s. Corporations needed the evangelical votes, evangelicals needed the corporate money, and they commenced to cooperate to maintain the status quo of pro-business government policy, and to change the status quo of what was perceived as the creeping liberalization of American society.
Paul Weyrich, a right-wing conservative Christian activist started the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) with the intent to spread the message that political activism was the key to reversing the trend toward liberalization. His organization met with limited success, but was on the verge of financial failure. At about the same time Lewis F. Powell, a charter member the League to Save Carthage, a group of corporate magnates who believed that America was on the way to Socialism wrote a call to arms in a letter to the Director of the US Chamber of Commerce. In this memo he contended that American business should assert influence in all aspects of social and political policy making. Both facets learned, and then taught, that they needed to approach the politicization of their ideas with the same intensity with which one would fight a war.
For an in-depth look at corporate efforts to guide the country's economic and political policy see:
For a look at the pro-business atmosphere these billionaires seek to preserve see Senator Amy Klobuchar's: Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age.
What They Do
ALEC's primary method is to create task forces that write ready-made legislative bills that legislators can present in a neat, easy to pass package that has already been evaluated and corrected for any potential legal weaknesses and court examinations. This method is responsible for the remarkable similarities in various state voter suppression laws and laws restricting abortion.
The list of things these right-wing groups target is closely related to the list of things that they are afraid of, which includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Immigrants
Latinx
African Americans
Africans
Asians (South and East)
Muslims
Jews
LGBTQ
Scientists
Teachers
The list can go on, but the thing they fear most is the Voter.
How They Do It
Promote voter ID Laws and other means to suppress the vote.
Resist police reform
Resist environmental legislation
Resist protections for public lands, promote the sale of public lands
Resist sensible gun legislation
Attempt to set educational curricula in public education
Resist laws protecting the rights of almost everyone except themselves
What Can We Do?
We recently relocated our residential base to Chattanooga, TN. Our address is literally less than 200 yards from Georgia and the congressional district that is home to Marjorie Taylor Green. Early in the year we started to see television ads and lawn signage that promote her Democratic challenger, Marcus Flowers, a handsome, articulate, and apparently qualified candidate. We thought it would be good to contribute to his campaign even though we don't reside in Georgia. Apparently a whole lot of other people had the same idea. Our daughter's research showed that by early May his campaign had raised 8.1 million dollars. The same research indicated that in that particular overwhelmingly Republican district he has virtually no chance of winning. This is merely an anecdotal way of saying that we need to concentrate our efforts in places where there is a legitimate possibility of gaining or retaining a competitive seat. There are dozens of races where a few votes can make a huge difference. Research where they are, and do what you can to help.
Donate to entities like the DNC and Common Cause where a lot of the money goes to counteract voter suppression laws and ignite grassroots enthusiasm.
Volunteer to work the phones or ring doorbells in places that matter.
Work hard in local and state arenas where the opposition is doing the most damage. Fight anti-democratic state bills before they get out of committee.
Look at the suggestions listed here:
https://politicalcharge.org/2018/05/04/15-ways-to-help-a-campaign-win-their-election/
What's At Stake:
From "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder.
"The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat that they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Naziism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience."
People often remind me that America has survived numerous phases of antiimmigration fervor, hyper- nationalism, and regressive social policy. The McCarthyism of the 1950s is an obvious example, as are the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and some of the nativist movements of the 19th century before and after the Civil War. My fear is that this is different, has more staying power, and the ability to do more long-term damage. My deepest hope is that I am wrong.
