Trump's recent psychological warfare salvo reveals not
only a short term method to win in 2020, but also the perilous face of his long
game. He chose four minority
congresswomen as effigies and tweeted for them to go home, that is, leave the
country, even though three of them were born in America and one, Ilhan Omar, is
a naturalized citizen. It is worth
noting the prodigious mendacity and calumny of his flimsy attempts at evidence,
adjoined to claims that the congresswomen hated America. Fact Checker, for instance, gave four
Pinocchios to Trump's claim that Omar supported Al Qaeda.
Also noteworthy is the irony of language like
"infested" from a man whose soul is ugly with voracious egotism and
repugnant not only from an absence of conscience, but also a prevalence of
depravity. At his first rally after the 'go
back' tweets, a pumped-up crowd chanted "Send Her Back!" referring to
Omar. Trump let this chant go on for 13
seconds without interruption, even though he claimed the next day to have
resumed his speech quickly.
Mainstream pundits condemned this bald-faced manifestation
of racism. They vilified the blatant use of well-known racist tropes, and
underscored that dog whistles are out and fog horns are in. But to some degree, at least, the media didn't
convey the full threat.
Take Morning Joe.
The parsing there was correct but limited. The Republican Party, so the analysis went, shamelessly
accepts Trump's moves to solidify the base.
However, in so doing they wed themselves to white jingoism, and lock
themselves out of expanding demographic blocks.
The conclusion of this 'death by math' argument,
though, relies on a key premise: that the
US remains a democracy. A POTUS-crowd
chanting racist hate is a watershed, and it's past time to consider a danger we've
too long kept at arm's length. Namely,
when fascist authoritarians have to, they aspire to win elections, but their ultimate
goal is to make elections irrelevant.
The counterargument is that Trump's base is too
small to make him a President Putin. But
if you look at history, and the rise of dictators in republics, at some point
they no longer rely on the vicissitudes of votes. They seize power, usurping the right of the
majority.
It's worth point out that any seismic event of
national significance, such as full scale war with Iran, could incite a
bellicose stampede of fear that drives the citizenry right into Trump's hands. Does anyone really think that someone who
'"fell in love" with Kim Jong un--a totalitarian who demands worship
of his statues--will shy away from conflict with Iran if it becomes his best route
to power?
Trump's know-nothing mega-claque isn't going to pull
back from the edge. There won't be some
magic moment when they see they are trading liberty for a protection racket. Ignorance can take hold even in the smartest
people, who then work to spread and defend it.
So ensconced, it gains immunity to the strongest logic, or even 'right
before your eyes' evidence.
The Republican Party is hardly worth mentioning as
a safeguard for our democracy. They have
become Trump's puppets. As for Trump
himself, apologists have been arguing for years that he isn't as bad as he
seems, or that others can control his 'impulses'. There is a persistent idea that he is rash, stupid
and incapable, even though he is perhaps the most successful con man in modern history. At the very least, he has a genius for knowing
how to exacerbate and exploit fear. And
he knows how to conjure efficacious chaos.
And yet commentators still continue to label him as inept, perhaps
because their standard is a strong USA on the global stage, whereas Trump's
goal is a crippled USA under his thrall.
The idea that Trump's ineptitude could be a
smokescreen for fascist ambitions hardly gets any airtime at all. He ambushed
everyone in 2015, coming down a golden elevator after months of original,
insightful calculation. He became the
most powerful man in the world. Liberty
requires perspicacious vigilance. And
yet we seem more than ready to be blindsided by Trump again. What is our excuse at this point, after "Send
Her Back"?
In terms of actions, there is a straightforward
one. The Democrats could impeach Trump
and thereby greatly alter public opinion.
Their willful violation of an oath to protect the Constitution bears the
greatest part of the cataract in our collective blind eye.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment