There are two problems with any of these theories. First is that the extremist right wing never goes away, the paranoid style can be pushed back to the fringe for a while but never locked away in a padded room as it should be. Trump's supporters have waited for a man on horseback to appear for a long time now and they will not be satisfied by a run of the mill corporate "conservative" again for a long time. The bar for crazy will have to be raised each cycle until the inevitable day one finally wins.
Which brings us to the second point. Since Watergate, Democrats only win the presidency after a Republican wrecks things so badly that no amount of money or propaganda can keep a Republican in office. A Democrat has not succeeded another Democrat since LBJ's landslide over Goldwater in 1964. Ideologically, Reagan broke the New Deal consensus and replaced it with sunny, optimistic extremism that embraced naked class warfare on working people, hammered a wedge between government and the populace, and continued Nixon's "Southern Strategy." Since then the metaphorical 50 yard line of American politics shifted far to the right. The Democratic Party became the conservatives and the Republicans became reactionaries.
If our traditions as we think of them today grew out of the changes in American society that were in turn a response to the Great Depression and World War II, then the defenders of those New Deal changes are the actual conservatives in American politics. And the Democratic Party's platform, such as it is, is dedicated to preserving that legacy. Including but not limited to; a minimum wage, progressive taxation of wealth and income, the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain, social insurance, and so on. It was a system that worked fairly well at home and abroad, not perfectly of course, no human system is ever perfect. But it was something to build upon.
Instead, since the 1980 election, the Republican Party has been dedicated to dismantling the system piece by piece, and return the nation to the 1920s. A time that bears more than a superficial resemblance to today. Immigration was very high, interrupted by the Great War of course, and suspicion of immigrants was equally high. From worries about assimilation, to huge numbers and high birth rates squeezing out political power and privilege from the native-born Americans, to theft of jobs and driving down wages, to outright danger from disease and crime. The Great War also brought a new fear, that of mixed loyalties and whether immigrants would attack or sabotage the United States on behalf of their home countries.
The U.S. also participated in wrecking a country through armed force and demonizing its people to the point of renaming sauerkraut "liberty cabbage." Historical comparisons are always difficult, but the extremists that crawled out of the collapse of authoritarian regimes in Germany and the Middle East also bore a mutated resemblance to darker aspects of society. No, ISIS or Daesh or whatever it is called is not like the Nazis but the fear it generates in the paranoid parts of American society is real and clouds rational judgment. The simple fact that you are more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a foreign-born terrorist cannot seem to penetrate the irrational, paranoid mindset of those people supporting Trump. It could happen, therefore the only answer to keep America safe is to bomb and invade any area that could possibly, theoretically, threaten Americans.
It does not matter that this approach has been tried, repeatedly, throughout American history beginning with Bacon's Rebellion to drive out the Native Americans, to Andrew Jackson's war to occupy Florida, right on through to Bush's Iraq occupation. Expansion means security and vice versa, the only acceptable defense against any possible threat is to attack immediately. The paranoid style will accept nothing less, and the demagogues jockeying for the GOP nomination will always deliver.
The emergence of Trump as the completely uninhibited Id of the paranoid style is already a disaster for America. What does it matter if he checks off enough boxes on some arbitrary chart for fascism? Putting aside the fact that fascism is chameleonic and will adapt itself to the society it infects, what Trump is selling and what the Republican base is demanding is the abandonment of all American principles for the right leaders. The rule of law, checks and balances, division of power, and the fear or at least suspicion of concentrated power are all destined for the dustbin of history. The very idea of a republic where leaders are not above the law, where disputes are settled through elections and debate instead of violence. All of these and more are what the extremists enabling Trump are in reality demanding. But only for "one of them," obviously President Obama is an illegitimate usurper and so shall be evermore any non-fascist occupying a government office at any level.
These are not the attitudes of a "loyal opposition" or any political force in a republic, and why, whether, fascist or authoritarian or some other non-democratic ideology, it must be stopped. Trump, and any and all political figures after him, cannot continue down this path. His irresponsible rhetoric only drives and empowers the undemocratic and un-American segments of the population who operate only on fear and hate. This is why we should be worried.
If our traditions as we think of them today grew out of the changes in American society that were in turn a response to the Great Depression and World War II, then the defenders of those New Deal changes are the actual conservatives in American politics. And the Democratic Party's platform, such as it is, is dedicated to preserving that legacy. Including but not limited to; a minimum wage, progressive taxation of wealth and income, the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain, social insurance, and so on. It was a system that worked fairly well at home and abroad, not perfectly of course, no human system is ever perfect. But it was something to build upon.
Instead, since the 1980 election, the Republican Party has been dedicated to dismantling the system piece by piece, and return the nation to the 1920s. A time that bears more than a superficial resemblance to today. Immigration was very high, interrupted by the Great War of course, and suspicion of immigrants was equally high. From worries about assimilation, to huge numbers and high birth rates squeezing out political power and privilege from the native-born Americans, to theft of jobs and driving down wages, to outright danger from disease and crime. The Great War also brought a new fear, that of mixed loyalties and whether immigrants would attack or sabotage the United States on behalf of their home countries.
The U.S. also participated in wrecking a country through armed force and demonizing its people to the point of renaming sauerkraut "liberty cabbage." Historical comparisons are always difficult, but the extremists that crawled out of the collapse of authoritarian regimes in Germany and the Middle East also bore a mutated resemblance to darker aspects of society. No, ISIS or Daesh or whatever it is called is not like the Nazis but the fear it generates in the paranoid parts of American society is real and clouds rational judgment. The simple fact that you are more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a foreign-born terrorist cannot seem to penetrate the irrational, paranoid mindset of those people supporting Trump. It could happen, therefore the only answer to keep America safe is to bomb and invade any area that could possibly, theoretically, threaten Americans.
It does not matter that this approach has been tried, repeatedly, throughout American history beginning with Bacon's Rebellion to drive out the Native Americans, to Andrew Jackson's war to occupy Florida, right on through to Bush's Iraq occupation. Expansion means security and vice versa, the only acceptable defense against any possible threat is to attack immediately. The paranoid style will accept nothing less, and the demagogues jockeying for the GOP nomination will always deliver.
The emergence of Trump as the completely uninhibited Id of the paranoid style is already a disaster for America. What does it matter if he checks off enough boxes on some arbitrary chart for fascism? Putting aside the fact that fascism is chameleonic and will adapt itself to the society it infects, what Trump is selling and what the Republican base is demanding is the abandonment of all American principles for the right leaders. The rule of law, checks and balances, division of power, and the fear or at least suspicion of concentrated power are all destined for the dustbin of history. The very idea of a republic where leaders are not above the law, where disputes are settled through elections and debate instead of violence. All of these and more are what the extremists enabling Trump are in reality demanding. But only for "one of them," obviously President Obama is an illegitimate usurper and so shall be evermore any non-fascist occupying a government office at any level.
These are not the attitudes of a "loyal opposition" or any political force in a republic, and why, whether, fascist or authoritarian or some other non-democratic ideology, it must be stopped. Trump, and any and all political figures after him, cannot continue down this path. His irresponsible rhetoric only drives and empowers the undemocratic and un-American segments of the population who operate only on fear and hate. This is why we should be worried.
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