What I have always found so frustrating about the rise of Trumpism is not that he was such a revoltingly bigoted and ignorant grifter, but that he had so many mindless followers who were praying for him to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue so that they could ignore it. It appears, mercifully, that the crest of Trump’s hateful popularity might has passed. He and his movement are still concerning, but it appears that any chance he had to substitute Caligula’s Twisted Ideals for the U.S. Constitution has passed (I just knocked upon every piece of wood within reach).
Democrats have retained control of the Senate, but may still lose the house. Regardless, the message is clear: political violence in the U.S. does not necessarily yield political power. Despite the insurrection, the Oathkeepers, the Proud Boys, several hate-inspired mass shootings, etc, there remains a minute division between Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, just like there was before Trump was elected.
Note also: despite the medieval temper tantrums at school board meetings, Fox News’ unerring help, the support of the Daily Mail, The Epoch Times, The North Cook News, and numerous other corporate sponsored pseudo news sources, Trump’s own inexhaustible self-promotion, and that of his numerous (though ever-diminishing) sycophants, the result is…few new supporters, and the continuous erosion of backing from America’s uncommitted voters.
This shouldn’t be much of a surprise. After 1968’s catastrophically violent Democratic convention, American voters gave the White House to Richard Nixon, another bellicose bigot who first became famous by sliding by on Joseph McCarthy’s loathsome, opportunistic coat tails. After the 1970s (a decade characterized by relatively quiet and uninvolved U.S. foreign policy), America elected Ronald Reagan, who would remind us that we still have the world’s most powerful military. The fact is, Americans as a population will go along with your hate up to a certain point. Killing an unarmed black guy for selling cigarettes is one thing. Destroying migrant families, largely took place in isolation, so that works too. But when America looks at itself in the mirror and sees a 1930s Munich beer hall putsch it suddenly remembers that we have a Constitution. There is no shortage of bigotry-inspired loathing in the United States of Me, Me, Me and Not You. But, making this country appear like the tyrannies we’ve fought in the past, well, that is quite another.
More later. I need to make dinner.
Bittersweet Abattoir 