Rich80105
2021-01-12 04:01:23 UTC
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/11/what-is-arizonas-gop-doing-recover-defeat-attacking-cindy-mccain/
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/opinion/republicans-democracy.html
(and from that second article:
One striking aspect of the Capitol Hill putsch was that none of the
rioters grievances had any basis in reality.
No, the election wasnt stolen there is no evidence of significant
electoral fraud. No, Democrats arent part of a satanic pedophile
conspiracy. No, they arent radical Marxists even the partys
progressive wing would be considered only moderately left of center in
any other Western democracy.
So all the rage is based on lies. But whats almost as striking as the
fantasies of the rioters is how few leading Republicans have been
willing, despite the violence and desecration, to tell the MAGA mob
that their conspiracy theories are false.
Bear in mind that Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, and
two-thirds of his colleagues voted against accepting the Electoral
College results even after the riot. (McCarthy then shamelessly
decried division, saying that we must call on our better angels.)
Or consider the behavior of leading Republicans who arent usually
considered extremists. On Sunday Senator Rob Portman declared that we
need to restore confidence in the integrity of our electoral system.
Portman isnt stupid; he has to know that the only reason so many
people doubt the election results is that members of his party
deliberately fomented that doubt. But hes still keeping up the
pretense.
And the cynicism and cowardice of leading Republicans is, I would
argue, the most important cause of the nightmare now enveloping our
nation.
Of course we need to understand the motives of our homegrown enemies
of democracy. In general, political scientists find not
surprisingly, given Americas history that racial antagonism is the
best predictor of willingness to countenance political violence.
Anecdotally, personal frustrations often involving social
interactions, not economic anxiety also seem to drive many
extremists.
But neither racism nor widespread attraction to conspiracy theories is
new in our political life. The worldview described in Richard
Hofstadters classic 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American
Politics is barely distinguishable from QAnon beliefs today.
So theres only so much to be gained from interviewing red-hatted guys
in diners; there have always been people like that. If there are or
seem to be more such people than in the past, it probably has less to
do with intensified grievances than with outside encouragement.
For the big thing that has changed since Hofstadter wrote is that one
of our major political parties has become willing to tolerate and,
indeed, feed right-wing political paranoia.
This coddling of the crazies was, at first, almost entirely cynical.
When the G.O.P. began moving right in the 1970s its true agenda was
mainly economic what its leaders wanted, above all, were business
deregulation and tax cuts for the rich. But the party needed more than
plutocracy to win elections, so it began courting working-class whites
with what amounted to thinly disguised racist appeals.
Not incidentally, white supremacy has always been sustained in large
part through voter suppression. So it shouldnt be surprising to see
right-wingers howling about a rigged election after all, rigging
elections is what their side is accustomed to doing. And its not
clear to what extent they actually believe that this election was
rigged, as opposed to being enraged that this time the usual
vote-rigging didnt work.
But its not just about race. Since Ronald Reagan, the G.O.P. has been
closely tied to the hard-line Christian right. Anyone shocked by the
prevalence of insane conspiracy theories in 2020 should look back to
The New World Order, published by Reagan ally Pat Robertson in 1991,
which saw America menaced by an international cabal of Jewish bankers,
Freemasons and occultists. Or they should check out a 1994 video
promoted by Jerry Falwell Sr. called The Clinton Chronicles, which
portrayed Bill Clinton as a drug smuggler and serial killer.
So what has changed since then? For a long time Republican elites
imagined that they could exploit racism and conspiracy theorizing
while remaining focused on a plutocratic agenda. But with the rise
first of the Tea Party, then of Donald Trump, the cynics found that
the crazies were actually in control, and that they wanted to destroy
democracy, not cut tax rates on capital gains.
And Republican elites have, with few exceptions, accepted their new
subservient status.
You might have hoped that a significant number of sane Republican
politicians would finally say that enough is enough, and break with
their extremist allies. But Trumps party didnt balk at his
corruption and abuse of power; it stood by him when he refused to
accept electoral defeat; and some of its members are responding to a
violent attack on Congress by complaining about their loss of Twitter
followers.
And theres no reason to believe that the atrocities yet to come for
there will be more atrocities will make a difference. The G.O.P. has
reached the culmination of its long journey away from democracy, and
its hard to see how it can ever be redeemed.
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/opinion/republicans-democracy.html
(and from that second article:
One striking aspect of the Capitol Hill putsch was that none of the
rioters grievances had any basis in reality.
No, the election wasnt stolen there is no evidence of significant
electoral fraud. No, Democrats arent part of a satanic pedophile
conspiracy. No, they arent radical Marxists even the partys
progressive wing would be considered only moderately left of center in
any other Western democracy.
So all the rage is based on lies. But whats almost as striking as the
fantasies of the rioters is how few leading Republicans have been
willing, despite the violence and desecration, to tell the MAGA mob
that their conspiracy theories are false.
Bear in mind that Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, and
two-thirds of his colleagues voted against accepting the Electoral
College results even after the riot. (McCarthy then shamelessly
decried division, saying that we must call on our better angels.)
Or consider the behavior of leading Republicans who arent usually
considered extremists. On Sunday Senator Rob Portman declared that we
need to restore confidence in the integrity of our electoral system.
Portman isnt stupid; he has to know that the only reason so many
people doubt the election results is that members of his party
deliberately fomented that doubt. But hes still keeping up the
pretense.
And the cynicism and cowardice of leading Republicans is, I would
argue, the most important cause of the nightmare now enveloping our
nation.
Of course we need to understand the motives of our homegrown enemies
of democracy. In general, political scientists find not
surprisingly, given Americas history that racial antagonism is the
best predictor of willingness to countenance political violence.
Anecdotally, personal frustrations often involving social
interactions, not economic anxiety also seem to drive many
extremists.
But neither racism nor widespread attraction to conspiracy theories is
new in our political life. The worldview described in Richard
Hofstadters classic 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American
Politics is barely distinguishable from QAnon beliefs today.
So theres only so much to be gained from interviewing red-hatted guys
in diners; there have always been people like that. If there are or
seem to be more such people than in the past, it probably has less to
do with intensified grievances than with outside encouragement.
For the big thing that has changed since Hofstadter wrote is that one
of our major political parties has become willing to tolerate and,
indeed, feed right-wing political paranoia.
This coddling of the crazies was, at first, almost entirely cynical.
When the G.O.P. began moving right in the 1970s its true agenda was
mainly economic what its leaders wanted, above all, were business
deregulation and tax cuts for the rich. But the party needed more than
plutocracy to win elections, so it began courting working-class whites
with what amounted to thinly disguised racist appeals.
Not incidentally, white supremacy has always been sustained in large
part through voter suppression. So it shouldnt be surprising to see
right-wingers howling about a rigged election after all, rigging
elections is what their side is accustomed to doing. And its not
clear to what extent they actually believe that this election was
rigged, as opposed to being enraged that this time the usual
vote-rigging didnt work.
But its not just about race. Since Ronald Reagan, the G.O.P. has been
closely tied to the hard-line Christian right. Anyone shocked by the
prevalence of insane conspiracy theories in 2020 should look back to
The New World Order, published by Reagan ally Pat Robertson in 1991,
which saw America menaced by an international cabal of Jewish bankers,
Freemasons and occultists. Or they should check out a 1994 video
promoted by Jerry Falwell Sr. called The Clinton Chronicles, which
portrayed Bill Clinton as a drug smuggler and serial killer.
So what has changed since then? For a long time Republican elites
imagined that they could exploit racism and conspiracy theorizing
while remaining focused on a plutocratic agenda. But with the rise
first of the Tea Party, then of Donald Trump, the cynics found that
the crazies were actually in control, and that they wanted to destroy
democracy, not cut tax rates on capital gains.
And Republican elites have, with few exceptions, accepted their new
subservient status.
You might have hoped that a significant number of sane Republican
politicians would finally say that enough is enough, and break with
their extremist allies. But Trumps party didnt balk at his
corruption and abuse of power; it stood by him when he refused to
accept electoral defeat; and some of its members are responding to a
violent attack on Congress by complaining about their loss of Twitter
followers.
And theres no reason to believe that the atrocities yet to come for
there will be more atrocities will make a difference. The G.O.P. has
reached the culmination of its long journey away from democracy, and
its hard to see how it can ever be redeemed.