I grew up in the Heartland of America, in a Reagan Republican household, believing unions are bad for business, Democrats are bad for the economy and that "the Commies" were our number one enemy.
Fast forward forty years and I'm looking at those ideologies a whole new way. I no longer believe any of those tenets of Republicanism. I don't think Reagan did anything good for this country. His "trickle down" economics policy is a big fat bust that I now call "trickled on," since most of us in the middle classes--upper, middle and lower middle class--got pissed on and pissed off. He was just another flip-flopper (big time Democrat and union leader in Hollywood turned rich, white Republican and union buster), who pandered to Middle America and their blue collar work ethic and Protestant virtues. He gave rise to the whole Moral Majority and politicization of the American pulpit for which we can now thank him because we have a militant alt-right movement where Neo-Nazis have found a home in the Christian Nationalist extreme neo-conservative right. It's disgusting.
Oh and enemy number one is no longer Russia. On that point, I'll bet Reagan, and all those who supported him, like my parents, are rolling over in their graves. What was the point of the Cold War and all those drills spent hiding under classroom desks??
The thing is, the Grand Ol' Party can no longer claim moral superiority when the candidate they clamor behind is a known rapist, misogynist, homophobe and xenophobe who now has 34 felony convictions to his name. His immoral behavior has racked up more criminal charges than a mob crime family. The Trump Crime Syndicate has sent countless among it's ranks to prison, most recently, their Minister of Propaganda, Steve Bannon. But the "moral majority," Christian Nationalists on the extreme right could GIVE TWO SHITS!!! They just want to see Hillary Clinton and the Bidens locked up for imagined crimes for which they have ZERO evidence.
President Joe Biden, on the other hand, quietly observes his faith and attends church every Sunday with his wife, whom he didn't cheat on. His Christian virtue and morals are on display daily--in his actions, his social media posts, his White House demeanor. You won't find ketchup stains on the wall of his White House. You won't see him throwing virtual temper tantrums on a money-losing social media platform he had to set up after getting banned from all others. You also won't see him mocking our veterans, POWs, the disabled, his political opponents (or threatening them, for that matter). Yet the "moral majority" right want to sling all the mud they can at the ACTUAL Christian, not the Bible-hawking pretend one. They'd rather prop up the immoral, orange buffoon, as their beloved cult leader.
But that's just what the alt-right has become, a cult. They DO NOT SPEAK for the entirety of the Republican party! That's where they are about to get blindsided in 2024.
Which brings me to the point of this blog post.
If I were to switch my allegiance back to the conservative right and the GOP, it would be to one of these "Never Trump" sects of the fractured (beyond repair?) Republican party.
Founded by "former Republican strategists, The Lincoln Project is dedicated to the preservation, protection, and defense of democracy. Since our launch in December 2019, The Lincoln Project has played a unique role in American politics. We entered the political arena with two stated objectives: first, to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box in 2020. (Done.) The second was to ensure Trumpism failed alongside him. We understand that the real fight against Trumpism is just beginning and we’re committed to seeing it through. Our democracy depends on it." (from their website).
"The American experiment in self-government can only survive if we all agree to abide by the laws and rules we make together. That means everything from election outcomes to jury verdicts to court decisions. Republicans for the Rule of Law hold fast to the principle that no one is above the law, from the average citizen to the president of the United States." This is what their website says on it's homepage below a quote from John Adams, a Deist NOT a Christian, per se, though the Library of Congress website says his faith remained a mystery to most. "Republicans for the Rule of Law is a group of life-long Republicans dedicated to defending the institutions of our republic and upholding the rule of law."
The New York Times reported, "In March 2021, one survey indicated that five factions of Republican voters had emerged following Trump's presidency..." and the first listed was the Never Trump Movement, made up of moderate conservatives who do not support the previous president. And even before his bid in 2016, there had been a growing divide in the GOP between establishment old-timers and small-government Tea Party new comers. It was that growing faction of anti-establishment, conspiracy theorists with a huge distrust of government that launched sites like Q'Anon and became the base of the Trumpist or MAGA Republicans. The factions became even greater after the January 6th insurrection, a debacle of epic proportions that could have led to our second civil war.
Wikipedia has a vast list of former Trump administration officials who endorsed President Joe Biden because they, too, are now Never Trump supporters.
Newsweek reported in late March of this year, "PAC Republican Voters Against Trump spent $50 million on 100 videos recorded by anti-Trump Republicans explaining why they no longer support him." That article also reported that in the previous month, "Trump's ex-chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, published an opinion piece for The Hill pleading for a 'viable' third-party candidate in the 2024 presidential election." That's how fractured they have become. Some members of Congress have vacated seats over their disgust with their own party, like Colorado GOPer Ken Buck. He claims others will follow suit, giving their party less of a majority in the House. The Newsweek article still doesn't believe in the viability of a third party in this country, nor do I.
My point in all this IS... that MAGA GOPer's are so drunk on the koolaid, so blind with tunnel vision and brainwashed by Fox, Newsmax and Lindell TV (and greed) that they don't even see how divided their own party is. How is a house divided ever going to stand? In more immediate terms, how do they expect to maintain control of Congress or win back the White House???
The Democrats need to grow a spine and quit calling for Biden to step down. He's their best chance at defeating a convicted criminal with only a PERCENTAGE of his own party behind him. We already know that the majority of Americans are center to left of center and would vote Democrat by a landslide if they would just vote. But the alt-right knuckleheads think they'll sweep the polls this November when their own party, a minority in America, isn't even on the same page. It'd be laughable if it just weren't so damn sad.
Democrats need to get their shit together, mobilize their base and get them to the polls, PERIOD. Get behind the nominee and incumbent President, despite how he comes across on TV or in debates. Hell, Reagan was in the early stages of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease when he was re-elected in the 1980s. Nancy propped him up in just the same way Dr. Jill Biden has her husband. We can do this, EASILY! We need to rally behind the moderate conservative Republicans and our OWN FREAKIN' PARTY and get the job done this November.
THE FUTURE OF OUR DEMOCRACY IS AT STAKE HERE!!!
Even our own Supreme Court Justices see this! Hell, Justice Sotomayor wrote in her recent dissent that she FEARS for our democracy. This isn't hyperbole, this shit is real! Do we WANT another civil war on our hands? Because that's where this country is headed.
We should make this our mantra, then:
NEVER EVER TRUMP!
***UPDATE: Here’s a great video just released to underscore this post:
Read The New Republic’s stance on Trumpism being Fascism:
ReplyDeletehttps://newrepublic.com/article/181258/american-fascism-look-like