Happy New Year! I hope I will be saying the same thing one year from now. There is no doubt this year will be one for the history books. I suspect as the legal noose continues to tighten around Trump’s political neck, he will become more and more unhinged. We all know what they say about a caged animal! In addition, as Trump becomes more and more unhinged, some of his more radical supporters are likely to become more and more unhinged which means they will become more dangerous.
People who call Trump out or rule against him, e.g., judges, routinely get death threats and are harassed through social media. It is probably only a matter of time before some Trump supporting wingnut actually kills someone. I hate to even say that, and it is surely a sad commentary on politics in America today, but it is a possibility given the environment in which we find ourselves. One of the big questions is, “What will all of his Congressional supporters say when that happens?”
My guess is we will continue to see the tap dancing, deafening silence or contorted rationalizations that surround the insurrection incited by Trump or his theft of classified documents. John F. Kennedy authored a book, Profiles in Courage, “which describes the acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity as a result “. What we are currently witnessing in Congress by most Republicans is Profiles in Cowardice.
Coincidently, I am reading a book, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy, by David Corn, which goes into the history of extremism that has become a hallmark of the Republican party. It turns out this is not a new phenomenon. Corn talks about how Barry Goldwater was supported by the John Birch Society, a far-right organization. When Reagan came along, the Republicans knew they had to disassociate him from the radical right and they made a conscious effort to play down those connections, even though Reagan never explicitly denounced the John Birch Society.
Trump is kind of like the Barry Goldwater of our time except on steroids and with a much more sophisticated political machine (and social media) behind him. Goldwater, Reagan and even Nixon, played upon the ‘white fright’ to help polarize the electorate. Trump and his MAGA acolytes have taken that one step further by adding ‘wokeness’ to the mix. Stir in a little ‘slash taxes,’ ‘build a border wall’ plus “eye of newt and toe of frog” and you have the Republican campaign stew which some people are slurping down like pigs at a trough. The fact is, it is not very healthy and tastes terrible, but people are sucking it up because they are falsely being told it is good for them.
It is rare these days to hear any Republican talk about policies and how they intend to tackle the problems facing the country. Instead, most of the rhetoric is aimed at stoking fear and division or figuring out ways to block Congress from doing anything. The Congress last year, thanks to the Republicans who controlled the House of Representatives, was one of the least productive in modern history. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s stream of attempts to reduce the salary of people she doesn’t like to one dollar doesn’t count as ‘productive’ despite what she might think!
It is highly likely the election this year will be decided, in part, by decisions handed down by the Supreme Court. It will be very interesting to see how justices who claim to be ‘strict constructionists’ such as Clarence Thomas will contort their legal thinking if and when they argue that the 14th Amendment is not applicable to Trump or grant him unlimited immunity from prosecution. The integrity and reputation of the Court has already been seriously damaged and rulings they make this year could seriously undermine the pillars of democracy that have stood the test of time since the founding of this country. The world will be watching.
The bottom line is that 2024 will be one for the record books. Let’s just hope a year from now we can say “Happy New Year” and really mean it!
