At this point nearly everyone has gotten around to saying that the United States has a fascism problem. I remember watching as more and more "right-wing" pundits crossed that line, I remember feeling growing alarm and being told that speaking the name of what I was witnessing was "alarmist." So, you'd think that this arrival at a consensus among "the left" (people too far left to be called Democrats) and "liberal Democrats" (the more left-leaning part of that party) and even some "moderate Democrats" (such as Joe Biden) would be a big relief.
It hasn't quite worked out that way. The amount of eliminationist, sincerely frightening rhetoric you can find on any randomly selected 10min segment from the Tucker Carlson show is so far off the charts I wonder how we will ever survive this. Because, as the center has been waking up to just how far from reason voices on the right have drifted, that rate of drift has only accelerated. The code words and dog whistles have fallen away and accountability for even the most obvious lies has no meaning. Recently, the talking points have been about immigration. Specifically, trying to link fentanyl to immigration. This isn't just a lie by omission or even exaggeration, it's an outright fabrication. A fairytale. There is no correlation.
Likewise, have you wondered why they keep on trying to pull the "bus immigrants to a blue state" stunt when they have never gotten the outraged and disgusted reaction they expected? Well, all of the right wing news outlets have simply been lying about how the immigrants are received. They take complaints about such trips being organized on dishonest premisses, and without any notice to the receiving cities and pretend that it's the disgust and rejection they anticipated. Because that's how they would react to people in need. Everyone must be that way. Meanwhile in NYC we are thrilled to have more immigrants. Just please don't trick anyone or humiliate anyone by calling them dirty on your news programs.
Just as alarming as the lies, are the very few instances where the right will say something that is, at least in part, true. For example:
- Anyone who talks about "over-population" with respect to climate change or any other topic is peddling a deeply dangerous idea. Though the right-wing spin on this topic seems to be more about a zero-sum game where you have to eliminate before you are eliminated. They are correct that looking to population control is bad.
- It's also not a good thing that young people who want to start families are putting it off for economic reasons. Though, I suspect we are picturing very different "young people" when we point this one out.
- It's bad that two incomes are required to keep a household afloat. (but can we discuss this without telling women to go back to the kitchen?)
On a recent Tucker segment he talked about the immigrants sent to Martha's Vineyard and showed an aerial shot of Obama's mansion. He raged with glee about how many "illegals" (these immigrants were legal) could live in it. It was gloriously populist on a surface level. The kind you rarely hear in US political discourse. But, it was also underlined by racism and the head spinning irony that Tucker himself lives in a mansion on an island for the rich. Oh, but at least he hates the same people "you" do dear viewer. Going layers further ... there is very little difference in the immigration policies of the two parties. Democrats are a bit better, but it is only a little bit. The broad trends are very much the same. The US is deeply dependent on immigrant labor that is purposely kept in the shadows to keep wages low. The borders are cruel places. Obama deported more people than any recent president. It didn't matter. Simply talking about the issue as if those involved are fully human is crime enough for the right.
Democrats can never win by out-republicaning republicans. They will simply lie and say you never did any of those things. And look, you've become a monster just to win. Was that worth it? Is Obama's house a capitalist obscenity? Probably.
Could many many people live there when he hardly even uses it? Of course! Is it disturbing that this is the only populist talk, put into such stark and simple terms we will hear on US TV? Deeply so.That it exists at all means that there is thirst for such talk, and look who is controlling the conversation. And what hateful ends they will seek to direct it to realize.