If Trump is the problem democracy faces, it is only in that he gave agency to a US authoritarian faction. That faction was transformed into a political power base, providing Trump the grifts that keep on grifting. The Republican Partyf eebly tried to derail Trump, only to fail and become his enablers. But the Republicans were headed to the dark side anyway (I’ll have a glass of Atwater, a Cheney steak, raw, with a side of Wolfowitz, and a Bush). The party climbed aboard the crazy train headed to MAGA Central Station where it is now simply a comicon pretending to be a political party.
It’s almost jingoistic now to say that an anti-democratic and authoritarian-loving faction has existed since before the founding of the US . Simply google “John Adams authoritarian” or “Alexander Hamilton authoritarian” to find articles lamenting the authoritarian tendencies of some of the founding fathers. Indeed, it was Adams, as President, who signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts.
If there’s anything to “blame” for the recent precipitation of the MAGA base from the melting pot of the American populace in the first place, it is the presidency of Barack Obama and the development of Obamaphobia. The Urban Dictionary defines and describes Obamaphobia as:
“A condition wherein someone suffers from obsessive negative delusions regarding Barack Obama. Those afflicted are often prone to propagation of false rumors about Obama in an attempt to discredit him, seemingly out of irrational fear of him and his candidacy. Misquotes, twisting of facts, contextually inaccurate statements, and flat out lies that play on xenophobic prejudices and exaggerated jingoistic nationalism are staple attacks used by the Obamaphobe.”
Simply swap out “Barack Obama” and put in your favorite liberal epithet and you’ve got your Trump base:
“A condition wherein someone suffers from obsessive negative delusions regarding Democrats. Those afflicted are often prone to propagation of false rumors about Democrats in an attempt to discredit them, seemingly out of irrational fear of them and their candidacies. Misquotes, twisting of facts, contextually inaccurate statements, and flat out lies that play on xenophobic prejudices and exaggerated jingoistic nationalism are staple attacks used by MAGAs.”
In 2011, Trump saw something in the electorate that sparked his xenophobic attacks (birtherism)—maybe he saw some uptick in donations/polls whenever it was mentioned (and not necessarily by or for him).
Zero out the MAGA base and a Republican candidate is doomed. There’s very little cross-over vote that goes with the MAGA support (see DeSantis and company).
The problem is no longer the Republican Party and hasn’t been for awhile; it is the MAGA base. You won’t kill it by jailing Trump. Trump could very well be the first federal convict President. The base is now well-funded and organized at the corporate level. It has political ambitions and identifiable enemies it seeks to dehumanize and exclude.
If you want to kill MAGA/Trumpism, you’ll need to cut off its te$ticle$ from the top.