I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired. Strike that - I’m beyond tired, I’m fucking exhausted. Every modern moment feels like an existential crisis for global democracy. Every special election breathlessly covered and poured over by pundits like ancient shamans reading animal entrails, vapidly spewing nonsense as to what “America is saying” to its elected officials. Electorally meaningful districts and states steadily shrink as we self-segregate by race, religion, and ideology.
If it feels like we’re circling some sort of intellectual drain it’s because we are. It’s tempting to think “if only we framed the discussion the right way” or “if only they could see this data from this impartial source,” but none of that matters. It’s like trying to solve a quadratic equation using only addition. You just can’t. History is replete with moments like this, teaching us time and again that the only way out is through. And the only way through is via troubles. This current political system is a snake - one nourished by money and powered by our hatred. Snakes like these can only be dispelled one of two ways; either the beast is starved to death or it eats its own tail.
That’s a lot of doom and gloom, and it probably deserves more of a setup than I’ve given it to this point. So let me walk you through how I got here and why I think this way. I’ll do a lot of “blame-casting” here. It’s my perspective. Others may have a different perspective. Honestly, all perspectives are valid. Mine is not the gospel. If yours is different, it doesn’t by definition contradict mine - it just adds another voice to the chorus. Similarly, I’ll tell you where this knowledge started for me, but “which side started it” is really kind of irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. If you’ve got terminal cancer, theories on the origin of the universe don’t really come into play. You just want to recognize the symptoms and work towards healing. Invariably one side will say it’s all the other side’s fault and that they started it. Original sin is a distraction in this discussion. Relative magnitude of the sin is a distraction (i.e. “they do it, too! And they’re way worse than us.”). Basically I’m saying feel free to believe in whatever original sin you happen to believe in. Believe whatever side you think is worse in the endless dialogue of “what-aboutism.” I certainly do. In the end it doesn’t change the narrative.
So that having been said, let’s go back to my first recognition of the MAGA Republicans - Karl Rove and the Bush administration. Nothing since Pearl Harbor has impacted the American psyche like 9/11. It completely changed the political narrative and landscape overnight. After 9/11 America was ever so briefly as unified as we have ever been in my lifetime. Bush’s approval rating was something like 90%. That’s officially as many Americans as is statistically possible to like a guy. If Lincoln came back to life, I guarantee you there would be a minimum of 9% of Americans who for some reason would roll their eyes and go “here’s this fuckin guy again.”
For Karl there was no such thing as a crisis. Just a crisis-portunity? Sure, let’s go with that. And so in 2002 he callously set about turning the patriotic furor against Bush’s legislative opponents and towards his own legislative priorities. Men who served with honor in the military were called cowards by people who took multiple deferments. Ironically this is the exact behavior Republicans once upon a time hated Democrats over (“Hippies calling Vietnam vets ‘baby killers.’”). But a recurring theme of the next 25 years would be Republicans losing all sense of the word “irony.”
The strategy worked. People caught up in patriotism considered anyone who questioned the President in a “time of war” as cowards, traitors, or worse. And the man aptly named “turd blossom” by no less than POTUS himself rode this vitriol to heretofore unheard of congressional majorities. Legislative norms were trashed to pass tax cuts, the expansion of government agencies, and an unprecedented assault on the rights of its citizens.
The next presidential election year (2004) would see more of the same. Another war record was shat upon. More aspersions were cast. By now I was beyond furious. The war in Iraq was bullshit. It was obvious the administration had so many warnings about 9/11 that the only thing he was missing was a birthday card from Osama Bin Laden personally addressed to Bush saying “see you soon, WTC” sitting on his desk with copies of the actual tickets the hijackers would use.
When the race ended in a 51% - 49% victory for the incumbent, it would mark the first time a Republican won the popular vote since 1988. In the face of this mouse fart of a victory, Bush could have realized he’d brought the United States upon a new, hard division. He could have chosen in that moment to back off, rise above what separates us, and try to re-focus on what it is that unites us. Instead, he started his second term with a sneering “fuck you.” “Elections have consequences.” “I’ll do whaever the fuck I want now, assholes! I don’t have to run for re-election, and you’re stuck with me for four years!” He quadrupled down on the hate. Yeah, basically in case you forgot, he was a shit president (pretty sure you didn’t forget).
The right will argue that he was just responding to all the “historic negativity” that Bush faced after starting the war in Iraq. And in the aftermath, a triumphant right-wing echo chamber doubled down on an insidious tactic that they continue to use to this day. It represents the calcification of the arterial blockages of our nation’s heart of civil discourse. It’s the reason why you can’t argue with the MAGA crowd. Worst of all, they infected me with the same disease. The disease I speak of is “the safe and secure knowledge that you perfectly understand what is going on inside the head of the millions of people who hold a different political opinion than you do.” This is the central axis around which politics revolves now. It’s not issues or principles. It’s not money (though money is the endorphin that feeds the addiction). It’s this simple act of demonization and hate.
I will be the first to cop to it! By 2006 I fucking hated Republicans like an 18th century Englishman hated the French. I hated that “torture” was now “freedom tickles.” I hated that Osama bin Laden was sitting in Pakistan laughing his ass off at American incompetence. I hated that men who served their country honorably were being openly mocked by the cowards who ran and hid. And most of all, I hated how fucking smug they were about all of it! Putting it bluntly - how much I hated them replaced everything else in my political decision making process.
Now hold up a mirror to this version of me and realize this is how they operate. This is how they make decisions. They hate you. You specifically. Every bit as much as you hate them. In point of fact, MAGA exists only to hate you. Your anger fuels them. They drink your tears like coffee. This hatred has replaced everything. They stand for nothing.
You can’t help but notice how malleable Republican beliefs have become over the years. If one year you say “you can’t appoint a supreme court justice in a presidential election year,” it should at least be mildly uncomfortable 4 years later when you appoint one the week before said election. But such changes in policy (in the “before time” someone might even call them “flip flops”) don’t matter when you don’t believe in anything.
As anyone who has seen Hamilton knows, ‘ol Alex once gave us the truest of American truisms - “Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.” I’m not exaggerating when I say the MAGA movement stands for nothing. Just take a look at the dustbin of conservative principles left in the dustbin of advocacy:
That Government Is Best Which Governs the Least - Nothing says “smaller government” like a government that tells you who you can love, who you can marry, what you can wear, or what you can do with your own body. The quaintness of individual liberty aside, here’s a chart of government spending courtesy of the OMB. Notice when government spending goes up? It’s when Republicans are in charge.
Take Personal Responsibility for Your Actions - HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHHH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh God…. {wipes away tear}. I’d forgotten about this one. Yeah, that’s hilarious. Once upon a time a defining conservative principle was taking responsibility for your actions. As principles go, this was actually a good one! But truth be told they never actually meant it. What that phrase was intended to be was a slight to recipients of government assistance. We wouldn’t have to pay for food stamps if only those damn people to the right of “Totally Tan” on the Sherwin Williams color strip would take responsibility for themselves.
Judges Shouldn’t Legislate from the Bench - Thank God I busted my gut on the last one and I’ve laughed myself out before getting to this one. Otherwise you’d be looking at a “Killing Joke” level of hahas. Again, a conservative principle that proved itself very malleable once they had appointed enough federal judges. Now there’s no such thing as “judicial overreach.” Just “correct interpretation of the Founding Fathers* ™ intent. (*The Founding Fathers are a registered trademark of the GOP. Any use of the opinions of said fathers are strictly prohibited unless you agree with MAGA).
Tort Reform - Once upon a time conservatives would argue that the culture is too “lawsuit happy,” and in need of reform. Most famously for the “I spilled hot coffee on myself” suit. This principle used to fit hand and glove with personal responsibility, forming what modern day sociologists call “a value.” But fortunately for the MAGA movement this was another casualty of assuming judicial power. Now lawsuits are the answer to any question! Are you being investigated for breaking the law? Flood the zone with lawsuits! Never let the trial start! Know someone who’s had an abortion? Take them to court! So what if you’re not the father, or a family member, or a friend, or anyone who even knows the woman in question! You deserve $10,000 for reporting this border-crossing hussy! But not you, California. Stop trying to sue gun manufacturers for mass shootings! What do you think this is? A value!?
I could go on, literally for days. The sole legislative goal of the MAGA movement is to provide their hate with teeth. Freedom of speech allows them to say whatever they want! That’s not the problem. The problem is their speech doesn’t hurt like it used to. White privilege no longer carries white benefits. This is where the DEI adversity comes from. They do not see inclusiveness as equality. They only see what they are “losing.” You are not extending opportunity to the disenfranchised - you’re taking opportunity from me.
Like I said at the beginning, history has been here before lots of times. 1937 Tokyo. 1787 Paris. 1975 Cambodia. Economic anger boils over and calcifies into something hard and spiteful. Inevitably the hate turns its eyes on its neighbor intent on purging whatever force has been identified as “the unclean.” It could be the wealthy, the educated, or even the powerless. Whatever “the unclean” is, it has to be purged with fire. Those who once cheered the fire when it benefited them are subseqeuntly burned by it.
And so it will be for this moment of history. You’re seeing some of it already. MAGA turning on movement bulwarks like Mitch McConnell whose only sin was not allowing Drumpf to assume the mantle of American King. They’ll continue the ideological purge until there are no “sane ones” left (we’re probably at this point already to be honest). They’ll continue to march to the drumbeat of “purge the unclean” until one of two things happen - option 1 is society realizes we’re all behaving shamefully to each other, and maybe we should all mind our own business. Or Option 2 - the fire burns until it runs out of fuel.
Option 1 is extremely rare, but it happens. Society stands on the precipice staring into the abyss, arms wide leaning over the edge contemplating the fall, and suddenly society blinks. The most recent example I can think of is the “at long last have you no sense of decency” moment during McCarthy’s Red Scare II: Electric Bugaboo. Society pulls back, and the maniacs shouting “Jump! Jump! Jump!” are removed from power.
Option 2 is far more common. The protests increase in size. The violence increases in volume. “The unclean” are targeted. Shootings become the norm. Everyone looks the other way. A lot of people die. Unfortunately the fuel for this wildfire is people and their hate. It is only exhausted by so many deaths that the people who remain finally say “enough is enough.” Even then hate sets itself up for the next revolution. Hate is like a forest fire - it causes a lot of destruction, but in the destruction it sews the seeds that will grow in the burned out landscape. That’s how it perpetuates itself - Civil Wars become Lost Causes. Insurrectionists become victims. Those who perished are held up as heroes. The whole shitty process starts again.
There’s a reason I’m so pessimistic about our chances. It’s because the system as currently structured rewards bad behavior. Hate sells, and lots of people are buying. Hate drives click-baity headlines that drive eyeballs to advertisers. There is no profit motive to not hate right now, and with no regulatory element to keep it in check the fire will grow and grow.
In the end the fire consumes all, including the torch bearers. It’s only when those who called for the guillotine find themselves facing the guillotine that they realize it’s gone too far. That the wildfire has burned out of control for too long, and now it comes for them. Like the mythical serpent Ouroboros, any movement based on hate eats its own tail. The only question remaining is how many people get crushed beneath the thrashing serpent.