Last Wednesday, I focused on two introductory paragraphs in one of Heather Cox Richardson’s daily Letters. Today, I want to revisit another paragraph from that same letter, in which Richardson quotes from a speech made by our creepy, faux “Hillbilly” Vice President.
Here’s that quote, from a 2021 interview.
“American conservatives…have lost every major powerful institution in the country, except for maybe churches and religious institutions, which of course are weaker now than they’ve ever been. We’ve lost big business. We’ve lost finance. We’ve lost the culture. We’ve lost the academy. And if we’re going to actually really effect real change in the country, it will require us completely replacing the existing ruling class with another ruling class…. I don’t think there’s sort of a compromise that we’re going to come with the people who currently actually control the country. Unless we overthrow them in some way, we’re going to keep losing.” “We really need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power,” he said.
That quote is the very essence of MAGA– the whine of White Christian males who are furious that American culture is depriving them of “ruling class” status, and who are determined to take the country back to the “good old days” when women, Black people and other “inferior” sorts knew our place.
I have previously noted that what Trump, Vance, Musk and the rest of MAGA are trying to do is inconsistent with today’s American culture–a point with which Vance rather obviously agrees. The question is: when politically powerful officials attempt to change the culture–when they embark on a project to reverse cultural changes–can they succeed?
Can this administration fulfill JD Vance’s fondest hope, and return us to the 1950s?
I doubt it, although they are certainly trying. (The recent attack on the Smithsonian Institution is a case on point, as are efforts to erase the contributions of women and minorities from government websites, and restore Confederates names to national monuments.)
I found an excellent 2020 essay on this point, in a publication called The Minnesota Reformer. It’s worth reading in its entirety. The author suggested that in 2016, Republicans “decided to nominate the man who most loudly voiced their fears, who promised most explicitly to protect them from the cultural changes threatening them.”
Conservatives may argue that with laws such as the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, American liberals have indeed used the political system to drive cultural change, but that argument confuses cause with effect. Those laws, while historic, did not drive cultural change, they were the products of cultural changes that had already occurred. The civil rights movement of the ‘50s and early ‘60s, brought into American living rooms by the new technology of television, had made people see things differently, to think about things differently. Only after the civil rights movement changed hearts and minds, after it changed what was deemed culturally acceptable, were the laws changed to reflect that culture.
The essay argues that America’s government, with its constitutional limitations,
is not capable of producing cultural change on the scale that we are witnessing. It can slow such changes, for a while; it can adapt to them and regulate them and in the end it must reflect them, but it cannot create them. Only highly intrusive governments such as Soviet Russia, Communist China, Nazi Germany and revolutionary Iran can force such profound change.
As the writer notes later in the essay, “A government that is large enough, intrusive enough and brutal enough to tamp down cultural change in such an environment is not a government consistent with American traditions.”
JD Vance–a Yale Law “hillbilly”–clearly understands that. So do the (few) intellectuals in the MAGA movement–and so did the authors of Project 2025. Thus, the obvious conclusion: if only “highly intrusive” governments like Russia and Nazi Germany are able to force the changes they want, then America’s constitutional democracy must be replaced with such a government. Trump, Vance, Musk et al are proceeding at a furious pace with an effort to replace America’s admittedly messy and contentious liberal democracy with a fascist regime that will be capable of Vance’s desired “ruthless exercise of power.”
The author of the linked essay suggests that we may be witnessing the last stage of the culture wars, “the deciding battle of a decades-long effort by conservative Americans to enlist government as their champion against cultural changes that they have long fought against.”
Those of us who believe in the American Idea (and applaud the cultural changes consistent with it) simply cannot allow that to happen.
Years ago my husband, Earl Kennedy, and I visited Toronto, Canada three times on vacations; we found the Cosmopolitan attitude of Canadians and global visitors to be welcoming and acceptance of our interracial marriage to simply be the way of life across our northern border. We were there when Yong Street was having its annual 6 block long and 2 block wide celebration (I have forgotten the name); police walked through and found no one to confront or arrest. Not even the few who had too much to drink and were obviously smoking an illegal substance but all were friendly and enjoying the business area, the sidewalk cafes, the hand craft booths, the chess competitions, the music from around the world and mainly enjoying the company of one another. We heard many foreign languages, saw other interracial and same-sex couples and sharing tables with strangers to seat the crowds, we shared conversations or not, primarily based on language differences. Can you even imagine this happening in this country as neighbor vs. neighbor and family member vs. family member is now our way of life; it has crept up on us till Trump unleashed the Hounds of Hell known as MAGA on us. Giving this condition the name of anti-DEI, the lack of acceptance of Cultural Changes doesn’t cover up the hatred that is the foundation of our current government administration. The Canadian way of life in those long ago visits appears to continue today as they welcome Americans who wish to escape full Fascism as the law of the land.
“Those of us who believe in the American Idea (and applaud the cultural changes consistent with it) simply cannot allow that to happen.” It has already happened under the guise of acceptance of our “hillbilly” Vice President and the South African who had a special U.S. government Department created by Trump for him to run America as he believes is the normal way of life to seek.
“Thus, the obvious conclusion: if only “highly intrusive” governments like Russia and Nazi Germany are able to force the changes they want, then America’s constitutional democracy must be replaced with such a government.” We, as a nation, not only did NOT vote for Elon Musk, we did not vote for “such a government” as we are living under today. MAGA voters are beginning to feel the error of their ways as they find themselves losing their protection from Fascism along with the rest of us. But will the sitting Republicans who have the power to change what is happening begin to use that power before it is gone from America? Democracy, Rule of Law and our Constitution are quickly being lost to us.
“The author of the linked essay suggests that we may be witnessing the last stage of the culture wars”
A wild animal is always most dangerous when trapped or cornered. The authors of Project 2025 are trapped by the changing demographics in America and the world, and they do not want to give up their illusion of power. As the sociologist C. Wright Mills expressed, those who attain power will do anything to maintain that power, even if it means destroying the society that allowed them to attain that power. We are witnessing an historic moment of great risk and great opportunity. What will happen next?
The future is uncertain but it is rolling toward us like a swollen river.
there is a culture change,for those who want change. for themselves. but unfortunatly,its found a way to drag us down with them screaming. though ill agree we can stop it. its obvious that theres one party,and much of the other who depend on a vote. and im sure many now see a track to corruption. one family believes they will suceed in this. we still have the power to stop the wheels of this ugly ol truck. trumps blathering view is all will fall in line quickly. i believe his quickly will leave his laundry around his ankles. (ugly eh?) theres too much to move. the idea that manufacturing will just roll over and bloom in a few years is highly a shangrala of dreams. steel plants run at 92% capacity alone. and orders are usually a year in advance. bring what jobs back, the cheap crap were used to buying qvc. amazon etc?are these riches to be thought of when someone pulls rug out from under us,delibertly. basic needs will reign. and hopefully we.ll see bezos go bonkers for assets.the news scum of commercial t.v will become a late dead institution and who cares. poll,shows they are not trusted.but social media will be glad to tell you how to live. and when we find that is only driving our lifestyle into the ground. thats when we hopefully can vote one more time and send the christians back to thier bunkers and pray where they should.
trumps blast of the economy shows what hes made of, he wants total control of the working class by demoralizing us. take away the money to control how we live and we submit. there is no other reason. the scant idea of his plan to bring anything back is no more than a authoritarian move by his heritage/2025/christian right/ POX news take over. unfortunaly, after being around the people at the rally 4/5 in Bismarck NoDak, incan atest. no one reads the news here and they only pick and choose what they want to hear. uninformed and next to just walking away because they dont know what to do. I asked the question,what can we do?they just stood there. few ever heard of Robert Reich or many of the mainstream news sources i asked about. they allowed social media blurbs to tell them how to think,over knowlege of the present issues.
In this case, I agree with JD Vance (Peter Thiel’s protege) about power and the ruling class. The issue here is Vance wants to swap one oligarchic power structure with another. JoAnn’s last sentence is years too late since we, the people, have never really ruled the country. Our Founders ensured that with the Constitution. They were oligarchs who thought they should rule over our agrarian society. They saw what the people did when they revolted against British rule. They didn’t want that kind of democracy to take over control of this country.
The ruling class has always been an oligarchy divided between the two ruling class parties. The closest the people came was FDR, but he still saved capitalism from being taken over by the union socialists.
Remember, the largest funder of the Republican Party was the Koch family. They controlled all the great institutions and shaped the culture via the academy, media, and law. Did our fourth estate expose all the Koch’s dark network and make it a mainstay in their daily programming? Has the fourth estate ever rallied against the oligarchy by representing the people?
The Fourth Estate isn’t leading the protests against Trump. It shows clips (reports) about it, but it certainly isn’t holding the oligarchs accountable. The folks acting like our Fourth Estate are independent journalists or muckrakers.
Anyway, the Koch network, which previously ran the GOP, has merged with the Tech Bros of Silicon Valley, from which JD Vance was trained. Peter Thiel financed his senatorial campaign and funded his venture capital firm. That is the ruling class on the so-called right. Wall Street and the Democrats run the left. There is no “people party” in this country. The two oligarch-controlled political parties have set the bar so high for a third party, and the media destroys the very idea of this concept that the people have almost zero chance of establishing one. Every attempt has succumbed to a certain death.
When I hear Vance, Trump, and all the Republican politicians calling the Democrats “Marxists,” all I can do is laugh. Either they don’t know what Marx talked about or are so full of performative b.s. (acting).
To close, we need a working-class-centered political party that will represent the people in this country and NOT the rich and powerful oligarchs. We aren’t served by Wall Street, Koch, or the PayPal Mafia. We benefit from central planning versus the “free markets,” but we need working-class-centered people looking out for workers—not the rich and powerful and their puppet politicians.
ballot initatives and constitutional admendments.
“SoDak and Louisiana voters let lawmakers have it”
The American Prospect.org. today/
there is still a faction of republicans who voted to retain this issue.
4/7/25 Gabrielle Gurley
someday ill learn to paste on this i pad.
p.s in SoDak, the rec marijuana passed the vote in election,
but the legislature refused to write the law.
Well, Jack, South Dakota also produced a creature like Christy Noem to be governor, so …
Every time one of these types of “discussions” come up, I fall back to the number that sickens me most: 38.6% of registered voters did NOT vote. So, with Trump “winning” with a 1.5% plurality of the popular vote, that says that we the people have allowed less than 40% of the voting population to dictate this horror show now seen on TV every moment of every day.
That said, the president is playing golf every weekend at our expense. Somebody released film of his golf swing. It is as bad as he is a person. It’s a spasm, not a swing. Moreover, all the demonstrations the other day are lost on him as he is insulated by he cadre of lying “yes” people, so he can’t see that an open rebellion is on the horizon.
The rebellion may be too late to save some of our institutions, but it will, I hope, destroy those who are causing this mess.
Thanks, Sheila, for that quote from hillbillyJDV. It seems to be the essence of our revolution and theirs. The Constitution defined liberal democracy for the world, the opposite of which is what those who believe in MTV’s brand of terrorism define as conservatism. Scholars have written numerous books on liberal democracy, yet Project 2025 stands alone as a book on conservatism.
Let’s take both the Constitution and Project 2025 at their words.
The fundamental difference is this: According to the Constitution, “we, the people,” are the source of the government’s power. Project 2025 and HillbillyJDV say only conservatives are entitled to government power.
Doesn’t that make these times clear?
Millions demonstrated peacefully this weekend their disagreement with this takeover by conservatives and conservatism. We need to continue to let those who were displaced by 0.647% of the population who robbed us of the Constitution grow organically into an organization that will not stand to be deprived of our political heritage.
(BTW, JoAnn, It’s Yonge Street in Toronto. Sorry, I can’t help myself.)
Please follow Sheila on Substack. It’s a great platform and she needs to reach a wider audience than us old farts on here.
We had a great “Hands Off” protest march in Pawleys Island, SC on Saturday — over 500 folks! Hope you got out where you live!!
Per my comment yesterday regarding actions, not postering, that one can take this year….
First step, learn what local elections are being held where you live. You can find them here: https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_municipal_elections,_2025.
Next – drill down to your state, for example: https://ballotpedia.org/Indiana_local_election_coverage,_2025.
Then, use your search engine to look at the 2023 results for your county and/or city. That should give you an idea of what races/offices were “competitive”.
More tomorrow….
The fact that Republicans are willing to throw away democracy to get what they want is scary.
But what is more scary is that right wing media has convinced about half the population that is exactly what the Democrats were doing for the last 4 years.
(sarcasm) I think we should all go out and just play a few good rounds of golf over the next few days to take our minds off the current mess.
Todd, in your thought about Republicans calling Democrats “Marxists”,may I suggest that they are both unaware of what Marx actually wrote and they they are full of b.s. The two are not mutually exclusive.
I agree that neither party is free from the money tentacles of the super rich. But it seems to me as if the Democratic party is more of a beneficent despot than they are fascistic. As long as we don’t have a viable third party, I’m going to stick with the Dems. I’m significantly better off with them in charge.
A couple of weeks ago I said that I had lost thirty thousand dollars to Orange Jesus and his un-policy policies. Today that number is closing in on one hundred. If this is what the MAGATS call the tRump bumb, I hate to see what they think is the bad news. This short period of time has cost me all of my Biden bump and that took over four years to build.
Last gasp of a dying animal? Panicked throes of a trapped beast? ‘Twould be nice! I’ll be happy to say “Bye now.”
About the number of people that were out protesting; I had a conversation with my wife. Reporting on the number of people has become politicized ever since the 2016 inauguration, so nobody is even going to try to estimate crowd sizes anymore. They risk getting excoriated by the right AND left and nobody is going to stick their neck out for that. So here we are once again where truth based reality is thrown by the wayside. It is going to take generations to recover from the damage caused by Trump and fueled by social and right wing media.
Something else I noticed today. Every President has had a three or four month “honeymoon” period, where when they do a poll and numbers are still OK, they say “he’s still in the honeymoon period”. Saturday millions of people across the country were out protesting against the current administration and we’re barely past the 60 day point. I guess if we had a honeymoon period, it was in 2016?
Dan, WADR, I have seen no number that suggested it was “millions”.
The protests were attended by the see me-dig me types. A revolution by a comfortable group of 60+ seniors will not cut it.
McResistance v2.o
OMG – Ian has something right! Judging from all pictures I have seen of the protests the vast majority of participants in the protests were 60+ – SAD.
Dan Mullendore, perhaps there aren’t accurate numbers—I don’t see how that would even be possible—but there are multiple videos of all the major cities, and I highly doubt any are AI produced. NYC alone was gobsmacking; then there was Chicago, Boston, Portland OR, D.C., and so on. Perhaps the senile shriveled kumquat is protected from seeing the turnouts, but those in Congress surely had to have seen it. And they are the only ones right now who can do something about that chaotic mess that’s occurring.
Cory Booker attended one (don’t know if it was in Jersey or D.C., but he marched through the crowd, got up on the platform, and gave a rousing speech. We need more Cory Bookers, but in the meantime, this one already has my support and endorsement for POTUS 2028.
Ian and Lester. Don’t know if you are even looking at newscasts anymore, but maybe you should. There were massive crowds in large cities. There were also protests in smaller cities. Maybe that is where you come up with the idea of small crowd size. Adding all of them together with the protests in other countries could be the basis for reporting millions of attendees. I saw aerial photographs of the crowd in Indianapolis and unless you have verifiable evidence they were faked, you are in no position to doubt them.
Also, Lester, yesterday you posted “It gets really tiring to read the same complaining and depression every day…”
Physician, heal thyself.
Pete; thank you for the spelling correction. The locale of such globally attended celebrations should be spelled correctly. Have you ever been to Toronto; much of their physical beauty was in well maintained landscaped areas, clean air and totally trash free streets everywhere. The smiling people of all ethnicities represented; both the welcoming Canadians and the welcomed visitors made every day a pleasure. I have been wondering the past more than few years why people want to visit this country or escape to here the past almost 10 years to Trumpland.
C.S. Lewis in a letter to a friend:
“It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning. I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. (This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know). A great many people do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is.” AMEN
Hey Ian and Lester — F**K you both!!
What were you two doing whiIe the rest of us were out having a “sad” time??
I was walking and sweating my butt off for 3 hours carrying a large “Hands Off” sign and I got lots of beeps and thumbs up! While you two sit around and pontificate and discuss whether it was really “millions” of people out there!! You two are part of the reason I am now following Sheila on Substack — so I don’t have to read your sorry-ass messages!! I don’t need the negativity here — there’s already plenty of BS to discourage the world and the people who are trying to do the best they can.
Sorry, Sheila, they just really got my Irish up!
Kathy – what I was doing was organizing citizens to find and prepare to elect servant leader candidates for local November 2025 elections. I can’t speak for Ian as I usually violently disagree with his posts.
Lester and Ian need to expand their horizons, get out into the streets and listen to the people who are growing in number every day.
April 19 in less than 2 weeks away. I will be in the streets with my rolling walker, fighting to be sure that my children and grandchildren have some semblance of this country to live in safety and freedom. If I don’t fight for it, then I have no right to criticize others who just sit on the sidelines, waiting to be re-enslaved.
Damn Skippy! As they said at Valley Forge, let’s not go down without a fight (or March)! I have participated in 3 demonstrations so far and happy to meet up at the next. Each has grown in size exponentially. God knows what will happen when King Mango declares martial law but putting a burr under his saddle is well worth the effort.
Magas war on all Americans that aren’t on Trump’s bandwagon is a reflection of Trump’s overreaching his presidential power. Their authoritarian bent is clashing with US customs, laws, Democracy and our freedoms. Maga is a top downward push, while Democracy is grassroots resistance and push back on their overreach.
Behind the scenes and some in the open, predatory capitalists are manipulating the market to buy low, setting up shell companies with foreign oligarchs and laundering dirty money.
Republican congress needs to buck up and deal with the insanity and unlawfulness with which they are complicit and guilty of capitalizing on at the expense of the American people!
The number demonstrating yesterday was estimated by “Hands Off”, the leading organizer, was 3.5M protesters.
Lester — you’re a saint!!
Blah, blah, blah . . . . .
Ian (I think you’re a Russian bot) and Lester: those old see-me dig-me codgers remember what growing up in a country with a news media and two functioning political parties was like. And since many of us are still working, the tariff attack on our major source of income -retirement savings – raises serious doubts about if and when a recovery of those losses is even possible or likely. Maybe you two could support a few of us see-me dig-me individuals.
To the petulant and puerile; If you want a genuine and effective “revolution”..
It can’t be about yourselves. I was there. It was nothing shy of being nothing more than self aggrandizing cos-play amongst the elderly. Nothing wrong with some of that but…The sixties are over. Koch’s massive influence over your government transpired without one march from the Kochs.
Think about it,,,,
McResistance v2.0
Accusing one of being a Russian bot is analogous to a Democrat being accused of being a Marxist by a MAGA tribesman.
More proof Americans are stupid, myopic and needlessly accusatory.