Well-meaning people continue to urge folks on the political Left and Right to talk to each other, to listen to each other, and to come to the “middle.” This constant refrain drives me up the wall, because what I see are not “politics as usual” disputes, but a fundamental moral divide. The only “policy” being debated is the right of a lawless administration to send ICE goons (aka Trump’s Gestapo) into American cities to kidnap and brutalize citizens at will.
Even the terms “Left” and “Right” are inappropriate. The Republican Party once had a coherent, politically conservative agenda–free trade, limited government, respect for law and order, support for NATO… That party has vanished, substituting virulent racism and devotion to Trump for anything resembling a conservative philosophy–or any philosophy, for that matter.
The morphing of the Republican Party into an alternate reality cult has also remade the Democratic Party (most of which was never as “Left” as Republicans used to charge). Actual conservatives and moderates have departed the GOP in droves. Many–probably most–now count themselves Independent, but a not-insignificant number now identify as Democrats, turning Democrats into a nearly ungovernable ideological mix.
The GOP has become a neo-fascist cult; Democratic voters are those who oppose that cult.
When I read pious exhortations about “coming together” and “listening to each other” I want to scream that I have been listening– I’ve heard MAGA loud and clear, and I know there is no “middle ground.”
A recent, welcome essay in Lincoln Square made that point forcefully. As Stuart Stevens began,
In this time of national trauma, we hear many calls for an end to the divisions that are shredding the national fabric. It all sounds lovely. Who could argue that Americans need to do more to understand each other and reach a consensus?
Well, I could.
I don’t want to understand the guy in the Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt during the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
I don’t want to understand the Death Squad ICE agents who murder innocent citizens.
I don’t want to understand the twisted hatred of Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem.
I don’t want to understand the MAGA followers who say the 2020 election was stolen.
Stevens–one of the sane Americans who fled the GOP–draws a stark line between those who he says are “defending the legacy of the Greatest Generation and those who defile its sacrifice.” He points out that carrying the same country’s passport is an accident of birth, while values are a choice.
Too many Democrats still believe Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election when she said, “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.” I don’t know how to break it to you guys, but that’s the sort of self-flagellating instinct that helped my Republican candidates win races they had no business winning.
The problem wasn’t that Hillary Clinton described MAGA as deplorable. The problem was that she stopped doing it. You win races by defining the other side in sweeping negative language. Races are about differences and choices. There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos.
Stevens underlines that observation with a very simple question: Is this who you are?” He invokes the image of a ranting Stephen Miller “looking like he’s auditioning for Joseph Goebbels role as Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda” and suggests asking a normal American, a sane voter, “Is this who you want to be?”
We are taught that it is a positive character attribute to give another person the benefit of the doubt. That may work when debating converting the U.S. to the metric system, but it’s a Munich Accord-level of appeasement when dealing with the lunatics of MAGA. Those of us who view this moment as an existential threat to democracy should reject any assumption that the other side is acting in good faith. When a home invader has broken in your door, don’t act like he thinks he’s visiting a friend and has the wrong address. Do whatever it takes to get the bastard out of your house.
Legacy media “both-siding” to the contrary, Americans are not engaged in the sort of normal political debate that demands compromise and conciliation. MAGA folks understand that, while far too many of the rest of us don’t. We are facing a sustained, intentional assault on the very foundations of America’s identity.
That assault calls for resistance, not conciliation. There is no “middle ground” between liberal democracy and fascism.
Well said. One of my recent columns has drawn venom from some Trumpers. Who would have thought that the election of Barack Obama would turn over so many rocks from under which would crawl these toxic traitors to American values?
While I agree about not wasting your time on the protectors and apologists of child rapists, I disagree about the “existential threat of democracy.” That was destroyed a long time ago which has been covered up by the liberal elite and our faux media. I don’t even read any articles that waste their time trying to appeal to Americans that Trump is destroying our democracy. That’s just bullshit.
We have been well down the path of oligarchy for decades now. The mere fact that Trump is our POTUS at year 250 of this experiment is a perfect example that it failed. Even if the lame oppositional party wins every election through and including November’s, nothing will fundamentally change. Your rose colored glasses is just good ole fashion delusional thinking.
Both parties are genocidal mass murders and protectors of child molesters. The performative bullshit carried out by both parties and the media is all you need to stamp this show, DOA.
p.s. Karoline Leavitt actually shamed the press pool for asking about Trump’s racist post about the Obama’s and they just sat on their hands. At the same time, they wonder why Bezos laid off one-third of the dying WaPo.
Obviously it’s not just legacy media ‘both-siding’ every issue. Stuart Stevens is right, it became a waste of energy a year ago to attempt discussion with self-important and smug MAGA who saw -and see – no threat.
Dictatorship is not a political party in the United States any more than the Monarchy is a political party in the UK.
We have been taken over from the inside by those who sold out to the billionaires who sat on the front row of Trump’s private inauguration to hear what they had bought and paid for. As Pogo said so long ago; “We have met the enemy and it is us!” A newspaper cartoon foretold our nation’s future and we laughed and ignored it. Who is laughing now?
Excellent explanation today.
We are in a bar fight for our democracy and there is no middle ground.