From:
slider@anashram.com
“An American ‘Caesarism’ has now become flesh.” I wrote this in March 2016, even before Donald Trump had become the Republican nominee for the presidency. Today, the transformation of the democratic republic into an autocracy has advanced. By 2024, it might be irreversible. If this does
indeed happen, it will change almost everything in the world.
Nobody has outlined the danger more compellingly than Robert Kagan. His argument can be reduced to two main elements. First, the Republican party
is defined not by ideology, but by its loyalty to Trump. Second, the
amateurish “stop the steal” movement of the last election has now morphed into a well-advanced project. One part of this project is to remove
officials who stopped Trump’s effort to reverse the results in 2020. But
its main aim is to shift responsibility for deciding electoral outcomes to Republican-controlled legislatures.
https://www.ft.com/content/a2e499d0-10f0-4fa2-8243-e23eedc4f9f4
Thus, health permitting, Trump will be the next Republican candidate. He
will be backed by a party that is now his tool. Most important, in the
words of David Frum, erstwhile speechwriter for George W Bush, “what the United States did not have before 2020 was a large national movement
willing to justify mob violence to claim political power. Now it does.” It does so because its members believe their opponents are not “real” Americans. A liberal democracy cannot long endure if a major party
believes defeat is illegitimate and must be rendered impossible.
Here is a political leader who has ousted anybody who opposes him from positions of influence in his party. He believes himself unjustly
persecuted, defines reality for his followers and insists that a
legitimate election is one he wins. A constitutional crisis looms. The
2024 election, warns Kagan, could bring “chaos. Imagine weeks of competing mass protests across multiple states as lawmakers from both parties claim victory and charge the other with unconstitutional efforts to take power.”
Assume that Trump is re-elected, legitimately or by manipulation. One must assume that his naive and incompetent approach to the wielding of power in
his first term will not be repeated. He must now understand that he will
need devoted loyalists, of whom there will be plenty, to run the
departments responsible for justice, homeland security, internal revenue, espionage and defence. He will surely put officers personally loyal to
himself in charge of the armed forces. Not least, he will get his loyal Republican party, as it will be, to confirm the people he chooses, if it
holds the needed Senate majority, as is highly likely to be the case.
Equally surely, he will use the pressure that he can then exert on the
wealthy and influential to bring them into line. Crony capitalism is among
the probabilities. Ask the Hungarians who live in an “illiberal democracy” under a man admired by US rightwing pundits.
“Americans — and all but a handful of politicians — have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it”, notes Kagan. “As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralysed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian.”
Just consider what happened during Trump’s intended coup against the 2020 election and how Republican legislators and supporters have since rallied
round in order to prevent anybody important, above all Trump himself, from being held accountable. The only significant players who have been
punished are those who resisted or condemned the coup. The Republicans
have crossed their Rubicon already.
Why has this happened? The answer is a mix of greed, ambition and anger in
a country that has grown increasingly diverse and an economy that has
failed to give secure prosperity to a large proportion of the population.
This has created a familiar coalition built on “othering” outsiders, glorifying the nation, protecting the wealthy and worshipping a great
leader. Fifty seven per cent of Republicans consider a bad reaction to the vaccine riskier than Covid-19 itself. This is a measure of tribalism.
Can a collapse of liberal democracy in the US still be prevented?
Possibly. But it will not be as easy as many suppose from the failure of Trump’s attempt to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. He is in
full control of his party. Should the normal cycle of politics give the Republicans control of the House and Senate, he will be both protected and served by Congress from 2022. He holds, in principle, a big majority in
the Supreme Court. Republicans also control all branches of government in
23 states, while the Democrats control only 15. Kagan pins his hopes on a decision by a sufficiently large number of Republican senators to pass
voting rights legislation and on the refusal of the judiciary to overturn
such legislation. Yet even those who loathe Trump remain loyal to the
party. And, as the debt ceiling debate shows, they are determined to make
Biden fail.
Suppose Trump comes back to power in 2024, determined to exact vengeance
on his foes, backed by Congress and the Supreme Court. Yes, even this
might be just an interlude. Trump is old: his passing might be the end of
the authoritarian moment. But neither the electoral system nor the
Republican party will go back to what it was. The latter is now a radical
party with a reactionary agenda.
The US is the sole democratic superpower. Its ongoing political
transformation has deep implications for liberal democracies everywhere,
as well as for the world’s ability to co-operate on vital tasks, such as managing climate risks. In 2016, one could ignore these dangers. Today,
one must be blind to do so.
### - good article! thus the next US election is gonna be very important
for the rest of the planet, as the next step in this ongoing 'saga' is a massive/extreme swing one way or the other: either to the far right should
the gop win it (imho, a dangerous + very volatile situation globally,
wherein the whole planet will then be oppressed (by them) for a very long
time to come; possibly even as a prelude to ww3!) - or, an equally huge, possibly permanent swing to the left, one that tends to confirm a
reactionary change in humanity's thinking generally (i.e., in their
political awareness & thinking/discernment) that will equally also last
for a very long time as the right-wing are increasingly chased right outta
the picture altogether over the next few generations...
iow: this next 2024 election will very likely be/become a crucial
watershed moment in humanity's history & path, thus important to everyone
on the planet because it involves us all going forward!
personally, i wouldn't give ya tuppence for either wing currently hah! the 'difference' between them being sooo minimal anyway it hardly even makes a difference?? a perhaps 5% difference max in terms of the conditions of the average working man - the majority after all - tops! - otherwise it's just business as usual no matter WHO gets in! (true!)
hopefully then, if/when the right-wing eventually collapses, the left will
then morph into some kinda different party altogether, which, like
s.africa did, 'incorporates' aspects OF the former right-wing rather than
see it disappear altogether; a right-wing heavily tempered BY the intelligent/more-thoughtful left! (so not a 'huge' change per se, but
is/was just enough of one to spell survival in an otherwise condemned s.africa...)
of course... we might just blow our silly-selves up in the meantime and
have done with it; nada would surprise me anymore hah! coz we really ARE
that stupid (and retarded) after all!? (damn right we are! humanity is a
very slow learner!)
thus the future is uncertain to say the least?? mainly because it's
currently creeping-up on people completely unawares (they're not really 'thinking' so much as just reacting! and that could easily go either way!)
what we DO now perhaps even setting the scene for generations to come!
thus one can only live in hope :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbXWrmQW-OE
"a hundred million castaways lookin' for a home oh!"
;)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)