Paul Krugman, writing in The New York Times, echoes
my concern that the “Republicans are an authoritarian regime in
waiting.” (1)
Forget, for a moment, the allegations surrounding the
Kavanaugh nomination. Focus instead, says Krugman, on “What we
saw on the Republican side during and after the hearing: not just
contempt for the truth, but also a rush to demonize any and all
criticism. In particular, the readiness with which senior
Republicans embraced crazy conspiracy theories about the opposition
to Kavanaugh is a deeply scary warning about what might happen to
America, not in the long run, but just a few weeks from now.
“About that conspiracy theorizing: It began in the
first moments of Kavanaugh's testimony when he attributed his
problems to ' a calculated and orchestrated political hit' motivated
by people seeking 'revenge on behalf of the Clinton's'. This was a
completely false, hysterical accusation, and making it should in
itself have disqualified Kavanaugh for the court.
“ But Donald Trump quickly made it much worse,
attributing protests against Kavanaugh to George Soros and declaring,
falsely (and with no evidence), that the protesters were being paid.
“An here's the thing: Major figures in the G.O.P.
Quickly backed Trump up. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate
committee that heard Blasey and Kavanaugh, insisted that the
protesters were indeed employed by Soros. Senator John Cornyn
declared, 'We will not be bullied by the screams of paid protesters.'
No” continues Krugman, “ the protesters are not being
paid to protest, let alone by George Soros. But to be a good
Republican, you now have to pretend they are.” (2)
How did we come to this? Krugman cites, as I have
previously in these columns, the work of historian Richard Hofstadter
that paranoia has long been a staple of American politics. Krugman
cites Hofstadter's account of segregationists insistence that all the
trouble was caused by 'outside agitators', mostly Jews. There is, of
course, a much longer history. The red scares of the early 1920's
and 1950's come to mind.
Conspiracy, widely speaking, has also taken root in the
American psyche as a consequence of the Kennedy assassinations and
the Viet Nam war. One man's conspiracy can be seen as another man's
lunacy, but not all conspiracies are created equal. For instance, a
conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln is universally accepted fact. A
conspiracy to kill Kennedy, however, is seen by all except the Warren
Commission and Bill O'Rielly. Nevertheless, it is the commission's
view that has held as the accepted version and the public's view that
is seen as the collective misapprehensions of the 'tin-hat' crowd.
However legitimate the questioning of the Warren Commissions
findings, it didn't help that the generation long lost in space and
in time has careened in the intervening decades down the rat-holes of
endless conspiracies and fantasies from Vincent Fosters alleged
suicide to the 'chariots of the gods'.
But there is another element to this not addressed by
historian Hofstadter nor contemporary scribes. That is, the role of
fundamentalist religion in the creation of the American paranoid.
Teaching uncritical thinking, the belief in magic, dubious historical
timelines, the belief in strong forces hidden and beyond one's
control leads to the hard-wiring of young minds to resist and reject
what is plainly before them. This is why it is nearly impossible to
'reason' with these people. They are programmed to be deeply
suspicious of reason and reason's handmaiden—fact. It is in these
swamps that the fetid fevers of paranoia are born.
“But”,
writes Krugman, “the
significance of conspiracy theorizing depends on who does it.
“When
people on the political fringe blame shadowy forces—often, as it
happens, sinister Jewish financiers—for their frustrations, you can
write it off as delusional. When people who hold most of the levers
of power do the same thing, their fantasizing isn't a delusion, its a
tool: a way to delegitimize opposition, to create excuses not just
for disregarding but for punishing anyone who dares to criticize
their actions.
“That's
why conspiracy theories have been central to the ideology of so many
authoritarian regimes, from Mussolini's Italy to Erdogan's Turkey.
It's why the governments of Hungray and Poland, former democracies
that have become de facto one-party states, love to accuse outsiders
in general....
“And
now senior figures in the Republican Party, which controls all three
branches of the federal government...are sounding just like the white
nationalists in Hungary and Poland. What does this mean?
“The
answer, I submit, is that the G.O.P. Is an authoritarian regime in
waiting” (3)
Krugman then cites a litany of tRUMPian behaviors from
threatening to imprison political opponents to demonizing the free
press, to idolizing authoritarian rulers to challenging the
legitimacy of law enforcement. “Does anyone doubt that Trump
would like to go full authoritarian, given the chance?
“And who's going to stop him? The senators
parroting conspiracy theories about Soros-paid protesters? The
newly-rigged Supreme Court? What we've learned in the past few weeks
is that there is no gap between Trump and his party, nobody who will
say stop in the name of American Values.” (4)
It certainly won't be the most paranoid among the
devout—the religious wrong. No. Billy Graham's son Franklin has
decreed that our Caesar has, since elevated to the throne, stopped
sinning.
“An
Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”
Impeach and Imprison
_________________
- Krugman, Paul. “The Paranoid Style in G.O.P. Politics.” The New York Times. Tuesday, October 9, 2018. Page A24.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
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