Vicious circle redux: Demonize working, law-abiding federalism as the evil enemy, bombard this phantom into submission, igniting the “only fix:” a far worse, seemingly unstoppable, authoritarian coup
The engine of the inevitably stamped “Trump Era” runs on this tragic, heart-rendering irony: Trumpism seized media leverage by railing against federalism so low-information, aggrieved voters could damn something as “the enemy.” Today, seditious, incendiary barrages complete the scorched-earth demolition that, absurdly enough, confirms the original mania: government is the implacable, evil enemy. There’s no rational replacement programs to “fix” what plagued government, only make it so bad true believers default to strongman takeover. Doubled-down, double whammy—a perverse, insane solution that throws away the obvious, Constitutional cure and kills the patient. Caught in its own hellish, self-induced, fun-house contradiction, sputtering outrage undermines self-interest, clear thinking, and horrific consequences.
For white, Protestant, under-employed, often older, male and small-town MAGA, what else but evil federalism explains a life in tatters, the American dream stolen? Yes, except for chronic complainers, who wants dead-end, no pension jobs, burgeoning food/clothing costs, LESS health care coverage, and zero job training? Because still irate Tea Party remnants, with supposed freedom of choice, never take responsibility for their plight—their God forbids that explanation, they idolize an equally-aggrieved, hardly impoverished fantasist blaming a lifetime of victimhood on nefarious, invisible powers?
Of course, economic blue-collar woes never answer to rapacious oligarchs who suck up wealth like whale sharks gulp sea water. Libertarian fat cats, after all, share MAGA values – get secular, majority government out of the way and punish liberal elites for scorning stay-at-homes with obsolete job skills. Fact: the greediest crowd, bewitched with uncountable wealth, grabs whatever smells of payoffs. For job losers who refuse to move or upgrade skills—gads, change your life?—there’s no choice, but impugn entrenched, minority-loving Democrats who in fact push progressive social supports, exactly what Trumpers need right now, right here.
The messiah who never was—exposed
What did MAGA think post-Reaganism meant, lubricated by business-friendly, “internationalist” Dems like the Clintons? How obtuse to think the world’s most famous insurrectionist/tax cheat/sexual abuser, now extortionist and icon of selfishness, was their messiah? Trump is burning down government to pay off oligarchs, himself included. Removing government regulations while upping mammoth subsidies fuel the slickest, nastiest operatives to squeeze out tax money from a now, clearly “rigged” one-arm bandit that never stops. Evil “government” is only evil when serving the un-redeemed and un-redeemable. Thus we have crude, stupid tariffs (applied erratically), once unAmerican, secret police roundups, an appalling budget bill, and months of malicious, no benefit Musk mayhem (that cost us all billions). What do MAGAs get for sacrificing democratic governance—a few tax crumbs more than wiped out by looming inflation and shredded life-support programs?
Rarely have so many marks gotten so little for indulging unsavory emotionality, pushing hate, intolerance and tunnel vision. Trump arguably got rid of the fictional “deep state” by making the far more corrupt, expanded swamp the daily face of his administration, leaning on whatever low-class name-calling or nefarious headlines fit the bill. But there’s no way to ignore the cosmic contradiction of railing against the status quo in order to displace it with the worst, least democratic administration since King George. Thus the phoniest mantra of all, that all elections the righteous right lose have to be rigged, as if Trump outlawed math.
The ultimate result is devastating not only for democratic values but the idea of reforming government, whose image is so tainted that rightwingers want it abolished. As if that advances their lives or minimizes their pain. So, MAGA Rethugs stay the course, trashing whatever gets in their way, attacking the media and universities and law firms who oppose tyranny—and pouring forth the Biggest Trump Lie – that good governance is, thanks to MAGA enemies, impossible. The best way to obliterate democracy is to obliterate the outcomes of decades of voting, positive programs and advances in human rights. Why, says the right, work to improve what is forever subject to abuse and manipulation (like all politics since the Greeks)?
Because lawful government, to have even a chance to keep complex dynamics in balance, is all we have. Otherwise big business tycoons rule without challenge. Even an unresponsive government with democratic majorities is superior to Trump’s oligarchic authoritarianism. How much junk food or fentanyl, alcohol or tobacco must be consumed for MAGA voters to defy the glue of government without having a clear, equally potent substitute? That defines indefensible madness. Hating immigrants, undocumented or not, then cruelly exiling them, will not deliver the lost American dream, let alone control inflation, improve small-town housing or health care. How will injured veterans of whatever stripe or gender survive when VA services are “optimized” by saving money? How will Social Security beneficiaries gain when getting earned payments become minefields? Or Medicaid or food stamp recipients, the bulk of which are poorer, rural whites?
The shallow state mission: To drown government in a bathtub
So, now that government-haters run the government, the demolition job advances, with more than enough malice, stupidity, bad faith and gross incompetence. Perhaps, until betrayed Trumpers get it and act, America doesn’t deserve competent, law-abiding government. Ignorance feeds on itself and buffoonery writ large is capable of awful, sustained vengeance against life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. MAGA Trump verifies the opposite of what it falsely alleges: that federalism itself is the problem, not the solution, exposing deep self-destructiveness in human nature ignored at our peril. Elevating government-haters in high denial of provable reality, without checks and balances, guarantees whatever existed will descend to far worse.
How such a transparently dishonest anti-government manifesto succeeded (twice) will, if we survive, befuddle historians. Reality is now more apparent than ever: inept, closed-minded MAGA Trumpism has never been about governance, measured in what is best for the most people. From 2016 onward, what positive, citizen-advancing, national reforms were even proposed, let alone executed? Okay, evangelicals have reduced abortion in certain regions. Is the price paid, Trump kingship, worth this dubious outcome, penalizing only the poor and desperate? All others get on planes to sane medical localities.
How does the demolition of government, and the sacking of media and universities, advance the common good? When vaccine usage tanks, and fierce pandemics come fast, it will be too late, as it was for neglected, fatally-compromised COVID patients. Swallowed in germs, we all live in the same pond and, as attributed to Ben Franklin, “we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Modern government in a complex, global world, beyond the control of any one country, is no longer a luxury to be summarily dumped when found insufficient. To forego trust in government, or the elections that keep them vital, is to begin a suicidal march to an America in decline. Our real enemies, in Russia and China, can simply watch from the sidelines and reap the long-term rewards. Bravo, MAGA, and an unspeakable president.
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