Political radicalization primarily evolves as the result of either of two completely opposite experiences. One is engineered and nothing but lies; the other is lived through and exclusively truth. While the end result of each is essentially the same – full estrangement from established governance, as well as most traditions and institutions that inform it – how each bloc gets to where its going has everything to do with whether their attack on the status quo possesses any merit. Right now in America both of these processes are at work. One has succeeded in creating the result it constantly reinforces. The other is slowly but surely getting to the same place, and when it does civil strife will move ever closer to past our ability to control, the luxury of pursuing daily routines we have enjoyed for generations critically damaged.
Since it started Fox News has beamed like a laser the same mission statement message 24/7: White America has nothing to atone for in its past, and in fact is now the victim of a false narrative that uses unfortunate events from generations ago to bestow undo privilege on the ancestors of those who suffered injustices resolved for decades. For more than thirty years this has been the Rosetta’s Stone of Fox/AM messaging, the common DNA that runs through every talk track every day. From Limbaugh to Levin, Hannity to Carlson, every paragraph is bonded by this trope. Whether the story is Obama ramming through health care or Trump being ceaselessly attacked for keeping to his campaign pledges, the subtext is always there – hardworking whites are getting screwed by a system drenched in “identity politics”.
Steadily, day after day, one of the tightest, most comprehensive propaganda delivery systems in human history has plugged away at the critical thinking abilities of its ever growing core of devout consumers. The grievance and resentment narrative they listen to at home, in the car, on the internet, and now interact within on social media has fully eroded their confidence in government, actually redefining it as a “deep state” committed to subjugating white patriots to the whims of entitled minorities and liberal elites who believe they are better than those without ivory tower educations. It has killed any ambition to seek other information sources, and destroyed any patience or trust in the viewpoints of friends and family who don’t parrot the world according to Rush. In short, but without a doubt, it has radicalized millions of Americans and consumed the GOP, mandating a new political class forbidden to pursue what has always been solely responsible for securing the peaceful interplay of US political power – compromise.
Trump’s Presidency has added to Fox/AM’s delivery network the world’s most powerful pulpit and exponentially magnified both the intensity and credibility of the white grievance narrative, enhancing it into an all-encompassing life proposition that combines Trump’s well being with the nation’s fundamental survival. That the GOP didn’t even bother to put forward a position platform this week clarifies a cult of personality no different than any of history’s most pronounced totalitarian movements. His acceptance diatribe last night confirms one of America’s major political parties is now fully beholden to the lies and bigotry Fox/AM has relentlessly cultivated since its inception. The Republican Party is now completely defined by the rabid whims of one of Fox/AM’s fanatical consumers, who also happens to be a sociopath, his message both informed and impelled by the only information source he trusts. The full radicalization of 35-38 percent of America is now complete. They won’t be modifying their nihilist extremism any time soon, and they equate electoral defeat in November with the end of days.
Meanwhile, the American Black experience has continued apace, its reality fully at odds with Sean Hannity’s fiction. Technology has validated what black communities and their leadership have always claimed, that encounters with law enforcement throughout the US have never become less dangerous for black suspects, who way too often are targeted for scrutiny only because of skin tone. This narrative hasn’t been spun for them by former house painters on the radio or television, it’s been lived one encounter at a time, one beating and jailing, one wrongful conviction, one hail of bullets, one ruined life after another. The notion of white privilege is not a figment of talking points; it’s the sad conclusion of systemic injustice. The advent of real time video capability has provided a verdict our own eyes can’t dispute. Over and over again viral documentation has confirmed outrageous abuse nobody can credibly contest, hard as many may try.
The steady stream of camera-verified police killings of unarmed or detained black men has eroded whatever faith in US jurisprudence may have been bolstered by Barak Obama’s election. Indeed, throughout his two terms, case after case of police brutality and outrageous shootings of unarmed black men resulted in the same thing…. nothing. Trump, he of the “I wish you wouldn’t treat them so nicely” sensibilities about basic civil rights, has viewed law enforcement as a vital constituency; he’s been wholly adversarial to anything less than grotesque coddling and slavish support regardless of how incriminating the circumstances are. It’s now a fair question to ask whether radicalization of black America isn’t actually MAGA’s objective, so overt is its indifference to police abuse and so hostile its attitude toward protesters. Trump has no platform for the coming election other than to equate Black Lives Matter with Antifa and promise war on anyone who marches when yet another police outrage occurs. “Law and order” is his constant bellow; he’s Richard Daley on roids.
So there it is, two blocs at odds with the US democratic experiment, shaped by wholly different circumstances. One radicalized like a Frankenstein in Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes’ ghoulish laboratory, taught to fear their shadows and blame whatever failings they endure on those their ancestors have tormented for centuries. And the other camp, the tormented, who non-fascist America now fully depends on to help deliver electoral salvation in November, that has run out of patience with a system which makes going for a late night 7-11 run a life-threatening proposition, or calling the cops for help an existential predicament. A group who literally watches its own get executed for being black, and then has to stomach a peanut gallery of reactionaries swear it’s more than what the camera vividly displays because… did you see he had a record?!
NBA head coach Doc Rivers, as insightful as any political analyst, was asked the other night his thoughts on the decision by teams to sit out a round of playoff games to protest the police shooting of unarmed Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. Rivers became emotional. “It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back,” he observed before perfectly crystallizing the current state of affairs:
“All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear…. We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones that we’re denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear.”
Not 48 hours later, like the windup menace he is, Trump validated Rivers’ assessment on the White House lawn to a cheering throng of hateful radicals, oblivious to the fact they are hastening what they’ve always feared most – streets filled with chaos and disorder. That they can’t make the connection and recognize chickens coming home to roost is hardly surprising. After all, where would they ever hear such a thing, and if they did, why would they ever listen to it? The new rules for radicals. BC