My daughter, Iz, is one of a kind. Fiercely independent and perfectly comfortable launching into adventure alone, she was often a daunting challenge to raise toward adulthood. One of the worst mistakes I ever made as a parent was using the old “once you are 18 and not my legal responsibility you can go off on your own” trope to decisively stave off rebellious adolescent outbursts. Problem was, and it’s utterly incredible I somehow missed it, Iz was a January baby, which made her 18 with an entire semester of her senior year still left to complete. Simply amending the language to “when you graduate from high school” would have made all the difference. Instead, with modeling stardom tantalizing her imagination, and several New York City shoots under her belt, not to mention an agent who thought a GED was a perfectly suitable option, my baby girl/legal adult simply refused to return home one weekend following a NYC gig.
The rest of the story’s details are a private family matter. Suffice it say it was an ordeal I wouldn’t wish on an enemy, but resolved itself with both Iz’s future and our relationship intact. She walked across the Constitution Hall stage on schedule to receive her high school degree and, more impressively, recently graduated from college within the regulation four-year time frame. We couldn’t be more proud of her. Yet and still, it is a certainty, had she not been thoughtful enough to entertain sensible counter-arguments to her rebellious delusions of grandeur, and/or was under the sway of more sinister outside influences willing to go all in casting her parents as the enemy, things likely would have turned out far worse across the board. Reason and rationality eventually won out. More drastic steps were never required, but surely would have been considered had they been.
Who knew my own experience with parenting hell would form a suitable context for assessing the existential threat American democracy now faces. Everyone is somebody’s child, even MAGA’s wretched core; but even with a responsible adult back in the White House, indulging the GOP base’s malevolent delusions in hopes this too shall pass is not an option. Labeling what’s happening now within the Grand Old Party as something akin to a family squabble is like calling leprosy a skin condition. A very bad situation is only getting uglier, and it’s a grave danger to the entire US bloodline.
Thirty percent of our polity now predicates its support, or perhaps more accurately an absence of its fear and loathing, on embracing the Big Lie and manic efforts to transform its baseless claims into injurious actions against both the machinery and procedures that undergird US elections. To be clear: the Republican Party now at the absolute minimum tolerates without hesitation the wanton sedition most of its rank and file understand as necessary to maintaining their office. At best the leadership is a pack of cowards, at worst a cabal of traitors determined to end the American democratic experiment in order to maintain power the ballot box will no longer support. To ignore the peril with the complacency Biden’s sane governance encourages is to facilitate the next nihilist onslaught, the next iteration of 1/6.
It’s now clear Donald Trump has little appetite for anything more than the Mar-A-Lago buffet. A morning round of 8-foot gimmes at Doral and some phone calls before his afternoon nap seems about the extent of his new work habits, a comfort zone he gives no indication he wants to leave. Whether the GOP leadership believes abasement lite will get the job done keeping Attila self-satisfied until his irrelevance affords a permanent break is uncertain, for now they seem intent on regular trips south to kiss the ring in exchange for something resembling cooperation.
But what difference does it really make? The sedition ship left harbor a while back, packed to the deck rails with all types of wayward malcontents… Proud Boys to recliner bigots, QAnon loonies to Tucker groupies, a Noah’s Ark of grievance and resentment. While Trump can always make things worse – although today’s decision to maintain Facebook’s ban of his posts, along with Twitter’s steadfast determination to keep his seditious gibberish off its platform substantially inhibits that ability, largely because Trump is simply too lazy to pursue anything more ambitious – the MAGA walking dead have already been unleashed and are gnawing away at our democratic infrastructure, whether he’s goading them on or not.
At a Utah Republican party convention this week Mitt Romney, GOP statesman, Mormon elder, former Presidential candidate, was vigorously booed by a crowd of more than 2000 delegates. He escaped censure by less than 100 votes. The resolution was clear and to the point, charging that Romney “consistently publicly criticized” Trump. It was reported many in the crowd called Romney a “traitor” and “communist.” It got so bad the GOP Chairman was forced to admonish the crowd to “show respect” to the guy who labeled himself “an old-fashioned Republican.”
Though Romney was vociferous in his criticism of Biden’s agenda, the fact he recognized the current President’s legitimacy is all that a large share of the crowd cared about. Maine’s Susan Collins was “appalled” at Romney’s treatment. “We Republicans need to remember we are united by fundamental principles,” admonished Collins, who had little to say publicly past praising grants for lobstermen and local business initiatives while Trump stoked his insurrection last January.
In Maricopa County, Arizona state Republicans are getting their customized recount, conducted by an outfit who has promised results. The latest focus? It will be all about detecting bamboo fibers on the ballots… proof they originated in China before being dumped stateside in favor of Biden! Not a typo. Kelli Ward, a MAGA extremist whose own election as the state’s Party Chair is the subject of heated dispute, and who seems to spend most of her day retweeting Fox/AM’s most unhinged elements, ensured everyone of the “forensic” audit’s “integrity.” After all, Ward exclaimed breathlessly, it is “color coded.”
Rep. Ron Wright had lung cancer but kept his Trumpist priorities straight, exhibiting servility toward reckless Covid ignorance up until the day the virus killed him. Masks, closed schools, social distancing and the like… lib power grabs all, reopen yesterday! Like the good MAGA eunuch his Texas constituents demanded he be, the 67-year old, awash in co-morbidities, went to his grave in February denying facts. Now his wife is carrying his torch forward. Susan Wright was the top vote getter in the crowded race for her husband’s seat. And just in case anyone thought she may harbor any grudges against the mentality that took her beloved, consider that she out of all the Republican field received Trump’s endorsement, which was more than enough to ensure her the top slot leading into a runoff. “You will be very happy with this vote,” cooed Trump to his Texas faithful, “Ron is looking down and he is so proud of Susan.” Indeed. Now that is what taking one for the team is all about.
Whether it’s a participation trophy from Rick Scott or a docile and defeated Nicki Haley bending the knee and promising “I will not run if President Trump does,” shiftless “establishment” Republicans are doing what they do so well… hoping the bully moves on and lets them keep their lunch money until he drops out of school -or goes to jail. Even as a seemingly endless line of preening show horses audition to take over incitement duties, all remain as servile as ever, each vigilant to avoid the tag of excessive ambition. When Liz Chaney resembles Joan of Arc things are very dire.
Regardless, Trump or no Trump, the genie has long been out of the bottle. Fact is, the Donald can do next to nothing and his toxin will continue to erode America’s core. He could croak tomorrow and the die is still cast. Like the plague of mice now tormenting Australia, MAGA remains a pestilence few have any idea how to contain, least of all Republicans without rabies, who were as horrified by 1/6 as the rest of us. American democracy now entertains a vibrant, well-funded political class with no other goal but to destroy its host. It’s not a family quarrel, or even a domestic dispute… it’s a national crisis that can only be headed off if enough people recognize it exists… and begin to consider more desperate measures. BC
Wisely and we’ll said, Bill. Here’s a couple of comments that echo your point, and more eloquently than I can, from Tom Nichols and David Axelrod, respectively…
The Republicans, for all their screaming about socialism and Biden, have decided to let other people run the country. They have no agenda to overturn or replace anything. They don’t really care about defeating Democratic policies. This should scare you more than anything.
AND…
The whole @RepLizCheney saga has been so clarifying. She’s as conservative as they come. Her only sin was to call BS on Trump’s election fraud. For that, she will be expelled as a @GOP leader. The party is branding itself.