Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Part VI): Staring Down The Trump Restoration (UPDATED: 11/12/24)

<That ship has sailed...so much for that idea, eh?:

Campaign mailer that arrived late in our mailbox>

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
<John Greenleaf Whittier>

<i.>

In the end, all our best intentions, dearest dreams, and highest hopes were not nearly enough. The coming of Kamala Harris, and the various hopeful milestones that it represented -- first Black, first female, first South Asian President -- crashed and burned against the rocks of the same rancorous misogyny that swallowed up Hillary Clinton's hopes in 2016. White woman, or Black, millions of Americans are simply unwilling to envision such a person leading them.

Eight years on, the glass ceiling that broke millions of women's hearts remains, as immovable and unbreakable as ever. Only this time around, top advisor Cedric Richmond found himself pressed into the role that John Podesta occupied in 2016, as the bearer of bad tidings, roughly along these lines:

Candidate Harris will not address you tonight. Whatever happens, we left it all on the field. We will fight to ensure that every vote is counted, and we'll see you tomorrow morning. And so on, and so forth. It's a ritual that Democrats have come to know well -- the grizzled sage, left to preside over the Viking funeral. 

For those who hoped against hope, there's no sugarcoating the results, as the various rationales behind them rapidly evaporated. First-time voters? Late deciders? They broke mostly for Trump. That eleventh hour poll, the one showing Harris with a three-point lead in Iowa, a state she didn't even bother to visit? Trump won it overwhelmingly, for the third time, by 13 points.

The high decibel apocalyptic aura of Harris's last couple weeks of campaigning, anchored around the nightmares of further abortion restrictions, and the hollowing out of democracy? Voters mostly shrugged it off, apparently satisfied with Trump's promise not to pursue either of them -- at least, not right away, it seems.

Cruelty won, as did all the "isms," ageism, racism, and sexism. So did sedition, since-the various legal cases involving Donald Trump are melting away as we speak. So will those of his wildest-eyed disciples who smeared feces on walls, crushed police officers in doors, and bayed for the blood of all who opposed their fight to undo Joe Biden's electoral victory on January 6th, 2021. Thanks to Trump's black-robed enablers, and the foot dragging of Attorney General Merrick Garland, The Great Ditherer, the drive to hold conspirators large and small accountable will dry up and blow away, as if the attempted coup had never happened.

The bully boys have wasted no time asserting themselves. The morning after the election, on November 6th, Black folk in some 21 states -- including local political leaders in my area -- got blasted with racist texts cheering on their second enslavement. Moments like these serve as a rejoinder, for those who still cling to the idea, "This isn't who we are" -- Alas, no. On this evidence, this is very much who we are, and always have been.

<Snapshot of what might have been: 

Late campaign mailer, Harris-Walz, Take II>

<ii>

So what went wrong, exactly? By all rights, it shouldn't have even been close. In Trump, the Republicans were again banking on a nominee so endlessly aggrieved, so obviously unhinged, and so obviously consumed by the endless need for attention and wealth -- with immediate retaliation prescribed for those who would deny either of those things. Still, unlike in 2020, Trump actually won the popular vote this time, which is a notable achievement, at least on paper.

Harris's candidacy boasted some major positives, starting with the lack of baggage that dogged Clinton's 2016 run. You also had a Democratic nominee 18 years younger than her rival, brimming with superior energy, and smarts -- as her only debate with Trump showed -- and better positioned than her boss to argue for core issues like abortion rights. How could she miss?

Well, as the wags joke, "The biggest party is the Stay-At-Home Party, or, the Couch Party." It's easy to see why, when we compare Harris's totals, as they stand now (70.4 million votes) with Biden's 2020 victory (81.3 million), which means that she garnered 10.9 million fewer than her predecessor. It's hard to imagine anyone succeeding, with such anemic numbers. In contrast, Trump's current estimated total of 74.3 million represents a modest improvement over his 2020 showing (72.4 million).

Put another way, "Trump didn't win a popular vote majority this time because 1-1.5 million Biden voters flipped to him. He won it because over 7 million Biden voters stayed home this time" (Down With Tyranny). So why did they? As we all know by now, exit polls showed the economy as the top issue. Although Harris threw out various ideas for taming runaway food and housing costs -- notably, cracking down on the rampant price gouging that's driving so much  current misery -- she offered precious few details for how she'd go about it.

Although it's natural for politicos to indulge in some rhetorical foggery -- to allow sufficient maneuvering room, if they do get elected -- Harris's tightly-scripted presentation left voters largely unmoved, it seems. Like Hillary Clinton had done before her, Harris kept the relevant cards close to her chest. Stick with me, she suggested, and the ride will be great. You'll just have to see how I manage it.

All of which might have passed muster in a different era, except for one fatal flaw -- a refusal to acknowledge how voters felt. On that score, Team Harris's assertions barely differed from those of Team Biden (2024), or Team Clinton (2016): C'mon, folks, what are you moaning about? The stock market's never been higher! Unemployment's never been lower! Wages have never risen higher! 

For all of Harris's promises about creating an "opportunity economy," what's striking about America today is how uphill that idea feels. With inequality at rampant levels, how far can anybody move up the ladder, let alone keep heads above water? Any number of statistics will drive home the point, as you can see from Bernie Sanders's blistering statement (see below): "While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry, and want change. And they're right. Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before."

Indeed, pressed by "The View" as to what she might have done differently over the last four years, Harris responded, "There's not a thing that comes to mind." Not surprisingly, Trump seized on that line for his final attack ads, a rhetorical grenade that hit its mark, more than not. The tepidness in some of her proposals -- such as returning corporate taxes to pre-Trump levels of 28 percent, before his signature bill cut them to 21 percent -- undermined Harris's posture as the candidate of change.

Some commentators attribute Harris's skittishness to the influence of her well-connected brother-in-law, Uber's vice president and chief legal officer, Tony West, who apparently urged her to go easy on Big Business (see below). Ugly as it is, and sounds, the story crystallizes the Democratic Party's biggest problem. For the Boomer normies who run the party, flipping the script on most major issues -- whether it's the cost of living, or the slaughter in Gaza -- is simply a bridge too far.

But you can only keep saying, "Eat your spinach, we'll let you know when you can finally have bacon," for so long. And, unless Democrats can offer a more compelling answer -- or, at least, push out the normies who gifted us with this debacle -- their slog back from the wilderness will be lengthy, painful, and complicated.

<"Bjelke Blues": Front cover art>

<iii.>

On to our next question. As Trump and his minions retake center stage, what might they actually do, and how will it affect us? Though comparisons with Weimar-era Germany seem obvious, which we've explored here, the repressive model of Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, the notoriously iron-fisted Premier of Queensland, Australia, offers a closer template for how an illiberal America under Trump might actually look.

For those who don't know his story, Bjelke-Petersen ruled Queensland from 1968 to 1987, largely by creative gerrymandering, and total control of the institutions that mattered, including the police, and the bureaucracy -- to impose his blunt force style of governance over every aspect of life. In that regard, this blog post by Edwina Shaw, author/compiler of Bjelke Blues -- a retrospective essay collection -- is illustrative:

"For almost 20 years he stayed in power, despite receiving only 20% or so of the vote through a notorious gerrymander. He drew electoral boundaries around left-leaning areas in wiggly jigsaw-patterns around the state. Funding went first to areas that voted for his party, then to the other members of his right-wing coalition, leaving next to nothing for Left wing Labor electorates. He used the police force as his own personal army giving them unprecedented powers to enter properties under the infamous Health Act. Bjelke used taxpayers’ money to fund his personal vendettas through the law courts. He once sued every member of the opposition party for defamation. Heard enough yet?

"And through all of this obvious corruption – I won’t go into the rape of the environment, jobs for mates, and the police and government corruption that eventually brought about his downfall – through all of this, he appeared on television every night with his peanut-shaped head and blotchy skin, smiling crookedly, bewildering and amusing journalists with his own special brand of obfuscating banter. Remind you of anyone in power now? ‘Don’t you worry about that!’"

As you might imagine, Bjelke-Petersen's brutal, hard-charging leadership took a considerable toll, starting with the exodus of a good chunk of Queensland's best and brightest, who didn't see themselves faring well in a climate where any public gatherings of three or more people were automatically illegal, The Stranglers' experience of this atmosphere when they toured Australia inspired one of their best-known songs, "Nuclear Device (The Wizard Of Aus)," which reached #36 UK as a single, in October 1979  (for the video, see the link below).

Outside of his Queensland fiefdom, "The HIllbilly Dictator" -- as Bjelke-Petersen's detractors dubbed him -- was viewed largely as an unflattering hangover from a different era, Shaw observes: "In Australia’s other states and in other countries too, Joh was seen as a laughable buffoon, a joke. But life under Joh was no laughing matter." Eventually, December 1987, Bjelke-Petersen abruptly quit his post, amid accusations of police corruption and cronyism that made it politically unviable for him to continue.

The fallout dashed Bjelke-Petersen's plans for stepping down in 1988, to mark the twentieth anniversary of his ascent to power. But further efforts to hold him accountable foundered, amid the usual technicalities (see the Wikipedia entry below), allowing Bjelke-Petersen to live out a low-key retirement. One of the last times that Joh made headlines came in 2003, when he unsuccessfully sued the Queensland government for $338 million, alleging loss of income, due to government persecution. Sound familiar? It should.

Like all bad actors, Bjelke-Petersen lived and breathed for an ungodly stretch of time, dying at age 94, in 2005 -- earning a full state funeral, despite his notoriety, although 2,000 demonstrators turned up in Queensland's capital (Brisbane) to provide an appropriate counter-perspective. As our whistle stop tour here suggests, not all autocracies emerge through violent military coups, or counterrevolutions. Sometimes, the co-opting of major institutions, coupled with creative abuses of power, produces the same effect.

<Like January 6th never happened 

(...Once the pardons kick in):

Late campaign mailer, Harris-Walz, Take III>

<iv.>

Getting his trifecta of complete governmental control, as he did in 2016, will give Trump all the relevant tools he needs to push America down a Bjelke-style path, starting with the proverbial "phone and pen." We can count on Trump to fire off a blizzard of executive orders that further his various obsessions, like his hatred of electric cars, for example. 

And that's before we contemplate the specter of a Trump-dominated Congress, enabled by the Extreme (Supreme) Court -- the same one, let's not forget, that crafted a sweeping immunity right for him, out of thin air -- poised to make the far right's wish list come true. Reports suggest that the first priority is permanently locking down those 2017 tax cuts, with corporate taxes falling to 15 percent.

As critics note, this orgy of tax slashing could add $8 trillion to the national debt, and accelerate Social Security's insolvency by three years -- since Trump wants to exempt it from the taxes that fund it. How his party addresses such inconvenient facts, we haven't heard, but their carefree approach certainly puts social programs at risk. After all, you have to make up those windfalls for billionaires somewhere, and who wants them camping out in the cold and snow?

Or maybe Trump and his allies will take the more straightforward route, such as converting Medicare and Medicaid into block grants -- another long-standing far right priority -- or try to hollow out the Affordable Care Act, by stripping away its more popular elements, such as protections for pre-existing conditions.

Other reports suggest that resuming the GOP's court capture project will take priority in the new year. This makes sense, since the longest-serving Extreme Supremes -- Sam Alito, and Clarence Thomas, at 74 and 76, respectively, will face pressure to retire, and make room for younger, more toxic versions of themselves, who can wreak havoc with a gavel for decades. Someone like Aileen Cannon, perhaps, whose sinking of Trump's classified documents case has put her on the fast track for the promotion.

This, despite the passage of abortion rights measures in seven out of 10 states, including two (AZ, MO) that overturned existing restrictions, and one (FL) that failed, because it fell short of a Republican-imposed 60% threshold. No matter: as Joh himself said, when pressed about the subject of human rights, he responded, "What's the ordinary man on the street got to do with it?" It's a quote that would likely have earned Trump's full-throated approval, had he been made aware of it.

<"And Now (A Word From Our Sponsor): Thanks, Woody..."

Take I/The Reckoner>

<v.>

We turn to the last, most pressing question, what do we do now, and how should we respond? First and foremost: before we plan the relevant marches, and roll out the pink pussy hats once more, we need new leadership, and should not rest, until we finally get it. The aging affluent overclass that runs the Democratic Party needs to step down, because their credibility is now in tatters.

Yes, Biden should likely have exited the stage earlier -- preferably, at the start of 202. But honestly, it's high time for the next generation -- the Ro Khannas, Pramila Jayapals, Jamie Raskins, and the Adam Schiffs, and so on -- to take the reins, and inject some fresh ideas into the conversation. The sooner, the better.

Second: For all the chatter about the Democratic "ground game," what's striking -- and disturbing -- is how short it fell of its promised results. Someone needs to see why so many core voters stayed home, considering how much emphasis Team Harris placed on the stakes of this election. Most likely, they're only hearing from the door knockers at election time, but it's harder to win people over, if you don't show more skin in the game.

Third: Overtones matter in messaging, and the wrong ones will trigger a rush to the exits. I cringed when former President Obama scolded young Black men for their reluctance to embrace Harris's candidacy; winced, when Biden blasted Trump voters as "garbage"; and groaned at the usual barrage of celebrity endorsements - from Lady Gaga to Oprah, Taylor Swift, and beyond -- all of which singularly failed to connect. Word to the Whoopis of the world: next time, just cut the check, and leave the spotlight shining where it belongs, on the nominee.

Fourth: The wrong priorities can be fatal. It's hard to overstate the oddity of Harris campaigning with the likes of Liz Cheney, whose notorious father played wingman in handing his boss, George, the disputed 2000 presidential election. Progressives recoiled, and for good reason. If saving democracy is such a major part of the message, why share a podium with the Cheneys? What's more, it's perilous to start depending on allies whose interests barely align with yours. It's a dangerous strategy, and certainly not a guarantee of political longevity. Or relevance.

Last, and most important: As tough as the results feels, there's nowhere to go, but up. For Democrats, it should mean going back to basics, starting with the sweeping economic reform message that worked n the 1930s. The plain fact is, without weeping reforms, all this blather about creating an "opportunity economy" will amount to just so much empty hot air, as guest poster Patrick Toomey notes on Down With Tyranny: 

"I was hoping that a Trump defeat would lead to GOP rounds of recrimination. Instead, we’re now seeing that with the Dems, including the tired tripe that the party is 'too liberal' and must move to a mythical 'center.' Few seem to be addressing economic class issues— the elephant in the room that the party mandarins and their on-air and on-line enablers invariably ignore." And, from the same post, I'll leave the last word to author/commentator Tom Frank, former editor of The Baffler, who sums it up better than I ever could:

"I have been writing about these things for 20 years, and I have begun to doubt that any combination of financial disaster or electoral chastisement will ever turn on the lightbulb for the liberals. I fear that ’90s-style centrism will march on, by a sociological force of its own, until the parties have entirely switched their social positions and the world is given over to Trumpism.

"Can anything reverse it? Only a resolute determination by the Democratic Party to rededicate itself to the majoritarian vision of old: a Great Society of broad, inclusive prosperity. This means universal health care and a higher minimum wage. It means robust financial regulation and antitrust enforcement. It means unions and a welfare state and higher taxes on billionaires, even the cool ones. It means, above all, liberalism as a social movement, as a coming-together of ordinary people — not a series of top-down reforms by well-meaning professionals.

"That seems a long way away today. But the alternative is — what? To blame the voters? To scold the world for failing to see how noble we are? No. It will take the opposite sentiment — solidarity — to turn the world right-side up again."

Now, that's a sentiment we can all get behind. Onward and upward, for there is much work to be done. --The Reckoner

PS Incidentally, I'm still getting fundraising emails from the Harris campaign, these ones tied to the handful of national races that have yet to be called: "We must stay engaged for the sake of freedom, justice, and the future that we all know we can build together. The outcomes of these elections may well have an impact on our ability to hold the incoming administration accountable -- so let’s give this everything we’ve got."

True enough. But something tells me that someone else will have to be the face of whatever resistance emerges. Simply because, based on this evidence, the current political class is well past its sell-by date.

Oh, and as for the Inaugural? Maybe they should run a laugh track behind it, particularly when they get to the "protect against enemies, foreign and domestic" part. It will make a fitting soundtrack for our return to the dark side.

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry (Joh's Ghost
Is Bellying Up To The Bar):

AOL: What Trump's Second Term

Could Mean For Abortion Rights:
https://www.aol.com/trumps-victory-could-mean-future-100000040.html

Bernie Sanders's 2024 Statement:
https://static.poder360.com.br/2024/11/bernie-sanders-eua-comunicado-6nov2024.pdf

Bjelke Blues: Edwina Shaw:
https://edwinashaw.com/2019/08/16/bjelke-blues-2/#comments

Deccan Herald: International New York Times:
Harris Had A Wall Street-Approved Economic Pitch: It Fell Flat:
https://www.deccanherald.com/world/harris-had-a-wall-street-approved-economic-pitch-it-fell-flat-3269832

Down With Tyranny: Election Reflections:
https://www.downwithtyranny.com/post/election-reflections-sorting-through-the-wreckage

Joh Bjelke-Petersen: Wikipedia.com Entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh_Bjelke-Petersen

[Well worth the read, packed with plenty of fascinating detail]

The New York Times: The Elites Had It Coming:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/opinion/democrats-trump-elites-centrism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Yk4.67Ui.gbUiEnXsFGky&smid=url-share

The Stranglers; Nuclear Device:
https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/polar-opposite-tax-policies-harris-and-trump

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Take V): Plotting Democracy's Demise, Through Project 2025

 

<David Horsey, LA Times:

http://www.ih8trump.org/trump-triumphant/>

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

<From Macbeth, spoken by Macbeth:
William Shakespeare>

<i.>

When I finished this series in January 2022, I assumed that I wouldn't need to revisit it. Surely, I told myself, at some point, the image of Donald Trump, his authoritarian leanings, and his violent cult followers, determined to impose them on the nation, would finally recede in the rearview mirror, especially as the so-called Republican Party's electoral losses continued to mount up, and their donors would yearn to move on. 

The losses continue to pile up, as the handful of midterm off-year results demonstrated,  a mere three weeks ago. In Kentucky, Democratic Governor Andy Bashear cruised to re-election by a solid five-point margin over Mitch McConnell's protege, Daniel Cameron. Ohioans approved Issue 1, a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights, by a 13.2% margin.

In Virginia, Democrats held the State Senate, and reclaimed the House of Delegates, snuffing out Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin's hopes of passing a 15-week abortion ban for at least another two years. The results presumably also spiked chatter among the donor classes of Youngkin's viability as a "white knight," one capable of saving his party from the demon called Trump.

The sole bright spot for Republicans came in Mississippi, where voters gave Governor Tate Reeves a second term over Elvis's cousin, Democrat Brandon Presley. But even there, Reeves eked out a 3.2% margin, or 26,619 votes, in the closest gubernatorial race seen there since 1999.

Analysts suggested that Presley's willingness to run on a pro-life platform, as the Governor did, potentially cost him a rare shot at an upset in a ruby red state. We'll never know for sure, of course, but there is one upside -- that is, he probably won't get to make albums.

<ii.>

Add these results onto the damp squib of the 2022 midterms, where fears of a Red Wave turned into a Red Mirage -- and the 2018 midterms, where Democrats retook the U.S. House of Representatives, ending Republicans' two-year run of unified government -- and a reasonable observer might conclude that Trumpism, whatever shapes it takes, is a toxic brew that nobody with an IQ above room temperature wants to drink.

Surely, they'd have had enough of losing by now, right? No such luck, since we're talking about the party of the "Dear Leader," who came perilously close to realizing his President For Life ambitions on January 6, 2021, when his followers stormed our nation's Capitol. Far from being tempered, the enemies of democracy only seem ever more emboldened, and ever more determined, to bring it down, "by any means necessary," to coin a phrase.

Examples abound, such as Ohio, where Republicans are talking about ignoring the voters' will, and stripping its courts of jurisdiction over abortion. Or in Wisconsin, where Janet Protasiewicz's game-changing election to its Supreme Court has stirred Republicans -- unwilling to part with the ill-gotten advantages they've gained, through years of gerrymandered minority rule -- to talk of impeaching her. 

Or in Arizona and Arkansas, which have opted for the old school voter suppression option, by floating constitutional amendments that would make it harder to pass any kind of ballot measure. As the standing joke goes, Republicans are all in for states' rights -- until their citizens actually vote.

But as oppressive, and noxious and malicious, as these practices seem -- and, as anti-democratic, and manipulative, and vindictive, as they surely are -- all of them pale against Project 2025, the engine by which Team Trump and its allies hope to bring about what they've craved for so long, an American Fourth Reich.

In simple terms, it amounts to a Handmaids Tale-style future on steroids, an unvarnished police state, plain and simple, driven by the twin engines of aggrieved white nationalism, and the unchecked impulses of dominion theology, in the unholiest, ghastliest sense of the term.

For Trump and his minions, it will amount to a lifelong dream come true, with the world's richest nation forever yoked to the ever-changing moods and excesses of its unhinged ruler, and his equally power mad, kleptocratic inner circle. For the great majority, it will unleash a nightmarish spiral of repression, one that has seemed unimaginable and unfathomable -- that is, until now.

<iii.>

On the surface, at least, a look at the Heritage Foundation's website for Project 2025 suggests nothing so dystopian. The centerpiece is an aggressive federal recruiting effort, targeting some 4,000 appointed positions that fall under the Presidential Personnel Office. Trump's former PPO director, John McEntee, is overseeing the effort, which Project 2025 Director Dan Evans describes thusly, in the accompanying press release:

"Our coalition will then review applicants and match them to agencies and offer such suggestions to an eventual transition team. Our goal is to bring conservative warriors from across the entire United States to Washington to ensure that the next administration serves the interests of the American people.”

Hence, Project 2025's website includes a portal for right-wing culture warriors to upload resumes for consideration in a future Trump administration, should that eventuality arise. But it's impossible to square such benign rhetoric with the more troubling picture that's leaked out, particularly of internal discussions that focus on sweeping expansions of administrative power not seen, even during Trump's first term.

They start with the uncorking of Trump's favored hobby horse, the Insurrection Act, to crush the wave of demonstrations, presumably, that would greet his unwanted return. Trump would also invoke the law to arrest migrants right at the border, as Trump's senior henchman, Stephen Miller, has confirmed (see New York Times link below).

Trump also plans to target the two agencies he sees making his life especially miserable -- the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department -- by stocking them with zealots ready to do his bidding. Just as in Nazi Germany, career employees who didn't toe the line would come under fierce pressure to retire -- if they wanted to stay healthy -- replaced when their time is up, or pushed up, under some pretext or other (see link below: "Gleichshaltung, GOP-Style").

The list goes on and on, amplified by Trump's social media posts and speeches -- reviving attempts to revoke birthright citizenship; invoking the Alien and Sedition Act as pretexts for further clampdowns, and deportations; herding his enemies, real or imagined, into mental institutions, prisons, or giant holding pens, apparently inspired by the mass deportations of 1953-54 (the largest such endeavors in American history, so far).

Name the abuse of power, and he plans to unleash it. It does not take a math whiz, nor a nuclear physicist, to imagine the lasting damage that such a full throttle assault on human rights will mean, in the world's largest and longest-running democracy, one that may take decades to undo -- that is, if the voters allow it. 

<Separated at birth? Josef Goebbels (left),
Nazi Propaganda Minister;
Trump aide, Stephen Miller (right)>
<Daily Kos>

<iv.>

For those willing to shrug off such dispiriting exercises as case of "Trump being Trump," they  better think again. Trump's latest Nuremberg-style rallies have taken on a darker, and more apocalyptic cast, littered with phrases that sound straight out of Adolf Hitler's playbook, such as this outburst delivered to an audience in New Hampshire, and his Truth Social website:

"In honor of our great Veterans on Veteran's Day, we pledge to you will that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal and cheat on Elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and the American Dream. The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within."

Add increasingly frequent references to the poisoning of America by deviant and criminalized migrants; the conspiratorial aspirations of nameless enemies out to undermine his ill-disguised ambitions; and vows to punish "bad Jews" and other opponents for their betrayals, and you end up with a lot of uncomfortable parallels with the collapse of Germany's Weimar Republic, after a mere 14 years.

Without the entry of American manpower and material to bolster British and Russian allies, the so-called Third Reich may well have lasted longer than the dozen years it occupied the world stage, from 1933 to 1945. Yet we should not mistake the positive results of our past as a permanent shield against the autocrats of tomorrow, as Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on strongmen past and present, warns us:

"Some have wondered why the Trump campaign is being so open about the repressive policies they intend to implement. This 'transparency' is line with authoritarian history: Autocrats often tell you who they are and what they intend to do to you before they take office. They do this as a challenge to norms, and they do this as a threat."

To paraphrase our earlier joke, Republicans are unblinking enemies of the "Deep State" -- that is, unless they can seize the opportunity to impose one more to their liking. 

<v.>

So where, exactly, do these latest events leave us, considering the existential threat that Project 2025 and Team Trump represent? Are those who cast themselves as the defenders of democracy honestly up to the awesome task of safeguarding it? 

At first glance, that savior seems to be the legal system, but frankly, the results have been mixed. Most January 6 rioters served a median sentence of 60 days, with varying combinations of community service, fines, home detention, and probation being imposed, depending on the offense. A handful who committed violent acts received longer sentences, of up to 20 years.

But even those sentences are not as stiff as they sound, as we see from the case of the so-called "QAnon Shaman," Jacob Chansley. He served a mere 27 months of a 41-month federal term, a period marked by procedural sparring over whether he deserved the organic vegetarian fare that he demanded. (and got, of course, under a religious liberty argument.) 

Chansley just made headlines again, by filing paperwork to run as a Libertarian in Arizona's Eighth Congressional District. Apparently, he's figured out that it's better to get your hands on the levers of power, since it saves the trouble of smearing feces on the walls. If he wins, I suspect that he'll feel comfortable in an environment headed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, another active player who worked to keep Trump in power after his 2020 election loss.

Although Trump and a handful of his cohorts have been charged, the vast majority -- the 147 House Republicans who refused to certify Biden's election, their Senate enablers, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley, and right-wing stalwarts, like "Supreme Court Justice" Clarence Thomas's wife, Ginni -- have not been, and may never be. They walk among us, unscathed and untouched, as if the nightmarish events of January 6 had never unfolded.

The failure to hold any of them legally accountable is beyond comprehension, and an insult to anyone who has ever taken the federal oath to "support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Without such an accounting, it is difficult to imagine how a democracy can thrive, as the Democrats continue to uphold the democratic norms that their Republican rivals so increasingly disdain.

The sluggish pace of the various legal cases involving Trump also suggests that the long-desired magic bullet, of which so many liberals and legal scholars dream -- the smoking gun, the Atticus Finch-style closing argument that seals a conviction -- may not arrive in time to take Trump off the game board, before the 2024 campaign unfolds in earnest.

<Celebrating Phil Ochs Blog:
https://celebratingphilochs.com/>

Yet our land is still troubled by men who have to hateThey twist away our freedom and they twist away our fate

Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry.We can stop them if we try.

<Phil Ochs, "Power And Glory,"
Missing verse (not used on original recorded version)>

<Coda>

In the end, it will probably fall to those of us who oppose the self-aggrandized destruction of democracy that Project 2025 represents, and continue to remind our coworkers, friends, and neighbors of the dangers that it poses. For this is the joke that all autocrats play on those foolish enough to enable them -- that only some sort of omnipotent authoritarian father figure can cure their ills.

In a different era, that dubious accolade may well have gone to Trump's chief rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. However, DeSantis -- like the mainstream media who relentlessly promoted him -- failed to read the room.

As events have shown, there is no market for a "Diet Trump" brand. Trump's fanbase doesn't want a kinder, gentler version of their aspiring Fuehrer. They embrace him because he is the blunt instrument they've always wanted, not in spite of it, which a critical aspect of the Trump phenomenon that continues to elude his rivals and critics.

Before long, however, the initial promise invariably dries up, as the newly-coined autocratic regime devours more and more resources to sustain its all-powerful leader and his clique, or diverts them to fund its pet projects -- typically, unwinnable wars, or unsustainable economic models, as China is discovering under its blustering neo-Maoist dictator, Xi Jinping.

Yet simply calling out Trump and his cohorts, while it's important, will not be enough in itself. We must also push back against those who continue to normalize his behavior, such as the mainstream media who continues to treat him like another candidate, who happens to have a few rough edges, as Salon notes:

"But the mainstream media is bored with Trump's rhetoric and has now largely moved on. That irresponsible choice further normalizes Trump's evil and the larger neofascist assault on the country's democracy and civil society.

"It is nearly incredible that the presumed nominee of one of the country's two institutional political parties is explicitly channeling Hitler and the Nazis. That should be dominating the news. Trump's Fourth Reich aspirations constitute a national emergency. But America is an unhealthy society where all this will likely be normalizes as just 'culture war tactics' or political 'polarization.'"

Stephen Miller certainly holds no such doubts, as we see from his closing words to the New York Times: "Bottom line, President Trump will do whatever it takes."

Indeed, he can, as he promises, and threatens, and will -- that is, if we, the people, give him the chance. For the sake of our democracy, and our nation, it is a glittering prize that must remain, always and forever, eternally out of his reach. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Wake Up,

See What They're Planning For Us):

Daily Kos: Hitler's Josef Goebbels
And Trump's Stephen Miller Are Chillingly Similar:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/5/1687333/-Trump-s-Stephen-Miller-and-Hitler-s-Joseph-Goebbels-are-chillingly-similar

Global Project Against Hate And Extremism:
Project 2025: The Far-Right Authoritarian Playbook:

https://globalextremism.org/project-2025-the-far-right-playbook-for-american-authoritarianism/?gclid=CjwKCAiAjfyqBhAsEiwA-UdzJCRTA0zsuqjfVtweiPCCPgHMqEikqbVkzJEW-Pu2T4k41igZN7r-FhoCUSoQAvD_BwE

Heritage Foundation:

Former PPO DIrector John McEntee Joins Project 2025:

https://www.heritage.org/press/former-ppo-director-john-mcentee-joins-project-2025-personnel-database-launches

Ramen Noodle Nation: Gleichshaltung, GOP-Style:

The Death Of Democracy Starts Here:
https://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/2021/05/gleichschaltung-gop-style-death-of.html

Ramen Noodle Nation:

"Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps" (Parts I-IV):

https://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/search/label/Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow%20Creeps

Salon: Donald Trump Dreams
Of An American Fourth Reich -- And He's Not Kidding:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-dreams-american-fourth-104502547.html

The New York Times: Sweeping Raids,

Giant Camps, And Mass Deportations:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweeping-raids-giant-camps-mass-164740438.html

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Take IV): The January 6th Coup , A Year Later

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

<From Macbeth, spoken by Macbeth:
William Shakespeare>

<i.>

The stuff of anniversaries is often the stuff of nightmares, as well as dreams, and this one is no different. One year ago today, Donald J. Trump, America's 45th President, once again defied the familiar script, in which the former Commander-in-Chief turns over the keys of power to his successor, who takes his oath of office, and prepares to make his own mark on the nation's long-standing democratic experiment.

It almost didn't work out that way. Raging like King Lear at the forces he felt had unfairly denied him a second term, Trump mustered the powers that remained to him, determined to hang on, against the others -- Antifa, Joe Biden, mobs of woke Millennials, the undocumented -- on which he'd focused so much public fury during his tenure.

As courts turned back his repeated claims of electoral fraud, Trump shifted his focus to its internal machinery. If he couldn't get federal judges to listen, maybe he could disrupt the certification of electoral votes. Or stall the process long enough to seize ballots and equipment, possibly by declaring martial law, under some national security pretext or other.

The true nature of these efforts are only becoming apparent now, as bits and pieces continue to surface, sometimes from co-conspirators like former trade envoy Peter Navarro -- whose new book, In Trump Time, proudly details those efforts -- other times, from tidbits of a special Congressional committee's investigation that have leaked through the news media.

Depending on which accounts you believe, the mob of supporters summoned for Trump's last ride were either egged on by a Chief Executive consumed by "Stop the steal" notions of personal betrayal, who planned to get even, all along. Or they broke into the Capitol in a mass fit of spontaneous rage, after hearing of Vice President Mike Pence's refusal to stop Joe Biden's certification as President-elect.

Five protesters died, including protester Ashli Babbit, shot dead by Capitol police as she tried to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door. Three others died from heart attacks, plus one from an accidental amphetamine overdose, and trampling by others as they swarmed the building.

Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick died the following day of a stroke from the stress of an ordeal that included being pepper sprayed. Four more officers killed themselves during the next seven months, and an additional 138 were injured, 15 of them severely enough to require hospitalization.

The U.,S. Capitol's looting and vandalization resulted in an estimated $1.5 million in damages that included rampant defecation on floors and walls, as well as damage to statues, paintings and furniture from fire extinguishers and pepper spray canisters. Taxpayers effectively subsidized the resulting repair and cleanup, because the building had no insurance for such contingencies. 

Those measures also included an additional $30 million spent on security fencing that remained in place through early July, with the building largely off limits to visitors. The images of Fortress Washington, as some commentators called it, bore an uncomfortable resemblance to the bombed-out likes of Belfast, or Beirut, two other locales scarred by sectarian violence spurred by one side or the other's refusal to share power. For editorial writers, such images allowed them to say, "Such things couldn't happen here." Until January 6, 2021, that is.

<ii.>

So what, exactly, has happened, one full year after the event? Not much, so far, though that may soon change. Republicans continue working hard to memory hole the events that almost capsized our democracy, a challenge eased by a COVID-19-dominated news cycle, and public weariness with headlines that bear nothing but endless calamity. That, too, may change, depending on what the special Congressional committee -- the 1/6 Committee, as it's known -- uncovers.

For most of the insurrectionists, the putschists, the seditionists, whatever you call them, the legal fallout has been relatively low. With federal guidelines that cap misdemeanor sentencing at six months to a year, most first-time offenders could cut plea deals that involve no prison time at all, a fact that's disturbed some federal judges during the sentencing hearings. 

The stiffest sentences have, naturally, gone out to those implicated in violent or particularly disruptive conduct, such as Jacob Chansley, who received 41 months for his role as the infamous self-styled QAnon "Shaman." While nobody's suggesting that someone should get 20 years for crapping on a desk, how all this prosecutorial leniency (see BuzzFeed link below) will deter future insurrectionists remains to be seen.

The situation holds uncomfortable echoes of the soft punishment dished out to Adolf Hitler, who served eight months o fthe five-year sentence he received for instigating the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The future German dictator's experience, as most historians agree, convinced him to seek a legal path to legitimacy, and the power he craved, even as his supporters eagerly committed bolder acts of street violence in his name. That, too, sounds sadly familiar.

Trump supporters, by and large, remain subject to the alternate universe they've inhabited since he won the Presidency in 2016. For example, only a fifth describe the attempted coup as an insurrection, while four in 10 believe those who attacked the Capitol were leftists disguised as Trump supporters. (For other poll findings, see Down With Tyranny's link below.)

Congressional enablers like Congressman Mo Brooks, of Alabama, and Senators Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley, continue to show up for work, despite reports that implicate them in the plan to delay certifying Biden's victory. Calls for their expulsion have largely subsided, leaving the wish we stated in Part I of this series ("their desertion of democratic norms should not go unnoticed, nor unchallenged") to hang in the air, unanswered, the language of the Fourteenth Amendment (see above) notwithstanding.

Those enabling the enablers don't seem unduly alarmed about their prospects of losing the next coup, judging by the barrage of laws they've unleashed (425 measures, in 49 states) that range from outright, old school voter suppression (Georgia, Texas), to language that shifts control of elections to partisan bodies (see ABC News link below).

Republicans are making no attempt to hide what they're doing, amid the stale talking points of "election integrity," or "making it easier to vote, and harder to cheat" they're invoking to justify it. They can do it, because Democratic efforts to protect voting rights have stalled miserably in the Senate, thanks to fifth columnists in their midst (Senators Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema), and the party's inability to shake its addiction to unilateral disarmament.

<iii.>

And what of the man riding the center of the storm? Many quarters of the mainstream media cling to dismissals of a 2024 Trump Presidential run as a grift to make bank off his base, or bid to stall the legal reckoning that he's avoided so far. It's a reading that seems slightly at odds with Trump's vigorous attempts to purge the party ranks of his critics, and continue casting an outsized shadow over its future. 

So far, he's made 40 Congressional and nine gubernatorial picks, with much of his ire focused on those he sees as crossing him personally, like Georgia's infamous vote suppressing governor, Brian Kemp. Does that sound like someone who only seems content to count the cash, and call it a day? We doubt it.

The fallout of Biden's presidency isn't exactly discouraging Trump dreams of a dramatic comeback in 2024. On one level, Biden has scored some impressive wins, such as his confirmation of 40 federal judges -- the most of any new President since Ronald Reagan's election, in 1980. By and large, they're a more diverse and better-qualified lot than the zealous foot soldiers that typify Republican presidencies, and should balance out the latter group's excesses. 

The American Rescue Act's passage provided $1.9 trillion in much-needed relief to Americans struggling to stay afloat during a never-ending pandemic, while the approval of $1 trillion in infrastructure aid should certainly feel like welcome news for communities hoping to get a piece of that action.

On other levels, Biden's presidency is slipping into a familiar disconnect of, "Do as we say, not as we do." One example are his actions on environmental issues, which are rapidly emerging as his administration's biggest, blackest hole, as evidenced by its issuance of oil and gas drilling permits (3,091 on public lands and water, or 332 per month) compared to 300 per month for Trump, according to CBNC.

Other goals are falling by the wayside after Big Money gets to clearing its throat. Last month, for example, Congress largely shrugged off calls for badly-needed structural reforms, like paid family leave, to pass a $777.7 billion defense budget that wound up $25 billion higher than the White House wanted, and nearly $38 billion more than Trump himself spent.

Defending democracy is a tricky business that requires the ability to look behind, as well as ahead. How we got here is as important as where we're headed. Protecting voting rights is critical and necessary, but so is trying to ensure that social conditions don't slide to the point of giving someone like Trump the foothold they need, to gain the power they crave.

Yet, unable (or unwilling) to deliver on their domestic priorities, Democrats are once again reduced to hoping that enough people show up to rescue them, in spite of themselves, and that Republicans lack the smarts to get out of their own way, as they continue measuring the drapes. If you're hoping to defend democracy, there are simpler and smarter ways of doing it. This passive, reactive approach isn't it.

 

<iv.>

Improbably, though, embers of hope continue to flicker amid the barrage of apocalyptic imagery. By all accounts, the 1/6 Committee has moved at a faster than anticipated clip, in pulling together the various strands of the conspiracy. They've interviewed some 300 witnesses, though only 50 have been identified publicly, as Politico reports: 

"They’ve blanketed Donald Trump’s allies with subpoenas, referred three key witnesses for contempt of Congress prosecution and exerted pressure like few committees ever have. By all accounts, they’re making inroads into the depths of the Trump White House and unearthing evidence that will make that dark day look even darker."

Transparency, of course, is the best hope for bringing light to that particular darkness. From our standpoint, what's most striking about the January 6th coup, and its immediate aftermath, is how so many observers missed the signposts that led up to it. 

In hindsight, the dots have been there to connect all along, starting with the fury that Barack Obama's victory unleashed among the more extremist and racist quarters of a population determined to inhabit the world of the 1950s, when women and minorities were expected to "know their place," or risk legal and extralegal retribution.

The "birther" movement that emerged to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Obama's birth certificate -- the same one that Trump embraced, eagerly and publicly -- soon gave away to more dangerous movements. The rise of shootings by racist and rightist militants, such as the New Zealand mass shooter who livestreamed his massacre of 51 Muslims, would surely feel familiar to any Weimar-era German who witnessed similar incidents during the 1920s and 1930s, as their democracy slowly, then rapidly, came apart at the seams.

Media narratives dismissing the shooters as social misfits living in their mom's basement, or "lone wolves" with mental problems, as Professor Erroll Southers, quoted in "Trafficked"'s episode on white supremacy (see clip below, on Military.com) makes clear: "What Southers is diagnosing is a national blind spot, an inability for a country founded by, and still largely run, by white people, to recognize the very real threat of white extremism."

We urge readers to watch that episode, which lays bare the global connections and increasingly sophisticated outreach recruiting techniques being utilized by groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, who had members among the January 6th rioters. If nothing else, the events of January 6th should serve as a wakeup call, particularly for agencies like the FBI, who have largely spent two decades focusing on yesterday's fight against the (largely) nonexistent threat of Islamic terrorism. 

Tomorrow's fight, as the "Trafficked" episode demonstrates, will prove a dirtier, different beast. Critics who cheer the deplatforming of Trump, or loudmouthed Congressional cheerleaders like Marjorie Taylor Greene, also need to take a closer look at the role of platforms like Facebook, whose algorithms, by all accounts, continue to promote militant extremism for the sake of multibillion corporate profits. It is hard to imagine how democracy can function, when such instincts are allowed to run unchecked.

For democracy to survive in its present form, it requires understanding how drastically the perils to its existence have changed. The mere absence of misfortune, as some mainstream outlets have suggested, is not a cause for celebration.

 

The January 6th coup attempt did not succeed, because our institutions held so strongly. It mainly failed because Trump and his allies didn't have the right people in the right places to do their bidding, or relevant control of electoral machinery nationwide, to achieve the outcome they so fervently desired.

Whatever happens from here on out, let us redouble our efforts to defend democracy, renew scrutiny of those who seek to undermine it, and resolve to learn from the errors that have dogged the American democratic experiment from making good on its promise of social and political equality for all who seek it. 

It has been fashionable, as of late, to repeat the oft-quoted truism, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." A related expression might well suggest, "If you want to meet the moment, don't rely on the luxury of getting a second mistake." As the backsliding of democratic norms in Hungary and Poland demonstrates -- or, for that matter, Germany's Weimar-era experience -- the price of failure is too high. So are the penalties for falling short. --The Reckoner

LInks To Go
ABC News: 10 New Laws

Shift Power Over Elections To Partisan Entities:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dozen-state-laws-shift-power-elections-partisan-entities/story?id=79408455

Brennan Center For Justice:

Voting Laws Roundup: October 2021:

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-october-2021

BuzzFeed News: Most Capitol Rioters

Probably Aren't Looking At Maximum Prison Sentences:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/capitol-insurrection-jail-time-jan-6-cases

Down With Tyranny:

Trump Won't Be In Prison

When We Wake Up Tomorrow...But Should He Be?:
https://www.downwithtyranny.com/post/trump-won-t-be-in-prison-tomorrow-when-we-wake-up-but-should-he-be

Military.com: NatGeo Series Asks

If The US Has A Domestic Terror Problem:
https://www.military.com/off-duty/television/2022/01/05/natgeo-series-asks-if-usa-has-domestic-terror-problem.html

Politico: What Impeachment Taught The 1/6 Committee:
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2021/12/17/what-impeachment-taught-the-1-6-commission-495514

The Huffington Post:

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn

On Jan. 6: "It Can Happen Again":

https://www.yahoo.com/news/capitol-police-officer-harry-dunn-162848312.html