Illustration by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
Ten years ago, the idea of a mob of American citizens attacking the U.S. Capitol Building would have dismissed as absurd, the stuff of apocalyptic fiction. In the 1950s, parents whose children’s lives had been saved by Dr. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine would have been shocked and appalled at parents spewing antivaxxer drivel. American soldiers returning home from World War II after liberating German concentration camps would have been sickened and disgusted by the American Neo-Nazi movement. But here we are.
The lunatic fringe has come out of the closet. They’ve always existed, hiding underneath their respective rocks, but within the last eight years, these extremists have been edging closer and closer to the center. Anti-vaxxers, flat-earthers, QAnon adherents, election deniers, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis are more brazen. They seem to believe that their views—once held to be foolish, cruel, disgusting, and even taboo—are now entering the mainstream. And they’re not wrong.
There are a number of reasons for the emergence of this sickness in our society: unrestricted access and unregulated use of the internet, the legitimization of misogynist and racist speech stemming from our highest political office, and a chronic erosion of respect and regard for science, knowledge, and our educational institutions. And mostly, it stems from a tolerance for authoritarianism seen in the rise of demagogue and would-be King of America, Donald Trump.
Trump, however, is not solely to blame. He did not create racism, antisemitism, misogyny, distrust of the mainstream media, or skepticism about science and logic. He only used it to rile up his rabid far-right MAGA base. The problem lies deeper. It is not just with Trump or his zealots. In a recent installment of her television show, Rachel Maddow pointed out that Brazil politician Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to lead a coup after disputing the results of his country’s presidential election (sound familiar?), was shunned by his party and other right-wing leaders for his actions. He has been banned from running for office again. He is a pariah.
In the United States, however, the Republicans have not shunned Trump, expelled him from the GOP, or barred from running from office again, even though he also instigated a failed coup. He is still the de facto leader of the party and is, in fact, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
The GOP refuses to cut ties with a man who has been charged with over ninety felony indictments, paid five million dollars in civil damages for sexual, was fined again for defaming the same woman, treated the law and the Constitution with impunity, used the office of the White House for his own financial gain, jeopardized the country’s security by spiriting top secret documents—including military secrets—to his home in Mar-a-Lago, impugned the integrity of Dr. Fauci, his own attorney general, and much, much more…
The Republicans’ implicit approval—and its explicit endorsement—of this man has cleared the way for the conspiracy theorists, skeptics, luddites, racists, misogynists, and antisemites to trumpet their own warped beliefs and to affirm their rights to say any stupid thing they want. This president has mistreated women, lied, derided scientists, encouraged white supremacy groups and instigated a riot at our nation’s capital. These behaviors have encouraged the haters, the flat-earthers, and all the other idiots have feel they have the right to do the same, to step out into the light and express whatever ugly things are on their minds.
And we’ve seen this happen—everywhere: Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, and on the Mexican border. Except for the fact that these extremists have recently become increasingly more rabid, virulent, and unhinged, we probably would have grown used to them.
The DEI, a policy incorporated by many companies to help ensure fair hiring practices for minority populations, has come under fire by conservatives as a tool for helping unqualified and underqualified applicants get jobs, much as Affirmative Action did. After an Air Alaska plane lost a door in mid-air and then a United jet lost a wheel on the runway, conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk said, “I’m sorry, if I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified,’” (NBC News) Conservative commentator Candace Owens said “I would be terrified if I got onto a plane and I saw a woman flying the plane and I know that we have the United CEO saying that he just wants to fulfill a quota”(Newsweek).
These statements echo far-right objections to what they term Critical Race Theory, an often-misquoted label for institutionalized racism. Efforts to expose the sources of racism and its impact on our culture through the teaching of American history and recognition of systemic racism in our schools have been exploding. Some Republicans have gone so far as to make it illegal to teach about slavery and racism in schools. In Oklahoma, a new law H.B. 1775, states “teachers may not include in lessons…that someone bears responsibility for what someone of their race did in the past, or that anyone should feel guilt or discomfort because of their race or sex” (NPR). In other words, conservatives in this country have been working their tails off to make racism justified and legal.
They are using the same strategy to fight transgender and LGBTQ students inside their schools. Organizations like “Moms for Liberty” have been tirelessly working to ban books they deem as perverted or unhealthy from the shelves of school and public libraries. The Attorney General of Florida Ashley Moody went so far as to say “the state’s public school libraries are “a forum for government speech” and “not a forum for free expression” (Them).
Racism, censorship, and misogyny are being mainstreamed into public policy by the Republicans. This sort of disgusting intolerance and hatred is now a part of our national discourse and the people who are professing these sorts of vulgar beliefs are not being held accountable for it. The far-right has even targeted Taylor Swift’s involvement with the NFL. Apparently, she is a threat to football, real men, and the American way.
Unfortunately, these beliefs have always existed in our country. From the days of slavery to the genocide of Native American tribes to the defeat of the ERA, some Americans have not understood the concepts of equity or fairness. But there were times when we did make progress.
We did elect a black president. We abolished Jim Crow. We integrated schools. We expanded the right to vote. During all these advances, all this progress, the racists and sexists kept their mouths shut. They hid behind their facades of decency and virtue until it became safe for their fear, anger, hatred, and prejudice to become mainstream again.
It’s not just Donald Trump. It is the Republican Party that has let these people and their pernicious beliefs come out of the woodwork. Had they condemned him for his treasonous actions on January 6th, had they kicked him out of the party, or had they supported his impeachments, the human rats and cockroaches would have slunk back into the woodwork. Let’s hope they’re not here to stay.
Notes
- https://sg.news.yahoo.com/rachel-maddow-boldly-explains-why-162005256.html
- https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/airline-airport-united-delta-dei-migration-spirit-rcna135098
- https://www.newsweek.com/candace-owens-terrified-women-pilots-1864495
- https://www.kosu.org/local-news/2023-11-22/oklahoma-restricted-how-race-can-be-taught-so-these-black-teachers-stepped-up
- https://www.them.us/story/florida-ag-says-school-libraries-are-for-government-speech-not-free-expression