Biden's speech and "MAGA Republicans"

 Listening to Biden's speech about what we may as well call "The Troubles," I cannot help but recall a forum in which I participated after January 6.  A fellow faculty member and several audience members insisted that the January 6 insurrection was about this newly redefined thing called "white supremacy."  Of course, I attempted to correct the record.  It was about a much more simple thing.  Donald Trump lied.  He lied about the 2020 election.  He told his followers that he won.  Yet, there was fraud on an unprecedented scale, and the election was stolen in a massive conspiracy.  His followers believed him.  They believed that a presidential election was stolen.  That democracy was stolen.  That this most precious thing, that which defines America, was stolen.  What would you do if you believed that an election was stolen so brazenly?  Bake some cookies?

There is nothing so dangerous as people duped into believing that they are fighting for the forces of good.  That they have been aggrieved, that their anger is righteous.  Those of certainty.

Biden set his speech in opposition to Donald Trump and the "MAGA Republicans," which as a term, sure, fine, whatever.  There is Donald Trump, and there is the cult around him.  My disgust with Donald Trump has always been personal rather than ideological, as the man has no ideology.  How can I hold Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi both in such high regard?  Ideology is irrelevant.  Donald Trump is a liar and a sociopath, who seeks only his own power and aggrandizement.  In that pursuit, he lied about the 2020 election, he continues to lie about... everything, and those lies are tearing at the fabric of American democracy.

Yet the "MAGA Republicans," as Biden calls them, believe Trump.  That is the problem.  They believe that the 2020 election was stolen, that there was fraud, that there are rampant conspiracies, and whatever else Trump says.  This is distressing for many reasons, but stripped of niceties, Trump has duped his followers, and he keeps duping them.  His lies are easily debunked, but if one lives within a closed informational system and stops questioning, then one simply believes everything the cult leader says.

But it is not about "white supremacy," nor even the overthrow of democracy, at least within the minds of Republicans at the mass level.  Quite the opposite, in their own minds.  They believe that they are fighting for democracy.  Of course, plenty of Putin's troops, and those duped by his propaganda machine in Russia think they are fighting nazis in Ukraine.  Same thing.

Here we come to the problem with Biden's characterization of the problem.  Biden speaks of "MAGA Republicans" as a faction opposed to democracy itself.  The most favorable interpretation of the speech, and Biden's rhetoric was that the moniker was to be applied to politicians and candidates rather than voters, yet depending upon where one lives, one can see voters wearing apparel or displaying yard signs with the slogan, and with full allegiance to much if not all of what Biden discussed.  And even when it comes to the candidates and officials, we can ask the unfortunate question.  Do the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Louie Gohmerts of the "elite" Republican Party truly believe that the 2020 election was stolen?  Almost certainly, and if so, then they do not, in their minds, oppose democracy.  Rather, they believe they are fighting for democracy.

And so I repeat, there is nothing so dangerous as people duped into believing that they are fighting for the forces of good.  That they have been aggrieved, that their anger is righteous.  Those of certainty.

The most destructive thing about Trump's Big Lie is that it has convinced a large group to fight against democracy under the false belief that they are fighting in its very defense.  And to present such people with the facts may be to identify one's self as a conspirator.

Yet understand, MAGA Republicans believe they are fighting for democracy.  That is precisely what makes them a danger to democracy.

Blind Blake, "Fancy Tricks."