In his official proclamation of Thanksgiving, 1936, President Roosevelt held forth on American strength and resolve through hard times. Expressing gratitude that “Devine Providence has vouchsafed us wisdom and courage to overcome adversity…,” FDR gave thanks for “free institutions” that held strong through the worst of the Depression “with no abatement of our faith in them.”
Seventy-nine years to the day later, a Washington Post editorial cited FDR’s words to commemorate Thanksgiving, 2015. However, the Post juxtaposed Roosevelt’s observations with a novel that was published just before he offered them, Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 classic It Can’t Happen Here, dystopian fiction about America’s embrace of a fascist demagogue and the destruction of its democracy. One year out from the 2016 Presidential election, alarmed by the success of Donald Trump’s primary campaign, the Post sensed civic peril on the horizon and used our national day of thanks to remind its readers not to take for granted that which is most precious to us… free governance.
Above all else, fascism relies on two things… fear and loathing. The amount of each required to deduce political salvation from Trump’s unhinged monologues is more than enough to, not simply abide, but actually demand atrocities America has been fortunate enough to avoid.
Much has been made of his recent use of the word “vermin” during rally ramblings. Indeed, the context in which he employs it, as an adjective to describe the endless list of enemies – which the progressive FDR would surely get top billing on – he plans to persecute given the chance, differs little from Hitler’s application. Fascism is, after all, substantially about dehumanization of those the state consumes.
Yet and still, one needs no Hitlerian catch phrases to recognize Trumpism has grown ever more virulent as the institutions he now pledges to destroy attempt to hold him to account for his crimes. MAGA has morphed into his vehicle for vengeance, an instrument for settling all of the scores his psychopathy can conjure. The message has morphed from grievance to hysteria; everything is existential, the ends justify any means necessary. For his cultists it is now a totalitarian preoccupation; they won’t be satisfied with half measures. Promises made, promises kept.
As we feast this Thanksgiving, Trump is poised to sew up the GOP Presidential nomination before the primaries even begin, despite refusing to debate his primary opponents. While Nikki Haley and company jostle about Fox/AM talking points, Trump is now devoid of discipline and offers nothing but stream-of-consciousness more apt for pacing an asylum floor than a candidate’s podium. His platform is malice. Most Republican primary voters seem fine with that. Constructive governance no longer interests them.
Hannah Arendt, perhaps history’s most insightful authority on the critical elements of totalitarianism, wrote of the necessity to dumb everything down for the mob, literally persecuting “every higher form of intellectual activity.” Trump enjoys few things more. From Anthony Fauci to Joe Biden, “leftist” history professors to climate scientists, stupidity is “common sense.” While few believe Trump actually “follows a playbook” to invigorate his cultists and infuse the totalitarian mob they have become, a natural symmetry between his impulsive sociopathy and the fundamentals fascism requires clearly exists. His vengeance is their guiding light.
Worse, The Heritage Foundation – the same group who sponsored a series of lectures in early 2017 by none other than Newt Gingrich “to fully explain Trumpism” – is sparing no expense to make certain a new Administration will hit the ground running with an “army” of MAGA zealots. Apparently, the far-right non-profit is ready to supply up to “54,000 pre-vetted loyalists” to consolidate Trumpism’s grasp on US Government infrastructure. What will their mandate be? Exactly what Trump is telling us over and over… installing his version of apocalypse now.
That pin you hear dropping is the entirety of the GOP resistance to Trump’s new level of absurdist malevolence. Abject cowardice does not come anywhere close to describing Susan Collins or John Thune. Nor does soulless self-seeker get close to the mark on Marco Rubio or Glenn Youngkin. Heading into next November, to be a Republican pol means you are either an exuberant fascist, an amoral opportunist or a pathetic yellow belly; nothing else fits.
Thanksgiving is about expressing gratitude for our past so we can be hopeful for our future. That millions believe that is somehow possible if we elevate an openly unhinged fascist demagogue, whose primary agenda includes nothing more than persecuting his enemies, clarifies the crisis we face. Enjoy another serving of stuffing, and some more vino, a year from now it might not taste as good. BC