MAY 21, 2021 – If you’ve been following even sporadically the Republican election “audit” in Maricopa County, Arizona or the Republican Congressional denial of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, you’ve been following nonsense. Any human experienced in reality knows that the foregoing examples of unreality are just that—nonsense. But behind the nonsense lies a reality that can’t be ignored.
The rise of You Know Who wasn’t a passing phenomenon. It was a charlatan’s cunning exploitation of a large swath of Americans, who, it turns out, are non-subscribers to the basic operating principles of our country’s political structure.
There’s nothing new about large chunks of society thinking and behaving in largely anti-democratic terms. But not since the Civil War . . . strike that; not even during the Civil War, did insurrectionism physically blast its way into the Capitol. Neither tourists nor a handful of alley bullies on a drunken spree, the January 6 crowd were out to hang democracy. Their physical attacks on bones and building proved beyond a reasonable doubt that their infamous chant wasn’t metaphorical. Meanwhile, in searching for bamboo in paper ballots, they seek to discredit the electoral process—the bedrock of democracy.
In the cadence of reflective discussion, we could label Republican support, dismissivness, and rationalization of nonsense, as self-defeating in its desperation. “Ultimately,” we could tell ourselves, “Americans will tire of such shenanigans and punish Republicans at the polls.”
Here’s where the “unreality” of Republican tactics morphs into the reality of Republican strategy. A well-entrenched segment of Republican operatives and opportunists recognize full well, demographic trends in America. These trends are racial, religious, and economic, and their trajectories will soon eclipse the reciprocally narrowing demographic categories that currently hold a disproportionate percentage of political and economic power in this country (e.g. 77% of Congress is white vs. 60% of the general population; nearly 90% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (65% of the U.S. GDP) are white males.) These two oppositional conditions—demographic trends threatening an existing group’s grip on power—are what fuel Republican “nonsense.” But from the perspective of those who are threatened, “nonsense” is as rational as throwing everything you’ve got—including paper airplanes dusted with plague spores—at the approaching, numerically superior enemy.
Enter FoxNews, OAN, and Newsmax. They’re sole motivation is a lust for lucre. Their mercenary agenda draws, then converts and addicts, millions of viewers—people who imbibe the Kook-Aid of a Charlatan in Chief, who is himself, nothing but a straight-up mercenary.
All of which leads to who, what, and where we are today: angry people in a divided republic on the precipice of disintegration. We’ve become a mix of spectators and mercenary interests watching an All-Star wrestling match—Democratic Trends vs. Desperate Self-Preservation. If history is a reliable guide, the first casualties will be the referees. Close behind: the crowd of spectators, after someone strikes a match stick and someone else yells, “Fire!”
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
