Biopsy of an Ailing Great Power
As so many Great Powers before it, the United States of America might finally be experiencing its hour of twilight as the preeminent force in the world. This potentially life-ending event is not caused by an outside force, but by the man who was elected to lead the nation and his army of useful, hate-driven idiots. Donald Trump’s successful bid to win the White House in 2016 has unearthed the cancer that is festering upon a wound we all wish could be lost to the annals of history — white supremacism. Events such as the Alt-right protest in Charlottesville, VA, which saw a woman murdered at the hands of one of these extremists, and the 1/6/21 Feast of the Epiphany Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building by Radical Trump Extremists (RTEs) have not only thrown into question our future as a nation, but our ability to stand on the world stage as a credible voice for democracy and freedom. Where we go from here is hard to say, but it is critical to understand how we arrived at what may be the death knell of the great democratic experiment. We may escape this fate intact, but the soul of the nation will be forever scarred by what happens January 2021.
To begin, we must recognize what 1/6/21 was: state-sponsored domestic terrorism levied against both the legislature and the other half of the executive branch — the Vice President. Donald Trump purposefully incited his crazed fanatics to commit unlawful acts of violence against a public target with the intention of injecting fear in the population in order to achieve a political victory (keeping the Traitor-in-Chief in the White House by killing those counting the legitimate Electoral College ballots). The terrorists who carried out this siege are not “special people.” They are the worst among us, willing to destroy anything and anyone who got in their leader’s way of ripping apart the country.
White supremacy is not a new threat that just randomly popped up in the United States in the last decade or so. The slave trade and genocides of the indigenous populations are dark stains on our nations history best never forgotten. While the U.S. abolished the evils of slavery, the oppression of minorities continued nonetheless. The failure of the Reconstruction post Civil War, Jim Crow, forced segregation of all aspects of life, the abuse of power by a hyper-militarized law enforcement are just a few examples of how racism has continued to infest this nation. Now the country faces a renewed threat by white supremacists with their penchant for committing acts of terrorism. Almost two decades ago, the U.S. was attacked by the Islamist terrorist group, al-Qaeda. An attack that killed almost 3,000 people united the country against a common enemy, but this insurrection has only divided us. White Supremacist Extremists (WSEs) have expanded their operations in the last few years. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), WSEs have carried out “67 percent of terrorist plots and attacks in the United States in 2020”, us[ing] vehicles, explosives, and firearms as their predominant weapons and targeted demonstrators and other individuals because of their racial, ethnic, religious, or political makeup…” While the casualty counts for these attacks are low (on average), especially when compared to 9/11, the damage done to society is not to be taken lightly. Similar groups plotted to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Fortunately, this plot was foiled, but its discovery reveals several findings: that WSEs are committed to attacking government officials that they believe are abusing their powers, and that ordinary people will support their cause regardless of the consequences.
The U.S. is not out of the woods yet. Before being rightfully kicked off Amazon Web Services, Parler was a meeting point for Trump’s terrorist co-conspirators. These extremists appear ready to launch additional assaults the week of inauguration with January 20th as the final showdown in their attempt to thwart the Constitution that they so unconvincingly claim to be fighting for. Let us all hope and pray that law enforcement is prepared to fight back against this deceitful tide and ensure the new administration is sworn in.
The most obvious culprits in this conspiracy to commit treason besides the actual terrorists are Donald Trump and much of the GOP, including but not limited to: the First Family; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy; the leading members of the House and Senate Sedition Caucus (Senator Josh Hawley, Senator Ted Cruz, Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Paul Gosar, and Rep. Andy Biggs), RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel; Attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Lin Wood, and Sydney Powell; Fox News Hosts (Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, etc.). Trump has not exactly hidden his hatred for those that oppose him. Whether it is John McCain or those protesting police brutality, Trump has no qualms about directing the fury of his supporters despite all the ramifications it will create. He is a showman whose sole product is planned chaos. This unacceptable behavior has infected conservatism to its very core. When ardent anti-Trump Republicans and the entire Democratic Party called for the removal of Trump, the rest of the GOP condemned them for not promoting a unifying message. Likewise, the conservative media personalities mentioned above are complicit in encouraging their viewers to oppose the election results anyway possible. While it is important that freedom of speech is upheld, these conservative personalities should not be allowed to incite insurrection without consequences, whether it involves boycotting their sponsors or filing lawsuits against them.
The audacity of this party to cry about the lack of decorum when they themselves are directly responsible for inciting the worst of society to come to the Capitol with the intention of killing any politician supporting the certification of Biden’s victory is a complete and utter disgrace — a betrayal deserving of its own place in the Seventh Circle of Hell with all the other traitors throughout history. There is no other remedy to this national nightmare than the unequivocal repudiation of Trump’s assault on democracy than convicting him of high crimes of inciting insurrection against the Union he was sworn to defend. In the end, both Democrats and those Republicans who still believe in the actual rule of law must deliver this ultimatum to the GOP: either excommunicate those responsible for inciting these attacks, or have its status as a governing party be forever destroyed at the ballot box.
What makes this whole situation even more depressing is that a slight majority of Republicans appear to support the insurrection. According to a YouGov poll which surveyed 1,397 registered voters, it found that 45 percent of Republicans stand behind those who attempted to subvert the democratic process while another 43 percent opposed it. In regards to impeachment, the parties are “nearly evenly split on Trump’s impeachment” according to a Politico/Morning Consult survey of 1996 registered voters. The poll found that 81 percent of Democrats overwhelmingly support the impeachment process, whereas 84 percent of Republicans oppose it. Further studies will be needed to get a clearer understanding of just how many people support the attack, but if this survey matches closely to the general population, the GOP will have a difficult couple of years as it contends on what direction it wants to take.
The insidious scourge of white supremacy has left its indelible mark on the U.S. security apparatus at all levels. Video from the Epiphany Insurrection shows members of the Capitol Hill police waving in the seditionists, allowing them to launch their assault on the bastion of democracy. Further damning are the reports by other members of the police force who claim that their off-duty colleagues actively participated in the day’s attack. Such developments may be startling for some, but for those of us who study radicalization, the infiltration of white supremacists and their sympathizers throughout government-sanctioned security agencies is unsurprising. Germany is still reeling from the revelation that neo-Nazis are active in police, security agencies, and the country’s KSK special forces group which had a unit disbanded over the Summer due to it being compromised. What is surprising, however, is the sheer incompetence of U.S. intelligence/law enforcement. Anyone who kept up with far-right social media could have seen that RTEs were not going to let President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris take office without a fight. For these agencies to miss all the warning signs harkens back to their failures to discover the 9/11 plot in time. It is not like they needed to go far to find evidence that something was brewing. Every site from Facebook and Twitter to 4Chan and Parler have been awash with content by wannabe insurrectionists calling for mass gatherings on Capitol Hill. This failure, as many on social media have pointed out, feels like it was planned by those Trump installed in the government. The delay in deploying the National Guard, the Capitol Police being severely undermanned, and the lack of any official briefing from a law enforcement agency raises the justifiable concern that the government is compromised to some extent.
So where do we go from here? How do we as a nation come together at a time when so many believe in this Great Lie that the 2020 election was stolen by forces that would see the country burn, despite the fact they themselves are obedient to the architects of America’s downfall? There have been talks about proposing new domestic terrorism laws that specifically target white nationalism, but the last thing we need are new ways for law enforcement to target those completely undeserving of such harsh measures instead of the actual perpetrators. The U.S. already has scores of such laws in place that will get the job done in convicting anyone who has or will commit such heinous acts.
What we need, more than anything in the world, is for a government that rebuilds the trust in the institutions. As Senator Mitt Romney pleaded in his impassioned speech before the Senate on Wednesday night, “the best way we can show respect to the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. That’s the burden. That’s the duty of leadership.” From the beginning of Trump’s 2016 campaign, he has sown a dangerous web of lies about the government, claiming that it seeks to control the people instead of serving them. Such rhetoric has had lasting implications. The COVID-19 response has been miserable, from the early efforts to distribute PPE to the rollout of vaccinations. The onus of this failure to contain the pandemic is not Trump’s alone, but his actions in consistently downplaying the dangers of COVID-19 even as the virus rampaged across the country had a significant impact upon the institutional reputation democratic governance relies on.
While other states were able to contain the spread, many administered by Trump loyalists did irreparable damage to pandemic management. Shutdowns and mandatory masks were decried as an assault on American’s freedom of speech. Everyone responsible for placating Trump, including the out-going traitor president himself, must come forth and recant their lies regarding the crises this country has endured over the last four years. It is imperative that Trump fully admits that he lost to President-elect Biden in a legitimate election, but there is no point in holding one’s breath for this to happen. Trump’s admission that he does not take losing well is perhaps the one truth he has told throughout his term in office, if not his entire life.
Trump’s sycophants in Congress are no better. Since the attack, Republicans including Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY) and Senator Marco Rubio (FL) have directed their fury at Big Tech for “silencing” conservatives on social media, including the permanent ban of Donald Trump’s accounts. To these Republicans, the actions by Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon reek of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) proclivity to censor any dissent against the state. Such arguments have no standing as these companies make it very clear in their Terms of Service that inciting violence is a bannable offense. It is the GOP that needs to look in the mirror to realize that their blind devotion to Trump makes them just as cultish as the CCP with Xi Jinping.
Additionally, we must strive to understand the ideology so many Americans blindly adhere to. Some scholars on Twitter are also calling for a further examination of how terrorists such as the RTEs become radicalized with the ultimate goal of de-radicalization. In a blog post back in October, I offered up my own basic blueprint to act as a starting point of what such a program might look like. But even with such policies in place, it is difficult to calculate how effective this approach would be in deprogramming hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of fervent Trump supporters of the belief that the out-going President lost in a legitimate election. Furthermore, there is the question of should radicals who have already engaged in terrorist attacks be permitted to enter a de-radicalization process. It is a difficult question to answer. Do those who willingly tried to overthrow the government deserve a shot at redemption. For the most part, only those who show clear guilt for their treason deserve a second chance, but it must be made clear that should they regress back into their old hateful ways, then there will be no third chance. Certain extremists will likely be impossible to deprogram. Many of the RTEs, such as Nick Fuentes — the leader of the disgusting anti-Semitic “Groyper Army” — have no remorse for the chaos they have sown and should reap the consequences they so richly deserve until the end of time.
Understanding how these RTEs came to be radicalized is not difficult to ascertain. Some radicals may grow up in a household with parents who hold bigoted beliefs themselves, thus picking up these ideas for themselves. As children are incredibly receptive to the ideas of their caretakers, it is understandable for them to want to share the same worldview if there is no one else to challenge it. Such behavior can then lead to an irrational belief that the society they thought existed — one that is exclusively White and Christian — is under siege by multiculturalism, thus adopting a feeling of victimization as society has falsely left them behind. The other possibility is that the radical fell down the proverbial rabbit hole of extremist ideology on social media sites like 4Chan which act as echo chambers for conspiracy theories for which there is little escape. Friends and family members may not be completely aware that their loved one is undergoing the radicalization process so there is little that can be done to prevent this event from happening.
The Airforce veteran-turned-insurrectionist that was killed by Capitol Police during the attack demonstrates this profile. In 2012, Ashli Babbitt was an Obama voter, but things changed when Trump ran for office. She soon became immersed in the hardcore MAGA doctrine known as QANON, which claims to be led by an individual imbedded within the government who is leading the fight against the Satanic forces of the DNC, Hollywood, and Republicans-in-Name-Only (RINOs) which partake in child sex trafficking and cannibalism. Leading up to the events that transpired on 1/6, Babbitt used an anonymous Twitter account to share conspiracy theories, some of which from Lin Wood who called for Pence to be “charged with TREASON.” Those closest to her were shocked to find out that she would break into the Capitol Building, but to anyone who followed her on social media, the writing was on the wall that she was a willing soldier in an army full of seditionists. It is likely that many of Babbitt’s comrades in treason have similar experiences.
I am not alone in my pessimism about what the coming years have in store for the country. Bloomberg economist Noah Smith noted that civil unrest will likely continue as the GOP endures internal skirmishes between the MAGA crowd, Romney-esque Republicans, and those who may deplore Trump but are more anti-Democrat than anti-Trump. It is difficult to imagine the GOP being successful in any of the upcoming Presidential elections if the party continues to be divided over the Insurrectionist-in-Chief. If so, then there is no way that the party whose original purpose was the destruction of slavery — one of the many great injustices this country has committed against its own people — has no place as a governing power.
The horrific events that have transpired over the past week will have deep consequences for the U.S.’s ability to project influence in global politics for years to come. Suffice to say, The Epiphany Insurrection could not have played better into the hands of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Both of these despots want to show to the world that Western democracy is too fragile and that their country’s authoritarian government is the only path towards stability. And it is not just Putin and Jinping who are casting doubt about the U.S., but our allies. One headline in the Japan News reads: “Violence in Capitol shows U.S. not worthy of role as world leader of democracy.” This is coming from one of the most read newspapers in Japan and is not to be taken lightly. How is the United States supposed to advance the cause of democracy when we nearly met the same fate as Lebanon and Armenia, the latter of which witnessed its Speaker of Parliament beaten to a pulp by rioters after it signed a “peace” deal with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh war?
The questions raised are understandable, but they are wrong. Despite all the best attempts by Trump’s terrorists, democracy prevailed as Congress solidified the results of the elections. Democracy is fragile, yes, yet with that fragility comes strength as we are constantly reminded that what we have can easily be lost. Despots of the world want us to think our system is weak so that we ignore the innumerable crimes their regimes continue to perpetrate against their own people. Whenever we were met with a constitutional crisis, we rose to the occasion to stand firm in the face of collapse. In 1812, the British burned down the Capitol, but we built it back from the ashes. When the Confederacy sought to preserve the despicable institution of slavery and invaded the Union, it was the North that won the day. We have come back from worse, so let us prove to the world that they are wrong to count us down and out.
While it is too early to declare the fall of the United States, the damage to our democracy has been done. Not since Reconstruction has this country been so divided and it is impossible to predict when our national nightmare will finally end. The country needs to come together in a show of unity, but it also requires justice. Donald Trump must be convicted for his crimes against the country. Him and his ilk — family members and supporters in Congress — should never be allowed to hold political office, lest we be doomed to repeat this deadly cycle of chaos. The preservation of democracy is not an easy task but it is a fundamentally necessary one. When we ignore the crimes of our leaders, we perpetuate a broken cycle of corruption and injustice that will inevitably tear apart the very fabric of the nation. We must never forget this dark chapter in our history, when we stood so close to the same calamity that has befallen so many nations before us. Remember this quote from the father of conservatism, Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”