I wrote this as a comment to an article in the Washington Post the morning after the insurrection on Jan. 6th, 2021.
The ease with which Trump has manipulated the GOP base to his own ends should surprise nobody. It is the logical endpoint to the “Southern Strategy” the GOP has employed since Nixon, using white voter fears to get elected. Yesterday’s chaos, as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, many waving Confederate flags, was a grim exclamation point on an era that must be put to rest if the nation is to survive.
The Republican Party faces a stark choice. They can continue to gnaw on the rotting carcass of white supremacy, or begin the painful process of re-invention. First, they need to be honest with their constituents. There was no widespread conspiracy to “steal the election”. The ACA is in fact an important improvement in national health care, not a socialist plot. Taxes are the price we pay for being protected by a military, having scientific advances that result in coronavirus vaccines and cancer treatments, and countless other benefits that we take for granted. Capitalism works, but if left unregulated results in debacles such as the Great Recession.
It may be that such honesty will end some political careers, but it is time for the GOP to start treating their constituents as adults, not scared children. A dose of truth can help immunize the body politic against the next would-be autocrat.