Two weeks ago, sleet drummed on the skylight above me as I tapped on my keyboard. The late Jimmy Carter, the first president I voted for, was being commemorated, just ahead of the First Felon being inexplicably inaugurated for the second time. Could such two different men be so rightly juxtaposed at this moment — one who believed in service and the other who believes in serving only himself?
Much has been written since November 5 on how we came to this mess. Unsurprisingly, most of it’s been wack. The most risible have been those saying that Harris, who ran a centrist campaign, was too far left. Please keep those coming. After the Trumpocalypse, we all desperately need comic relief.
Our history has never been a linear progression. After Reconstruction came Jim Crow. After LBJ’s Great Society and the liberation movements of the 1960s and ’70s came the neo-conservatism of the Reagan Era. After W’s lying to get us into a totally unnecessary war and the Great Recession, it seemed Republican political domination might finally end.
Obama was our champion, but nothing motivates conservatives more than an intelligent Black man and ready money from the truly elitist 1%. Enter: Trump, whose racist birther movement catapulted him into becoming a political champion of white racists, a huge voting bloc in the Republican Party.
A pattern emerges. When Blacks and other people of color are treated more equally, the forces of reaction will rise because some whites will never accept a truly multicultural, multiracial society. To quote the comedian Wanda Sykes, “Sometimes America is just gonna America.”
Look at our much-vaunted racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder. There were speeches, murals, and marches galore. Politicians and even corporations pledged to do better, yet we could not even agree on reasonable rules to stop the unnecessary killing of Blacks by police. In no other country are police given such wide latitude to murder their fellow citizens. In the 21st century, this should not be a hard ask. Despite countless videos exposing what cannot be called anything else but police executions, we could not do it.
Forget those crazy conspiracies you catch on social media. What is really affecting American democracy is the slow-moving takeover of our politics by a conservative wealthy elite. They don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. They hate government oversight because they want to cheat customers and despoil the planet without consequences, so they fueled the Federalist Society takeover of SCOTUS that has handed those greedheads big wins, including Citizens United and Shelby County.
As the late Jimmy Carter said, Citizens United gave “legal bribery the chance to prevail … [so] when candidates get in office, they do what rich people want.”
Shelby County made it easier for conservative states to limit minority voting. And who benefits from those two rulings? Your friendly neighborhood Republicans.
Add that to our sucky media environment. As award-winning journalist George Packer wrote, “We’re living in a world where facts instantly perish upon contact with human minds … and a much-depleted national press can barely compete with the media platforms of billionaires who control users algorithmically, with an endless stream of conspiracy theories and deepfakes. The internet, which promised to give everyone information and a voice, has consolidated in just a few hands the power to destroy the very notion of objective truth.”
Trump’s bromance with Elon Musk should have come as no surprise. The South African neo-Nazi helped the orange stain to victory through hard cash and X, which he bought and turned into a toxic, racist, pro-Trump cesspool. And Meta is only a step behind.
So, is all lost? No, the ’80s and the beginning of the aughts were in some ways worse. But calling Trump an existential threat to democracy was never just political rhetoric. Count on things getting worse. Trump will go after the media, universities, civil servants, undocumented immigrants, a mile-long enemies list, and god only knows who else — all the while muttering about invasions of fill-in-the-blank. His ultimate goal is for us to surrender.
But for Trump, the “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” clown, Part D’oh will be his own worst enemy. Even his low-information MAGA voters will be reminded daily of his chaos, idiotic mutterings and an administration populated with thuggish grifters. It’s vitally important then to remind everyone that his only mandate is to lower grocery prices. He won by the very smallest of margins.
Our ace in the hole is his open and blatant corruption. In his first term, he made billions off his presidency. Now, there will be no limit to his avarice, and even a supine MSM will be forced by its desire for money and ratings to finally follow the money trails behind that story.
Here in Texas, we have the most compliant state government our corporate overlords can buy, and our local governments are run by the absolute worst, so we are in for a hard couple of years. But keep the faith. Do what you can, when you can. Take breaks as needed, but don’t surrender. Fight like hell because Brandeis’ famous quote still rings true. Democracy needs to trump wealth concentrated in the hands of the few every fucking time.
This column reflects the opinions and fact-gathering of the author(s) and only the author(s) and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
PHOTO BY KEN WHEATCROFT-PARDUE
