Scheduling Note: It’s been a long and hard year, right? So This Land is going to take a break. This is the last issue for 2021. We will see you early in 2022.

A sense of self-preservation is essential for survival—for people and for societies. Yet this past year demonstrated that millions of Americans seem to lack this rational mechanism. Facing a serious threat to their health, they eschewed simple steps to protect their wellbeing. And facing a serious threat to democracy, they shrugged or, worse, bolstered that threat. That is, they chose actions—or inactions—that imperil themselves (and loved ones) and the nation overall. Let’s be blunt: They made stupid choices, forcing the rest of us to come to terms with the sad and troubling fact that we share this land with fellow citizens who don’t adhere to the basic rules that safeguard the country. And it’s all because of the continuing perversion of American politics by Trumpism, even with Donald Trump gone from the White House.

It is no coincidence that the set of Americans who have refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 overlap with those who believe Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election and back his efforts to overturn the results and retain power. These folks do not see Trump’s attempted coup as a reason for banishment, and they do not clamor for an investigation of the violent attack on January 6 that aimed to subvert US democracy.

In each of these cases, resistance to reality is predicated on conspiracy theories, tribalistic politics, and unfounded paranoia. Anti-vaxxers and Stop the Stealers each rely on unproven, incorrect, and loony accusations: Bill Gates is planting tracking chips in the vaccines; COVID is no worse than the flu; an Italian satellite was used to flip votes from Trump to Joe Biden; massive fraud was committed by unnamed and nefarious Democrats. They refuse to heed public health authorities or voting experts (including Republican voting experts) who say, respectively, that the vaccines are safe and effective and that there is no evidence of significant fraud in the 2020 election. Their own biases and resentments overrule the facts, and an entire political party—you know which one—fiercely encourages and exploits the hysteria and the disregard for truth.

Of course, being guided by fervor untethered to facts is nothing new for human beings. But the past year has shown how powerful, damaging, and deadly such irrationality can be—and not only on the specific matters at hand. How can we effectively discuss and debate the nation’s needs and problems, such as climate change, income inequality, health care, and education, if a large slice of the population cannot recognize reality? At issue here is not a difference over tax policy or abortion, but whether one plus one is two.

Opposition to vaccination is driven not by informed consideration of the risks and benefits of a jab but by animus, rage, and politics. As a Kaiser Family Foundation survey recently found, “Republicans and Republican leaning independents, who represent 41% of adults, now make up 60% of the adult unvaccinated population across the country and that political partisanship is a stronger predictor of whether someone is vaccinated than any demographic factor measured.” And an NPR investigation concluded, “Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden.” This political stance against vaccination and masks adopted by many Republicans and Trumpers as a holy litmus test is killing members of their own tribe. Yet these people would rather troll the liberals—under the banner “You’re not the boss of me”—than serve their own interests and that of their community.

They have followed the lead of Trump, Tucker Carlson, and other right-wing luminaries who have at times dismissed the COVID threat and conveyed conflicting (and dismissive) messages about masking and vaccination. Days ago, when Trump held an event in Dallas as part of his national tour with disgraced ex-Fox host Bill O’Reilly, audience members booed when he revealed he had received a booster shot. (Trump had previously said he probably wouldn’t get the third shot.) The cultists have become more extreme than their leader. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that many resistors are being idiotic. (I have lost count of how many anti-vaccination COVID deniers, who tend to be right-wing extremists or fundamentalists, have died...of COVID.)

What do you do with people who embrace disinformation and lies—who are misled by political and religious leaders preaching a false gospel? Following the long tradition of American anti-intellectualism, the vaccine refuseniks don’t listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci and other scientists and policymakers. Instead, they demonize him and call for him to be prosecuted and imprisoned. This is a profound political problem without a clear political answer. These Americans are immune to the truth. They may believe they are combatting know-it-all elites in a battle for the American Way of Life, but they are just cannon fodder in a political cultural war, blindly following the proponents of lies and fear.

The same is true for the Stop the Stealers. They reside in a realm of unreason. Without evidence, they challenge and undermine the foundation of the American political system, placing it at risk. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans believe that the 2020 election count was not accurate. In June, about three of 10 Republicans said they believed Trump would be reinstated as president by the end of the year. A huge portion of the party has become QAnoners or gone independently bonkers. (Sorry guys, it doesn’t look like Trump will be ringing in the New Year at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, though there still is a week left for this nutty right-wing prophecy to come true.) On Fox, Carlson promotes the unfounded notion that January 6 was a “false flag” operation mounted by the Deep State to create a pretense for the Biden administration to wage war on conservatives. And people believe this fascistic crap.

There was a moment in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 attack—it lasted a few nanoseconds—when Republican leaders accepted reality. GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, during Trump’s second impeachment, blamed his party’s dear leader for the insurrectionist riot: “This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out. Former President Trump’s actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.” GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy said the same: "The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.” Maybe 2021 was going to be not so bad...Yet when it became evident that the Republican base was sticking with Trump, despite his attempt to stomp democracy, they each essentially recanted. McConnell vowed he would “absolutely” support Trump should he run again in 2024, and McCarthy credited Trump for helping to stop the riot and recruited the former guy to raise campaign cash for House Republicans. They signaled there was no need to hold Trump accountable for an attack on the Constitution—which could well lead to further assaults. With a large majority of their party—including all those people who respond to email solicitations for donations—believing Trump’s nonsense, they bent the knee. They were with stupid.

Ignorance can kill. And ignorance and anger are a lethal combination. Particularly in politics. The pro-Trump anti-vaxxers have placed themselves in danger; the 1/6 deniers and Stop the Stealers have put the nation’s political system in jeopardy. The year 2021 delivered a tough message: the suspicion, hatred, and paranoia flamed by Trump and his crew remain potent forces that can propel millions to make bad decisions. It’s a clear warning for 2022 and the stupidity that lies ahead.

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at thisland@motherjones.com.

Dumbass Comment of the Year

This is, admittedly, an unfair contest. There were far too many contenders, and, sorry, dear reader, I don’t have the fortitude to review the last 12 months of stupid remarks from the former guy, Fox hosts and guests, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and so many others, to determine the indisputable most idiotic comment. (Talk about hazard pay!) But when I glancingly ponder what might qualify as the top dumbass statement of 2021, my mind naturally heads toward Trump and his unending line of BS about January 6. In a March interview, he claimed that the audience at the pre-riot rally “was a loving crowd” and that “there was a lot of love within it.” If you watch videos of the rally, you can see that crowd was seething with anger spurred by Trump’s false claim the election was stolen from him and them.

In another interview that month, Trump referred to January 6 as “a very beautiful time with extremely loving and friendly people.” And he called the remarks he delivered at the Ellipse that day—in which he ranted about the election being rigged and called on the crowd to march on Congress and “fight like hell”—a “mild-mannered speech." Though Trump has tried to separate the rally from the subsequent raid on Congress, in this interview he also justified his brownshirts chanting “Hang Mike Pence”: “It's common sense. How can you—if you know a vote is fraudulent—how can you pass a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do it?" It’s common sense to call for the execution of the vice president. Now that’s a showstopper of a dumbass comment. And in July, Trump again insisted January 6 was a lovefest: “I mentioned the word 'love.' The love—the love in the air, I have never seen anything like it.”

That “loving” crowd yielded the mob of thousands of marauders who violently attacked Congress in an effort to thwart the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. As of mid-December, 727 Trump supporters have been arrested and charged for participating in this attack. Yet because the rally was a gathering of people who adore him—who worship him—Trump, the pathological narcissist, views that as love.

And let’s add this to the pile: Trump has of late been trying to jiujitsu the January 6 narrative by claiming it was no insurrection. A few days ago, he issued a statement blasting the House select committee investigating the riot: “Remember, the insurrection took place on November 3, it was the completely unarmed protest of the rigged election that took place on January 6.” Trump lied. The attack on Capitol Hill was not “completely unarmed.” More important, Trump is pushing a phony line for his followers, asserting that the threat to the nation comes from the (nonexistent) election fraud that (supposedly) denied him reelection, not the violence that marred the transfer of power and threatened constitutional rule. Up is down. War is peace. As Trump declared in July, "If you say it enough and keep saying it, they'll start to believe you.” Perhaps that’s the Trump comment of 2021 that should win the prize.

The Mailbag

I asked readers to share their thoughts about the year that is ending and their hopes and fears for 2022. Angela Mitchell wrote:

This last year’s political landscape has left me numb from fear and trepidation. I keep wanting to scream, “Wake up people, can’t you see what’s happening?” I feel that except for a few lonely voices I’m walking through a parade of zombies. The only thing giving me hope is my faith. Please continue raising awareness on the issues. We need you.

Hang in there, Angela. Remember, there are more Americans who hold decent values and believe in science and sanity than those who do not. It’s just that the system affords scoundrels too much influence and opportunity to gain power. There is a fight to be had.

Peter Greenwald emailed:

It is frightening to see the practically wholesale commitment of the Republican Party to lies and disinformation used to suppress voting, extend the life of the Covid pandemic, and essentially disregard established law and protocol with respect to governmental procedures. All together an unprecedented assault on our democracy, our Constitution, and the rule of law, with the support of a not insignificant portion of citizens. Problem is no one seems to know how to stop the Republican juggernaut. Would it do any good for the Democratic Party to publicly declare open war on the Republicans, label them as fascists, call them out with regard to their disingenuousness? Some of that has already been done and has not changed many minds. The cultural monster created by the Republican Party now has a life of its own. For example, Trump and O’Reilly’s recent call for booster shots being met with boos from their audience. I fear it may take a generation, or more, for this dark turn in our country’s history to pass. I am 72 years old and may not see it in my lifetime.

Some Democrats and some voices within the media have tried to call attention to the authoritarian threat posed by Trump and the cultish Republicans. But as I’ve written, Biden and many others still have not gotten their arms fully around this. They have not made a compelling case that the GOP now presents danger to American democracy and that Republicans are blocking popular social programs that address important national needs, such as universal pre-K and paid family leave. They have not forcibly or effectively countered the Republican effort to restrict voting and rig the vote-counting system in its favor. And time is not on their side.

Leonard Wolf chimed in with a slightly optimistic and dark note:

Loved your reporting for years David. I think the timing of January 6 revelations can help the tough situation Dems are in. I hope Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is correct that voting rights can still get passed. As far as Covid-19 goes, with the highest death toll I believe is being reported in orange counties, that may add to GOP losses. It may be harsh but they are following bad advice.

My thanks to all of you who have contributed to the Mailbag this year. Please keep writing me and Moxie at thisland@motherjones.com. Speaking of which...

MoxieCam™

“My little dog must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.”

(Apologies to Robert Frost)

Read Recent Issues of This Land

December 21, 2021: How the GOP is establishing political apartheid; Donald Trump’s most outrageous email, spending time with The Shrink Next Door; Susanna Hoffs’ delightful new album; and more.

December 18, 2021: Mark Meadows, the chief’s chief coup plotter; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag, MoxieCam™; and more.

December 14, 2021: Denounce Julian Assange, don’t extradite him; why WandaVision is marvelous; hanging out with Neil Young and Crazy Horse in an old barn; and more.

December 11, 2021: Trump’s newest—and biggest—potential conflict of interest; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Tucker Carlson Edition); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

December 7, 2021: John Lennon and the NRA—four decades later; Chris Christie: Trump is afraid to lose in 2024; an inspiring documentary about Jacques Cousteau; and more.

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