A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
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By David Corn February 27, 2024 |
Donald Trump speaks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on February 23, 2024. Allison Bailey/AP |
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In 1935, Sinclair Lewis published the novel It Can’t Happen Here, which told the story of fascism triumphing in the United States. The book was a reaction to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and the spread of demagogic populism in the United States by Huey Long, the strongman governor of Louisiana, and Father Charles Coughlin, the wildly popular antisemitic radio preacher. In Lewis’ alternative universe, a politician named Buzz Windrip, who champions “traditional” values and who promises to restore America to greatness, defeats FDR in the presidential election of 1936 and then through a self-coup seizes dictatorial powers. He establishes a paramilitary force to do his bidding, curtails the rights of women and minorities, and locks up dissidents and political foes in concentration camps. Eventually, his reign leads to civil war. It’s a grim tale.
The title of his book was the proper use of irony (the expression of an idea through language that normally means the opposite). While many Americans at the time looked at the failure of democracy in Europe and thought that the United States would be immune to such retrograde forces, Lewis, whose wife, journalist Dorothy Thompson, had reported on developments in Germany (and was the first American journalist to be expelled from the Nazi state), believed otherwise. America did not succumb to the fascist wave. Long was assassinated. Coughlin was forced off the air. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into World War II led to the end of the America First movement that might have produced a demagogic alternative to Roosevelt. No Buzz Windrip emerged.
Over eight decades later, the ghost of It Can’t Happen Here haunts American politics. Donald Trump has often been compared to Windrip, and various commentators have harkened back to Lewis’ novel to explain the threat Trumpism poses to American democracy.
Looking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (a.k.a. CPAC), held outside Washington, DC, last week, one can wonder if it is indeed time to once again crack open the Lewis novel. At a panel led by Steve Bannon, the convicted (for contempt of Congress) and indicted (for money laundering) top strategist of the MAGA right, Jack Posobiec, a prominent conspiracy theorist of the alt-right, declared, “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here.” He apparently was referring to the Trumpian vanguard present in the room, and Bannon interjected, “Amen.” Posobiec, an early promoter of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory that led to a dangerous shooting at a Washington, DC, restaurant, added, “All glory is not to government. All glory to God.”
Were they joking? It didn’t sound like it. Other speakers at CPAC demonized those outside the MAGA realm. Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), who’s angling to be Trump’s veep pick, proclaimed, “There are two kinds of people in this country right now. There are people who love America, and there are those who hate America.” Stephen Moore, a Trump adviser, asserted that “one of the most evil left-wing organizations in America is the AARP.” For his part, Trump, at CPAC, brayed that the United States will fall apart if President Joe Biden is reelected. He painted quite the picture. Medicare, Social Security, and health care will “collapse,” along with public education and the economy. The US will be “starved of energy.” Hamas would run wild in American streets. Guns will be confiscated, and the suburbs will be “destroyed.” The stock market will implode. America will be obliterated in a world war.
Trump and his minions were engaged in an orgy of despisal akin to the “Two Minutes of Hate” Orwell imagined in 1984. And Trump was hardly breaking new ground at CPAC. Months ago, he used the fascistic term “vermin” to lambaste his political foes, and more recently he complained that migrants were “poisoning the blood” of the United States.
These latest outbursts provide even more reason to wonder if Lewis’ worries ought to be updated for the present. After all, Trump did plot to retain power illegally and incited violence to do so—and following that he remained the leader of one of the two national parties, has been supported by tens of millions of Americans, and has a good shot at winning the 2024 presidential election. And now he’s deploying classic fascistic rhetoric and fearmongering, and his fellow cultists in the GOP and conservative movement are enthusiastically cheering him on, depicting those who don’t agree with them as enemies of America, and openly threatening democracy and embracing autocracy.
With all this going on, my colleagues at Mother Jones and I picked a good time to launch a new project we’re calling “It Can Happen Here,” which is producing short video reports on the latest signs of creeping authoritarianism and the danger it poses to the American political system. These videos are designed for posting on various social media sites (Twitter, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok), where they can serve as bite-size reminders of what’s occurring. Here are the first few we’ve posted:
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We’re still working out some of the bugs and tweaking the formatting. (The producer of the videos, Sam Van Pykeren, is a wizard.) As you can see, each one includes a caveat: We don’t want to hype the threat, but we don’t want to ignore the warning signs. It’s important to not go overboard and come off as a Chicken Little. But let’s not dismiss the real peril the republic faces: A man who plotted to subvert the constitutional order is in a position to regain power, and his crew has been cooking up plans to implement authoritarian policies and to inject Christian Nationalism into the US government, should Trump manage a comeback.
Would Trump go as far as Windrip? He vows to deport millions of people, which would require massive detention camps. He has consistently pledged he would prosecute and imprison his critics and rivals. He has said (jokingly or not) he would act as a dictator only on his first day in office. He has threatened to use the power of government to crush media outlets he doesn’t favor. This is all Windripish. Moreover, throughout MAGA-land, it’s easy to find Trumpists who denigrate democracy and scheme work-arounds to direct elections. And the Alabama Supreme Court justice who last week handed down an opinion stating that fertilized embryos are people—a ruling that imperils in vitro fertilization treatments—has stated that the Bible dictates that conservative Christians ought to rule over government, as well as business, media, and education.
Those who believe in a demographically diverse, socially and culturally tolerant, and democratic America would be fools to turn a blind eye to this tide. For some, warning of fascism might seem hyperbolic. But it appears that Trump and his team do worry about being portrayed as endangering democracy, for they have resorted to assailing Biden as the real threat to democracy. This projection/rubber-and-glue tactic is as good an indication as any that concerns about the wellbeing of American democracy in a Trump 2.0 era are well-founded.
"When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” This quote is often attributed to Lewis, but there’s no proof that he ever said or wrote that. But the line sounds like it came from Lewis, and it certainly does apply to the present moment. Consequently, I expect we will be busy with our “It Can Happen Here” videos. You’ll be able to see them, if you follow me on Twitter/X (@davidcorndc), Threads (@davidcorn1), Instagram (@davidcorn1), or Facebook. If you spot any signs of authoritarianism, feel free to shoot an email to ourland@motherjones.com. As we say in each video, if we don’t pay close attention to this, it can happen here.
Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
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The Watch, Read, and Listen List
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True Detective: Night Country. I confess: I will watch Jodie Foster in anything. Her world-weary eyes can make me believe that whatever emotion her character is experiencing at any given moment is as real as my lower back pain. Foster can be mesmerizing in the most routine of roles. So True Detective: Night Country was a complete treat. In this fourth season of HBO’s anthology series, Foster plays Chief Liz Danvers, who heads a small police force in the small fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, which is so far north that at the time of the winter solstice, it experiences two weeks of straight night. It just so happens that during this sun-free stretch a team of research scientists working in an isolated lab on the tundra are found dead and naked, frozen into one clump on an ice field.
How the hell did that happen? No one has a good answer. But Danvers, a crusty and cynical cop who might in earlier times have been happy to duck this case, fights with her superiors downstate to retain control of the investigation. While dealing with her rebellious Inpuiat stepdaughter Leah. While dealing with an incompetent and corrupt deputy. While dealing with a grave personal loss. While dealing with a bevy of complicated relationships in town. (She seems to have slept with several of the local guys.) And while dealing with conflict-ridden Ennis, where the indigenous residents are practically at war with a mining company that’s polluting the local aquifer and causing serious health problems for the community. (“We were here first!” the local Inpuiats chant at protests.)
This is a police procedural in a strange and dark land. The show’s great success is in creating an isolated world that is so different and so far from what most of us know. Another great success is pairing Foster with Kali Reis, who gives us the character of Evangeline Navarro, a state trooper who teams up with Foster. The pair have history. Years ago, they worked on a case that ended badly. What went down? That’s another mystery, and partnering up now is what neither desires. They both have carousels loaded with baggage. Navarro, an Inpuiat, is coping with a schizophrenic sister and profound identity issues. Reis marvelously cohabits this drama with Foster.
Much goes right with this installment of True Detective, a series that has been erratic since its first season. But there are some problems, most notably its combination of supernatural elements with the how-can-they-crack-this-case? narrative. Is there a spirit out there that’s involved in the puzzling death of the researchers and in the seemingly related murder of an Inpuiat activist years earlier—a case that Navarro was unable to solve? Can Foster’s wily police detecting deliver us the answer? (“You’re asking the wrong question,” she repeatedly tells a younger officer.) Or will this spirit have to reveal the truth? At times, the show has a touch of a Twin Peaks vibe, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. (For a more pointed criticism of the series, see this review.) Overall, True Detective: Night Country is an enjoyable ride through bad weather. It doesn’t stick the landing. But it chills to the bone, even as Foster’s character is hot on the trail.
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Read Recent Issues of Our Land |
February 24, 2024: The racism is the point; the Smirnov affair; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
February 21, 2024: The great forgotten betrayal of the Trump years; the fifth season of Fargo gets political; The Black Keys get funky; and more.
February 17, 2024: A refresher on Trump’s porn-star/hush-money case; a farewell message from Alexei Navalny; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Jared Kushner); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
February 13, 2024: Joe Biden’s age and how the media covers it; The Greatest Night in Pop lives up to its title; Slow Horses and For All Mankind and the challenge of producing high-quality television; and more.
February 10, 2024: Biden or Trump and the memory hole; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Marjorie Taylor Greene); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
February 6, 2024: Joy Reid and a civil rights love story; a new biography of Lou Reed; and more.
February 3, 2024: A too-late Biden shift on Israel?; writing about Taylor Swift; a classic Trump video on lying; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar); MoxieCam™; and more.
January 30, 2024: New book tells the inside story of the Georgia RICO case against Donald Trump; Trump pals around with accused billionaire sex criminal; Anatomy of a Fall soars; and more.
January 27, 2024: The dilemma of the anti-Trump conservatives; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
January 23, 2024: Trump, Putin, and Russia—it never ends; my warning to Ron DeSantis; Ava DuVernay’s big idea in Origin; Allison Russell and The Returner; and more. |
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Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
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