Last weekend in Philadelphia, I met several people who have given up on democracy. They criticized politicians who made promises they didn’t keep. They advocated conspiracy theories about the government. Several people who answered the door told me they had no intention of voting.
Then there were tough young people who said, “Yeah, I’m going to vote for Trump.” They talked about the Republican presidential candidate as if he were Tony Montana, the gangster played by Al Pacino in the movie Scarface: violent, lawless and powerful. Trump elicited respect mixed with fear. His supporters say he will stand up to America’s enemies abroad and take a tough stance on crime at home. With the usual preface of “don’t get me wrong…” several people told me that a female president would be too weak or “hormonally confused” to do what was needed.
Multiply celebrity culture, gun culture, add a little testosterone, and you get Donald Trump.
Much has been written (including by me) about the rise of the global far right. It is important to understand that this global trend is not a kind of politics. It’s anti-politics. The far right, personified by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, and El Salvador’s Nayib Boucre, is determined to dismantle democracy. They despise elections. They modify, pervert, or destroy the constitutional order.
And they despise citizen participation, which is at the heart of a thriving democracy. They police dissent. They are targeting protesters. They ruthlessly wipe out the “enemy within.” This is what Donald Trump has promised this time.
The 2024 Republican campaign has turned to anti-government rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and violent innuendo (against FEMA, against border security, against Republican politicians who don’t toe the MAGA line) to do two things: depended on. These strategies brought disaffected people to the polls. And they pressured others not to vote, to abandon politics altogether.
Outrage and apathy are two modes of right-wing political action. This is a variation on Albert Hirschman’s famous “exit, voice, loyalty” distinction. Supporters are expressing their anger, those who are apathetic are defecting, and dissidents continue to organize in hopes of avoiding the Russian scenario, where the entire opposition ends up in exile or in prison. are.
Other countries have also managed to counter this trend. Even tiny Moldova was able to successfully fend off an anti-democratic, pro-Russian and billionaire-backed candidate in last weekend’s presidential election. Brazil sacked Bolsonaro. French people united to stop Marine Le Pen at the polls. It’s possible.
Rich, prosperous and arrogant America could not do so.
Let’s be honest: American politics as we know it is over.
Indeed, it was always possible for American politicians to win through dirty tricks. But after that, some sort of course correction will occur. President Nixon will be followed by Watergate, and President Trump in 2016 will be followed by his impeachment and election defeat. That loss in 2020 should have been an inoculation against outlandish lies, intimidation and manipulation. Instead, Republicans doubled down. He abandoned the few remaining guardrails governing campaign conduct, a harbinger of how the incoming administration will circumvent the few remaining guardrails it reluctantly observed toward the end of its previous term. be.
The political game is now fundamentally different. Forget about the “ground game.” Forget strategic messages. Forget about voting. In other words, forget the traditional ways of mobilizing political sentiment in a democracy.
Never bring a knife to a gunfight, experts warn. Democrats brought computers to the gunfight. Computer models for winning elections are now in ruins.
After a funeral in more than half of America and the Democratic Party losing the presidency and the Senate, there is understandably a lot of condemnation. That was misogyny. It was a black man who left the Democratic Party. It was poor white people voting against their economic self-interest. It was the Electoral College, Elon Musk’s money, and Russian disinformation. This is due to Joe Biden’s decision to run again and Kamala Harris’ inability to clearly explain her position.
Of course, that was it. But it was also a failure of Democrats to understand the anger pervading the political world. Democrats have failed to translate the economic achievements of the past four years — an infrastructure bill, a watered down version of the Green New Deal, the CHIPS Act — into populist terms. In other words, we are in a post-political moment, so the normal gains from normal political processes will not prove inspiring. And the Democratic Party was following the old rules.
Here’s an informative story.
A friend confessed to me before the election that he had no interest in politics. “They’re both bad. One is a fascist and the other is a communist,” he said.
“Is Harris a communist?” I said, surprised. “That’s crazy. She’s just a mediocre politician who straddles the middle. I understand if you criticize Bernie Sanders as a communist. At least he’s a self-proclaimed socialist. Of course he is not a communist, but at least he is—”
“Oh, Bernie?” my friend interrupted me. “Oh yeah, I love Barney!”
There are several lessons here. Even among non-political people, Trump’s lies (“She’s a Marxist!”) were permeated by brutal repetition of state propaganda. The nation’s level of political understanding is shockingly low (fifth graders should be able to put Trump, Harris, and Sanders on the political spectrum). And Bernie’s populism goes beyond ideology. Like the Vermont senator, a successful political party must be able to communicate not only desire but also anger.
As the opposition regroups, it is useful to repeat a few truisms. Character is developed in adversity. Previous generations have successfully fought fascism to save democracy. And democracy is about learning lessons and moving forward (especially after setbacks). It has long been clear that this country needs a new politics. To use a well-worn expression, let’s build back better after the third and most destructive hurricane of the season.
Philip Roth imagined an alternate past of the fascist takeover of the United States in his 2004 novel The Plot Against America. Pro-Hitler isolationist Charles Lindbergh won the 1940 election with the slogan “Vote for Lindbergh or vote for war.” After taking office, he fulfilled his promise by keeping the United States out of World War II. But after Lindbergh’s plane mysteriously disappeared, Roosevelt was re-elected president in 1942. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and history resumes the familiar process.
It’s a chilling book that resonates with today’s headlines. It was a reminder that it could happen here, too, long before President Trump’s political rise.
However, the current situation is different. This is not just a battle for the soul of America. This is an even bigger conflict. The conflict is being waged against Russia in Ukraine and Israel in Gaza. It’s at stake in voting booths in democracies around the world. And it is supported by anti-authoritarian dissidents on the streets, in prisons and in exile communities.
America’s far right and its promoters, wrapped in the Stars and Stripes and the U.S. Constitution, are plotting against democracy itself. It didn’t look promising in 1940, either in Ross’ alternate reality or in real history. So let’s end the blame and begin a new era of creative and enlightened political organization.
