MAGA ASCENDANT??
| by Jay R. Mandle When the ultra-conservative Michael Johnson was unanimously elected Speaker by the Republican members of the House of Representatives, Donald Trump and his MAGA followers celebrated. Matt Gaetz, one of the most extreme Trump acolytes, crowed “MAGA is ascendant…[that’s] where the power of the Republican Party truly lies.”Commenting on Gaetz from a completely different political perspective, NY Times columnist Paul Krugman agreed. He writes that the House leadership was won by “a radical extremist.” What is clear is that Johnson will seek to reverse the country’s progressive social advances, while at the same time aligning himself with the effort to dismantle its institutions of representative government. Though largely unknown outside his Louisiana congressional district, Johnson played an active role in Trump’s “stop the steal” campaign. He espoused the farfetched notion in the 2020 election that Dominion voting machines were suspect because they came from Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. More importantly, he tried to overturn the election results by arguing before the Supreme Court that state legislatures have the right to select delegates to the Electoral College, replacing those chosen by the voters. Johnson’s views with regard to the sanctity of elections are offensive, but his attitudes towards social issues are just as repugnant. Krugman writes, “I’m not sure how many people grasp the depth of his intolerance. Johnson isn’t just someone who wants to legalize discrimination against L.G.B.T.Q. Americans and ban gay marriage; he’s on record as defending the criminalization of gay sex.” When it comes to abortion, Johnson’s views are draconian. Siding with the most extreme opponents of a woman’s right to control her reproductive choices, he sponsored a bill that, if enacted, would ban all abortions without exception. Johnson’s bill declared “the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning or other moment at which an individual comes into being.” Krugman further notes that Johnson has “espoused a startling reactionary economic agenda,” calling for “the evisceration of the U.S. social safety net – not just programs for the poor, but also policies that form the bedrock of financial stability for the American middle class.” On the face of it, the descent of Congressional Republicans into the depths of political authoritariansm and social intolerance should represent good news for Democrats. It might even suggest a Democratic landslide in 2024. Though MAGA support is certainly present in the country, it remains a minority tendency in American politics. What casts doubt on such a benign outcome, however, is not a threat from the political Right. Instead, what may stand in the way of a political rout of MAGA is a rift between the Biden Administration and many of the country’s progressives. Even before the outbreak of warfare in Gaza involving Hamas and Israel, the political left in the United States was at best lukewarm about the prospect of a second Biden Administration. Among other issues, Biden’s age was an important wedge that was able to deflect attention from his administration’s legislative accomplishments on the environment and other issues consistent with progressive concerns. What threatens to intensify this division is the Biden Administration’s one-sided reaction to the conflict in Gaza. The Administration has rightly denounced the atrocities committed by Hamas in initiating the conflict and taking hostages. But it has said next to nothing about the role played by the Israeli Defense Force in the deaths and injuries inflicted on non-combat Palestinian citizens. Consternation is apparent among organizations and individuals who, in a less fraught atmosphere, would be expected to be part of the coalition supporting Biden in 2024. Reporting on the effect of the Middle East conflict, the New York Times reports that “the entirety of liberal America has been convulsed.” Liberal and progressive dissenters from the Biden Administration represent a real threat – not just to Biden, but more importantly to the urgent need to defeat Trumpism and all that it stands for. In this regard, historical memory is important. Notwithstanding the liberal commitments of Lyndon Johnson’s Administration and its civil rights activism in the 1960s, its unbridled support for the war in Vietnam decimated the political coalition that had brought it to power. Divisions among Democrats concerning Viertnam culminated in a Democratic defeat and the presidency of Richard Nixon in the election of 1968. Replicating such an outcome can be avoided. But doing so will require a mid-course correction on the part of President Biden and his associates. They should continue to oppose the death and destruction caused by Hamas. But in addition, acknowledging the horror and enmity caused by Israel’s air and ground warfare against non-combat Palestinians, they should call for a cease fire. Anything less threatens to allow the internecine feud among Democratic voters to metastasize, paving the way for a disastrous Trump and MAGA victory in 2024. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jay Mandle is the Emerita W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics, Emeritus,at Colgate University. His many books include Change Elections to Change America: Democracy Matters Students In Action, and Creating Political Equality: Elections As a Public Good,. Mandle’s regular monthly editorials, Money On My Mind, appear on the Democracy Matters website, and explore the role of private money in politics and other critical social issues. The views expressed in Money On My Mind are those of the author, (not necessarily those of Democracy Matters, and are meant to stimulate discussion. |