New Right Authoritarians Have a Plan
Advocates of right-wing authoritarianism are busy sketching out plans for a “Red Caesar” in the White House.
In an article for Claremont Institute's "American Mind" publication, Kevin Slack, a political scientist at Hillsdale College, wrote about the New Right's desire for a "Red Caesar," a leader "whose post-constitutional rule will restore the strength of his people." The article is an excerpt from his book, War on the American Republic.
How would such a leader gain power in our democratic republic? Through violence, Slack says. Conservatives "must be willing to engage in violence," he wrote, and an "armed citizenry with a stake in society, angry about its managed decline, and insistent upon its rights" should oppose our government. He also encouraged "conservative intellectuals" to "openly ally with the AR-15 crowd." Slack expects "this new terrible war would be city against country, neighbor against neighbor, in the aisles of grocery stores, restaurants, and churches."
Is this just a fringe view? Possibly? Hopefully. But ever since Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican Party we've seen ideas that were once considered extreme become acceptable, and then these now acceptable ideas become "you're a traitor if you disagree." Until recently, neither Hillsdale College nor Claremont Institute were considered fringe, yet now they're both tied to violent revolution and autocracy.
In another example, former high-ranking Republican staffer Mike Davis spoke about his plans for a second Trump administration, which includes "fire a lot of people," indict all the Bidens, deport 10 million people, and pardon the J6 rioters. "We’re gonna put kids in cages. It’s gonna be glorious," he said. "We’re gonna detain a lot of people in the D.C. Gulag and Gitmo."
Again, is this just fringe? In an article for The Bulwark, Tim Miller pointed out that Mike Davis is the type of person who would get a high-ranking position in a new Trump administration.
Here are a few other examples that concern me:
I wrote previously about a national sheriff's group that argues they have the right to ignore federal law.
The Heritage Foundation has a plan, "Project 2025," to return the federal bureaucracy to a patronage system.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis created an election police unit being used for voter intimidation.
Similarly, North Carolina Republicans are looking at creating their own secret police force.
Trump talks openly about using state power against people who have criticized him, and even suggested former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley should be executed.
And last week I wrote about the threats and intimidation of election workers.
Together, these examples point to the growing authoritarianism and a potential for more violence on the right wing of American politics.
How should we respond?
Some who oppose political extremism warn against bringing attention to the extremists lest we unwittingly raise their profile. They are often attention-seekers and we give them what they want the more we talk about them.
On the other hand, I suspect there are many conservative Americans who are completely unaware of the close ties between those advocating violent Caesarism and the political figures they support. So, in some of our conversations, it may be helpful to point to Slack's article, which clearly lays out the goals of at least some on the New Right.
What Else We're Reading
"White supremacist group delivers show of force for Franklin mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson"
The often-bizarre race for Franklin mayor took a disturbing new turn this week as white supremacists made a show of force for Gabrielle Hanson.
That group, which calls itself the Tennessee Active Club, showed up Monday night at a forum hosted for candidates for mayor and alderman in Franklin, escorting Hanson and her husband into the event.
"Lifestyle pages on Facebook are a significant contributor to the spread of fake news, study finds"
A recent study published in American Behavioral Scientist found that a substantial percent of people had liked a fake news-related Facebook page. While some fake news was political, many of these individuals were exposed through non-political lifestyle pages, emphasizing the need for critical thinking and understanding the potential of large-audience pages to spread misinformation.
"Take A Position, Not A Side"
“Positions” involves a very different set of practices than “sides.” “Sides” goes with debates, where each party tries to “win,” to show that they are “right,” by bashing away at the other. At best you might decide the truth lies somewhere “in the middle.” “Positions” goes with conversations. You listen; you acknowledge doubt; you think out loud; you learn. You both learn. You discover things together neither of you would have come to on your own. You might meet in the middle, but you're as likely to decide that the truth, or at least your next best approximation of the truth, lies somewhere else altogether—in a different direction, or another dimension. And you can do all this because the stakes aren't existential anymore. Your identity—as a member of your “side”—is no longer riding on the outcome. You can breathe. You can think.
Trump Echoes Hitler: Migrants "Poisoning the Blood of Our Country"
During an interview at Mar-a-Lago for National Pulse, Trump made comments about migrants entering the United States that echoed Hitler's Nazi propaganda against immigrants, Jewish people, and interracial families used to affirm his nationalistic, racial purity beliefs:
"Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they're terrorists. Nobody has ever seen anything like we're witnessing right now. It is a very sad thing for our country. It's poisoning the blood of our country. It's so bad, and people coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have."
 | A guest post by
|