I have read in multiple places that the Fascist Party has promised to spend the next two years avoiding doing anything that might benefit the citizenry, while engaging in fake investigations of Biden, his son Hunter, and even of Dr. Fauci. The hypocrisy is of course, mind-numbing, given that they will also shut down Congressional investigations of Trump, who attempted to overthrow the government, and have turned a blind eye to the corruption of Trump’s family. It is taken for granted that they will do nothing to deal with the economic problems that they squealed about during the election and will, in fact, obstruct any attempt by the Democrats to do anything that will actually alleviate those problems.
So, the obvious question is: will it work? The objective, one must assume, is a complete takeover of Congress, and a presidential victory, which, with the sanction of the Supreme Court, will allow them to complete the transition to fascism. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to elect the secretaries of state that would rig future elections for them, so we can assume that the 2024 election will be at least as honest as the 2022 election. If they do win in 2024 they will complete the transition to a system in which elections are mere formalities, with the outcomes pre-determined, with an opposition party retained purely for show. That process has been underway for years, with the ever more sophisticated gerrymandering that computers make possible. There is also, the probability that the Supreme Court will give Republican majority legislatures a license to steal elections.
To get back to the question, “will it work” we must consider two things that will be of central importance. How will the media cover the Republican shitshows, and will the public buy into the implied Republican argument that punishing Hunter Biden is more important than dealing with things like inflation, climate change, etc.
As to the media, I think it’s instructive to recall the Clinton years, and how the media covered the Lewinsky affair. Keep in mind that nothing he was alleged to have done came anywhere near the criminality in which Trump engaged, which the media largely wrote off as Trump being Trump. My impression then was that the media pretty much assumed that the American people were too stupid to dismiss Clinton’s sexual escapades as being largely beside the point. It was assumed that there would be a massive wave of revulsion and a demand for his impeachment and conviction. That wave never materialized, but in no way was that because the media put the matter in proper perspective. We may get a repeat of the media performance this time around, though it’s possible it won’t be so extreme as during the Clinton years, as much of the media didn’t take the Benghazi hearings too seriously.
I personally like the guy, but I do hope they go after Fauci as well as Hunter, because that would be a massive error and lead to a tremendous amount of revulsion from much of the American public, and even some in the media would tell it like it is. Even without Fauci hearings I think it’s highly likely that the Republican escapades will not go over well with the public, and that while most Fox viewers have no problem with extreme hypocrisy, that is not the case with the people in the mythical “middle” whose votes they will need in order to complete the transition.
A lot depends, of course, on how the Democrats respond. I seem to recall that Harry Truman did well running against a do-nothing Congress. Biden and the Democrats should propose a raft of popular programs, all of which will be obstructed by the Republicans. Doing only that will do no good unless people are aware of what is happening, which means that the Democrats have to speak with one voice and pound away at their talking points. It’s also time for the Democrats to start working the media refs, because by doing exactly that the Republicans were able to get the media to adopt its current both siderism.
In the end, I’m somewhat guardedly optimistic that things may turn out okay, especially if Trump is the 2024 candidate. They won’t be in a position to cheat on a widespread enough basis to steal the election, and by 2024 Trump will be weighing them down. In fact, he already is. The Republican Party will be more accurately perceived for what it is, and the Democrats will, we can hope, take back the House and keep the presidency. A lot may depend, unfortunately, on how the upcoming election in Georgia pans out, since if Warnock loses, we will still be held hostage by Sinema and Manchin.
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