As America commemorated the deadly insurrection of January 6th, it was clear something was off kilter.
Unlike September 11th commemorations when the nation unites around its collective grief, the January 6th commemoration served as a reminder of the political divide in America. As President Biden rightfully and powerfully condemned the events of January 6th 2021, including laying the blame at the feet of his predecessor, his remarks were made in the context of a segment of the nation radicalized by a lie.
Joseph Goebbels the chief propagandist of the Nazi party once said “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” No doubt this strategy has worked for a large segment of the American electorate.
As one looks at people like Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, Louis Gohmert, Paul Gosar, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Flynn and others, one cannot be blamed if they were to think these people graduated from the Goebbels school of propaganda. At the same time one would not be blamed if they suspected these purveyors of the big lie did not actually believe it themselves. There is a difference between Goebbels kids who continue to use the lie for political gain and those followers who are willing to believe the lie even unto death like Ashli Babbitt. For those who utilize the lie to maintain position and power there was no clearer example than Senator Ted Cruz being embarrassed by Tucker Carlson into walking back his comments about the January 6th insurrection. Carlson’s public political neutering of Senator Cruz was cringeworthy even for the staunchest detractors of Cruz.
Several journalists have confessed that many Republican officials have told them off the record that they know the election was fair and not rigged. Unfortunately, while they’re willing to admit this off the record, the fact they are willing to espouse the lie to their constituents simply to hold off a primary challenge makes them unworthy to hold public office. The political class consists of small people with small minds. The recent statement by New York Republican Congressman Tom Reid made to Meet The Press’ Chuck Todd was stunning when he said he would support Trump again if he were the nominee of the GOP.
America has seen conspiracy theories throughout its history. What is new is that the big lie is championed by someone who had his finger on the nuclear button. The big lie has morphed into a rallying cry that could once again catapult the purveyor of the lie back into the seat of power.
While they go along with public deception to maintain their power, it should not come as a shock that people such as Paul Gosar, Louis Gohmert and others believe the big lie also helps them disseminate the pernicious ideology of white grievance. As one looks at the gubernatorial race in Virginia, the use of critical race theory as well as a call to ban books such as Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” was used as a dog whistle to scare white suburban women.
It is a legitimate question to ask what makes people follow what is an obvious lie? The same was asked of those who followed Jim Jones even to the point of suicide. Trump was legitimized by news agencies including CNN and MSNBC who provided Trump with millions of dollars of free advertising. As a result they legitimized a man who they knew to be morally corrupt. Their recent pile on of Facebook is more of an attempt to cover their own complicity in giving rise to an authoritarian racist.
While it is true that no-one is born radicalized, it may be true that those who become radicalized were already pre-disposed to an extreme point of view. In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about the use of propaganda. Propaganda in his mind was to be aimed at those with the least intellectual capacity. Trump and his cohorts carried out this strategy almost to perfection and recognizing its effectiveness have only doubled down on the big lie.
Zora Neal Thurston said “there are years that ask questions and years that answer” After Trump won the presidency in 2016, many began to question why would people vote for him. Many journalists went on an anthropological expedition in search of answers. In recent years those questions have been answered even as the journalistic expedition persists. There is a fascination with trying to figure out what makes the Trump voter tick even after the question has been answered. While shouts of denial abound, the Trump base is centered in white grievance and white supremacy. It is not anchored in economic anxiety as many journalists, overwhelmingly white, would have people believe. Some would argue against that premise because Trump has a small contingent of black supporters. Sadly if one reads history, Black supporters of Trump brings to mind a less virulent form of the judenrat during the time of Nazism.
What happened on January 6th was a microcosm of an ever expanding segment of America. It did not suddenly appear when Trump became President, he simply gave it permission to become public. Like Plato’s notion of forms, the insurrection reflected a reality in which the insurrection was only one manifestation. The reality is that the insurrection represented something deeper and more insidious. The Charlottesville March with its infamous chant “Jews will not replace us” is too often seen as an isolated event. Unfortunately, like Hitler they disdain diversity and believe in a white ethno-Christian society that despises interracial relationships because in their mind it debases the superior race. It should not be forgotten that the majority of white evangelical churches and leaders such as Franklin Graham supported Trump. Unfortunately, the response by the mainline denominational church (with exceptions) has been weak.
The question is what can be done. There is no doubt the January 6th committee has heard damning information in regards to the insurrection of January 6th. Unfortunately, when the committee finally schedules public hearings in prime time, few if any of the radicalized will be swayed by testimony. They are acolytes of the man who said. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, … and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?” This is a sickness that truth and time hasn’t healed and perhaps never will.
America suffers from a naive way of thinking that it’s immune from some of the atrocities that occurred in the 20th century. While genocide is not the essence of American nature, there are elements of American history that should not be ignored. It should not be a surprise that the German Nuremberg laws meant to disenfranchise the Jewish community were influenced by America’s Jim Crow laws and its designation of Native Americans as non-citizens. While in the United States the disenfranchisement of people is highly unlikely at this stage, the strategy while seemingly innocuous being put in place is not to deny people the right to vote but rather designating who is in charge of overseeing which vote will count. Given the reality of January 6th one should remember it was Voltaire who said “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Another pernicious strategy is being aimed at schools. This strategy is designed to deconstruct anything that would challenge the accepted narrative about American history. The attempt to ban Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”, which became part of the recent gubernatorial race in Virginia, or books about Dr. King or Rosa Parks has unveiled an attempt to sanitize American history. Unfortunately, these attempts have been joined unintentionally by people such as black conservatives Condoleezza Rice and Bob Woodson and perhaps intentionally by others such as Glenn Loury given his sometimes absurd remarks at the recent conservative conference in Florida.
The good news is that despite the significant segment of the electorate that has been radicalized to the point of lunacy, the majority of the country rejects the ideology virus that has infected the GOP.
While Goebbels said the lie must be spoken continuously, it is equally incumbent for the truth to be told louder and just as often. President Biden’s speech on January 6th was a good start but it must not stop there. It must be repeated often and across the country in every community whether Republican or Democrat. If he is going to defend the soul of America, Biden must be willing to change his methodology in confronting this crisis. As he did during his speech in Atlanta he must show his righteous indignation not only to members of the GOP but members of his own party as well Nonetheless, the Democratic Party must not be distracted by sideshows such as Stacey Abrams not showing up at the President’s Atlanta speech. While the King family met with Biden her absence reeked more of a childish tantrum designed for personal attention. Secondly, the various factions of the Democratic party must begin to define the issue in ways that informs people about how this crisis affects their daily life.
Third, the Democratic Party must not only aim for control of congress but it must begin a campaign to control every political level from school boards, district attorneys, sheriffs, judges and state houses.
Lastly, there must be an effort to create alliances between different parts of the country. During the last presidential election while the black vote provided an overwhelming margin for President Joe Biden there was also a contingent of Republican suburban voters who supported President Biden. As a result there is an opportunity to create alliances with those communities that while generally Republican are still turned off by the antics of Donald Trump and the GOP in general.
Republican operatives have successfully used the tactics of Joseph Goebbels to turn a huge segment of the American electorate into irrational conspiracy theorists. Thus far any pushback against this has seemingly failed as the GOP base has become more vociferous at the same time the sane part of America has exhibited a nonchalant attitude towards this. It is not too late but the clock is running..
When President Biden went to his first G7 meeting and told European allies that America was back, the response he received was “yes but for how long.” The next two years of American politics will answer that question.