January 6th will be remembered, but not for what Trump’s devotees are threatening
Since the end of the Bush years and Obama’s rise there has been a simple yet devastating truth haunting the Republican Party. The demographic realities do not support a continuation of the racist stance that was the bedrock of the party’s appeal for more than half a century. The Southern Strategy does not work when the non-white majority is growing daily.
Instead of shifting gradually, for example during the eight years of Obama, a bolt from the blue sent the party back to the stone age with a fluke, a mistake of history, called Donald Trump. A “Rhino” who was able to say anyone who disagreed with his disgusting extreme racist politics was the real “Republican in name only”.
That has led to the current “civil war” within the Republican Party. In essence it is the suicide party of Trump, rather dead than rainbow, vs. the “democratic” Republicans, those that believe that the US Constitution and the rule of law should be upheld, even if it means that people of color have a demographic advantage and must be included in government going forward.
Groups like the Lincoln Project and RVAT (Republican Voters against Trump) helped to defeat him and represent a more “sane” idea of what they believe the Republican should be about in the future. In reality, the fanatical backing that a reality show demagogue has managed to assemble is both too large and too sick to change anytime soon, particularly not if that change involves disavowing racism as a core belief.
While talking about his former Party, Schmidt touches on the larger issues for the rest of America
Therefore, as Steve Schmidt, a GOP strategist who co-founded the Lincoln Project, said is a series of tweets this weekend, the coming ‘civil war’, oddly scheduled for January 6th and being announced by many wackos, from “Proud Boys” to Republican senators and congressmen, is not one of a country divided, but the death throes of the Republican Party itself:
“The die is cast for the Republican Party. It will be destroyed on January 6th”
Referring to the suicidal nature of this hopeless attempt to declare a “real” civil war, one where Trump’s 70 million-plus base literally take up arms against the rest of the country including the government, military and law enforcement infrastructure.
The implication that the threatened war would never take hold, that the armed forces and the entire infrastructure of the country is not ready to commit treason in order to save a crying baby who lost an election, is an unspoken phrase underscoring the prediction of what will actually take place:
That date “will commence a political civil war inside the GOP,” he continued.
He also admits that the Trump led “autocratic” leaning Republicans outnumber the p”pro-democracy” wing of the party and, therefore, the party as a whole will collapse.
“The autocratic side will roll over the pro-democracy remnant of the GOP like the Wehrmacht did the Belgian Army in 1940. The ’22 GOP primary season will be a blood letting. The 6th will be a loyalty test. The purge will follow.”
The implication of his words are that the party will be split with the Trump faction to remain, weaker yet held together by zealous insanity, while any sane former Republicans will be “purged” and will have to go it alone:
“Fascism has indeed come to America and as was once predicted it is wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. This movement must be defeated. It cannot be appeased, accommodated or negotiated with. It must be recognized for what it is and we must all recognize the new age of American politics it has wrought,” he wrote.
The future will eventually reflect current reality; ethnic diversity can not be wished away by racism
What is missing from the post is an answer to the question of what this new fascist Republican party will do with a small minority and a leader who will likely be in exile or jail. Perhaps “Trump the Martyr” will cast a long powerful shadow over American politics for years. More likely he will be immortalized in the dustbin of history.
His most rabid and crazed followers may commit illegal acts, for which they will pay with incarceration or fate, but more than a few impotent and isolated incidents are highly unlikely. Like Trump himself, it will be the incompetence and stupidity, along with the corruption and evil, that will be remembered from his rise, and derided and, rightly, mocked in his fall.