What the Hell is Happening in the United States?
A primer on our politics.
Last week I wrote about French politics using the Muppet Show as an analogy. I got a lot of support for the post plus one big request: now do the US. I was in the middle of writing about the rise of extremism and violence in the US when the news broke that someone had tried to assassinate Donald Trump.
I write because it helps me sort things out in my own brain. I am being snarky and flippant in this post, but I am also struggling with the same question as you: what the f**k is going on?
American Politics: why are we so extreme?
Imagine yourself in France, sitting at a cafe drinking rosé, and a Frenchman at the next table says, “You are American? Perhaps you can explain to me what is going on in your country?”
The Muppet Show was very popular in France, but you realize that the current state of America could not possibly be conveyed by something as sophisticated as the Muppet Show. You’ll need to add some characters from the place where American politics belong: Sesame Street.
You down your wine and begin: Once upon a time there was a human personification of garbage. Due to a lifetime of living inside a dark trash can and being mocked by his nicer-smelling friends, this guy was a bitter, loathsome person.
Oscar/Bannon, like a lot of refuse, was an investment banker. After that he had dreams of being a Hollywood bigwig, but Hollywood is biased against creatures with food in their beards. He ended up as the executive chairman of Breitbart News, which is a news site of conspiracy theories written by blackened banana peels.
It’s important here to note that news sites like this only became possible after the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcast license holders to present controversial public issues fairly, reflecting differing viewpoints. Under Ronald Reagan, the FCC abolished the doctrine in 1987, which led to the colossal rise of biased and opinion based journalism like Breitbart and FOX News. Any Tom, Harry, or Alex Jones Dick could talk into a microphone and call it news.
These entertainment news outlets quickly learned that stoking fear led to the highest ratings. After two decades of this fear mongering, a new conservative movement formed and called itself The Tea Party. They claimed to be about less government regulation and lower taxes but mostly they bonded over their loathing for black people Barack Obama and his attempts to give all citizens healthcare. The Tea Party promoted the theory that Obama was Muslim and that he was not born in America and therefore should be impeached.
While the Tea Party was not an actual political party, the Tea Party Caucus voted like a right-wing third party in Congress. A major funding force behind the movement was the billionaire evil masterminds political activists, the Koch brothers.
The Koch brothers had a severe allergy to poor people and paying taxes and wanted a Republican majority at any cost. With their support, the Tea Party grew so big and loud that Republican lawmakers started to kowtow to them.
As Obama’s term was coming to an end, and America was figuring out who it would elect next, Bannon the Grouch got a burr under his saddle about a woman who dared to think she was allowed to run for president.
The Grouch would do anything to stop her. He realized the best way to thwart her was to find a candidate who was an empty vessel that he could fill with his personal trash. The candidate needed to believe he was the one in charge, so Bannon chose an orange egomaniac with a desperate desire for attention.
Oscar Bannon was impressed with the orange puppet’s commitment to the Birther Movement against Barak Obama, which confirmed the puppet had no time for useless things like facts. Bannon used the orange puppet to spew vitriol against Miss Piggy Clinton, not truly thinking the puppet could win. But Bannon overestimated the American public, who made the fish-tosser president.
President Tosser’s favorite phrase was/is “fake news,” and he created an even bigger chasm between where Americans get their information, with the left still primarily getting its news from main stream sources and the right depending on Breitbart and FOX. Both sides created echo chambers for their beliefs online.
While President Tosser was destroying the environment and setting back women’s rights fifty years running the government, a new right-wing group crawled out of the swamp.
The Tea Party had seemed extreme and insane to the Democrats, and then QAnon arrived and said, “Hold my beer.” QAnon was begun in 2017 online by an anonymous writer who claimed to have access to high level US intelligence.
QAnon believes in the “Deep State,” a gang of Democrats, actors, and other sinners who not only are trying to turn America gay, trans, black, brown, Jewish liberal, but that the world is controlled by the Deep State’s cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.
According to the New York Times, “QAnon’s ideas are far more extreme than the Tea Party’s ever were. Tea Party supporters objected to Wall Street bailouts and the growing federal deficit; QAnon adherents believe that Hillary Clinton and George Soros are drinking the blood of innocent children.”
QAnon also believe:
that Wayfair is smuggling kidnapped children inside its furniture
that JFK Jr., who died in 1999, will reappear and join Trump as his vice president.
that there is an elite cabal of satanic cannibal Democrats operating a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of Comet Ping Pong Pizza in DC. (Elon Musk has promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory on X. Thanks Elon!)
That Jews are conspiring to take over the world and that they have space lasers that they use to start forest fires.
that Donald Trump is frequently giving them coded messages when he speaks (perhaps this is the only true one?)
And, most famously, that the 2020 election was stolen by Biden and the Democrats
(I wish these beliefs were part of my analogy but lo, these are true facts, friends.)
QAnon members see the Deep State everywhere.
“Among the hundreds of pro-Trump rioters who were arrested after battling police and storming the Capitol building were members of neofascist white nationalist organizations such as the Proud Boys and more than 60 self-identified QAnon adherents.”
History shows us that fundamentalism grows during times of technical innovation. While one part of society is excited to move forward, the other part clings to the past for comfort. For instance, in the 19th century, after science proved that the earth was far older than previously thought and Darwin released his theory of evolution, angry Protestants formed the Christian Fundamentalist movement and announced the Bible was literally true from start to finish. They also believe the government should be run based on Christian religious principles and have the erroneous belief that America was founded as a Christian nation.
The idea that the other side is “evil” or “immoral” is incredibly dangerous and allows us to dehumanize each other. It does not allow for any conversation or tolerance. it makes one side wish for the total annihilation of the other with the perceived stakes being the very existence of America.
I cannot foresee this schism being healed within my lifetime.
So . . . at this point in your conversation with the French man he has already drunk two bottles of wine. He did not expect you to answer him with more than a shrug and a frown. “So what will you do about it?” he slurs.
“Move to France,” I say.
Jusqu’a la prochaine fois,
Carolyn & Roberto
Carolyn, parfait e magnifique!
Make room for the Hop-Tells in that apartment!