The pathology of the American "Conservative"
It's not just Trump and MAGA, but "conservatism" itself
As the 2024 election approaches, the mental illness that infects “conservatives” is getting worse.
There may have been a time—perhaps in the two weeks just following the seditious insurrection on January 6, 2021—when Republicans could have bottomed out. They might have admitted to themselves that their obsession with and addiction to Trump was killing them. They might have gone into an introspective phase, taken a hard look at themselves, seen how low they had sunk, and turned around.
But they did not. Instead, they scurried back to their addiction. They mainstreamed their Trump drug and descended deeper and deeper into the darkness.
Now they can no longer participate in their own recovery. They are sunk so deep in delusion that they cannot see reality, cannot see how deranged they are, cannot see the deep perversion of their perceptions and behaviors.
As I showed in a post from last September, “conservatism” has never been a legitimate political “philosophy.” On the contrary, it is an ever shifting agglomeration of selfish and mean-spirited attitudes pretending to be a system of “principles.” As I said in that post and in my book Conservative Estimate, “conservatives” have always been sick at heart with the most debilitating human weakness—fear.
The schizophrenic “conservative” personality has always claimed to be principled, virtuous, courageous, and strong while at the same time exhibiting the basest fears—fear of immigrants, fear of change, fear of enlightenment, fear of those who have less fear than they do.
But Trump has triggered a death-spiral, a headlong plunge into fear and the delusions nourished by fear. Republicans now express their terror openly. They are promising to harm anyone who does not share their abysmal, dark delusions. Trump is leading the charge, of course, because it suits his attempts to keep himself out of jail for his crimes. But the real source of the sickness is his voters. Trump is just the symptom. Trumpism is the virus.
How can we stop the spread of the virus? Here are some steps.
The press needs to stop pretending like there is anything normal at all in the Republican party. We now know that not only Trump and his closest lackeys were complicit in the fake elector scam that was planned to steal the 2020 election. We now know the Ronna MacDaniel, the chair of the RNC, was also in on it. If she was part of the plot, there is no way of knowing how far down the chain it went in the Republican party. But the fish stinks from the head down. The press needs to stop the “both-sides-ism” that they think is their duty and shift to telling the truth. And one of those truths is the entire Republican party is now a rogue political force that is threatening to bring down democracy. Every political story should repeat this truth as the framing of the 2024 election.
Liberals need to stop thinking of themselves as one of two legitimate political attitudes. They are the only legitimate political force in America. In fact, they always have been, since “conservatism” has always been just a cover story for selfishness. America was founded, built, and improved constantly by liberals. And they always had to do it over the selfish screaming and kicking of “conservatives,” who always fear the decent expansion of rights and opportunities as threats to their fearful possessiveness. Liberals should stand up as the righteous inheritors of the true American political philosophy. They need to inform everyone, all the time, that they are the defenders of democracy in the face of the rabid, delusional, hysteria of “conservatives,” Republicans, and their despicable symbol Trump.
True defenders of democracy need to put aside their quibbles about not getting everything they want from Biden. They got nothing they wanted during Trump’s four years, and very little—except for health care—during Obama’s presidency. That is what you can expect when Republicans run roughshod over democracy. But to blame Biden for it—especially when he has done more good for decent America than any president since LBJ—is foolish. Whether you are young, old, female or male, black, brown, or white, the collapse of democracy will ruin all your hopes. The collapse of democracy under Trump and his openly violent stooges will not just ruin your hope—it may well end up in your death. We all need to stop this whining about Biden’s age and the things he hasn’t yet gotten done. We need to reject all third-party options, get behind Biden, and utterly trounce Republicans if we are to grow the enlightenment political project rather than see it tumble into the bottomless chasm of “conservative” fearfulness and selfishness.
We have eleven months of work ahead of us. We have right on our side. Now we only need to work or butts off to ward off the illness of “conservatism.” Let’s get out there and do it.
And then we will be able to enjoy our political health for a long time to come.
Of course, you are right, Jonathan, although I did not focus on it in my piece. The only way to prevent the collapse of our entire democracy is to speed up the collapse of the Republican party. If we don't do that, everything falls apart. Thanks so much!
Couldn't agree more, Michael! Those of us who are awake to the danger have wake up our sleeping fellow citizens. Unless we do, they will plunge us into the abyss along with them.