CPAC 2021 is Trump’s First Nuremberg Rally
Trumpism just held its first ideological conference: we ought to be scared of its pro-Civil-War message and nazi symbolism.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Maya Angelou’s wisdom has always evaded political commentators. For years before his elections, experts and journalists dismissed Trump as a joke. They didn’t take his words seriously; neither did they take the man. He was nothing but a buffoon that Washington and its power-brokers would tame should he ever be elected. Trump always showed who he was, and everybody ignored it.
It culminated in the insurrection of January 6, 2021. This day and the infamy it brought on the history of the United States was quintessentially Trumpian. Trump lied, inflamed his supporters’ spirits, riled up the very worst in them, and sent them marching on democracy, trampling laws, norms, and decency, killing five in the process. All the while, Trump was reportedly delighted to watch the insurrection unfold until he realised how low-class his mobsters really were. It doesn’t get more Trumpian than this.
The storming of the Capitol was what one might call a tipping point: those who had turned a blind eye for four eyes were eventually forced to take a stand. Would they support democracy and the rule of law, or would they go for autocracy and tyranny?
The GOP has chosen. Its members decided not to impeach and not to convict. When only 11% of Republican voters blame Trump for January 6, what did we truly expect?
Republicans will not back down with their Big Lie. It failed to produce tangible results in the courts, and it failed to overturn a democratically-elected government. It succeeded in instilling in all GOP voters the idea that the Democrats had stabbed them in the back. The nazis blamed the communists and the Jews; the GOP blames the Democrats, Antifa, BLM, and the radical left. Both parties are following the same steps.
After his failed beer-hall putsch, Hitler was dealt a slap-on-the-wrist nine-month prison sentence, during which he dictated Mein Kampf. When he got out, even the New York Times thought he had been “tamed.” We all know the rest of the story. January 6 was…
