Don't Kid Yourself

The Republican Party of the last four years will be the Republican Party of the next four years, and probably longer. It is more likely to be the party of Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kevin McCarthy and Lauren Boebert than to be the party of Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski or even Liz Cheney. It is Trump's party. The Trump of the last week or the last couple months since the election is the same Trump as always. The GOP can pretend it's something new but they know that's a lie. This is the same guy to  whom they've bent the knee for four years. We know their true colors.

Two-thirds of the House Republicans and a significant number of Senators voted a few days ago to overturn the election. Republican state legislatures are already talking about messing with the Electoral College to further disenfranchise Black voters. You can be certain that all around the country, states will be enacting laws to further suppress the votes of those they regard as less worthy. And there is a Supreme Court ready to give its stamp of approval.

The fact is that the Repubs are fully on board with the racism, xenophobia, mysogeny, and general awfulness espoused by Trump. They prefer that it is done a more acceptable dog-whistle sort of way but they are fine with it. The insurrection at the Capitol is simply an annoyance they are trying to work through, but you can tell by their milquetoast condemnations of the attack (with a few notable exceptions) that they just want to get past it and get on with their agenda.

The Religious Right is still on board and they are still a controlling partisan force. They've sold their souls. I include my former church body in this group: the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church. It's membership has gone full QAnon. The Trinity they worship today is God, Guns, and Trump. They even wear t-shirts bragging about it.

Many have characterized the events of January 6 as a deflection point. I think it was Ta-Nehisi Coates who said it in a different context: I am hopeful but not optimistic. There have been a lot of platitudes the past few days with sentiments like, "This is not who we are." I guess we need to hear that at times like these, but I'm afraid it's likely that this is exactly who we are.

I hope everything I have written in these paragraphs turns out to be wrong.