Learning to Love Fascism: The National GOP Officially Embraces Extremism

Yes, the GOP finally went there.  Last week the national Republican Party gave a full-throated endorsement of the 1/6/21 Capitol riot, condemning investigations into the insurgency as the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”  

As the New York Times reported:

• The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “legitimate political discourse,” and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it.

Thus, the normalization of the far right has been formally incorporated into one of the two major American political parties.  This is noteworthy as it suggests that rather than shying away from extremist elements in any way whatsoever, the Republican Party is learning to love fascism.  

If this sounds like an over-reaction, consider the turn of events in Shasta County, California where hard right militia members just successfully recalled Republican officials for failing to reject science-based public health policy during the pandemic.  

According to the Guardian:

• The recall is a win for the ultra-conservative movement in Shasta county, which has fought against moderate Republican officials and sought to gain a foothold in local government in this rural part of northern California.

• It also highlights a phenomenon that extends far beyond the region, as experts warn the pandemic and eroding trust in US institutions has fueled extremism in local politics and hostility against officials that could reshape governments from school boards to county supervisors to Congress.

But it’s not just militia members in a distant outpost of rural America who are looking to disrupt American democracy.  In Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, whose election many pundits said illustrated how the Democrats had lost “moderate” suburban voters, is engaged in a reactionary assault on public school educators, banning the teaching of the mythological bugbear of “critical race theory” and then upping the ante by encouraging parents or students to snitch on their teachers for any variety of thought crime.  

As the Buzzfeed report on this notes: 

• Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced an email tip line that encouraged parents to report if “divisive practices” such as critical race theory were being taught in schools. Critical race theory, an academic term describing the analysis of how racial power structures have been upheld in institutional forms of society such as the legal system, has become a flashpoint for Republicans in the last year.

Of course, “divisive practices” is so broad and vague that this hotline essentially invites parents and students to report teachers for teaching or saying anything that any individual might not like.  

To observe that this is an affront to academic freedom and the kind of open discussion and critical thought that should be part of a healthy democracy is beyond understatement. Indeed, it is reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984 where children are encouraged to report their elders’ unacceptable utterances to the totalitarian state.  

While it is heartening to hear that this hotline has been widely ridiculed and flooded by pranks and protest, it is still a chilling example of how quick the American right has been to resort to policies worthy of the worst authoritarian regimes when given the chance to do so.  

The widespread attack on unacceptable ideas, the legitimizing of violent extremism, and the normalization of anti-democratic politics is a kind of creeping fascism blending itself into the mainstream of American life before our very eyes.  

It can (and is) happening here.