This piece is spot on: Instead of pretending that individual politicians are the problem, we need to acknowledge what @ThePlumLineGS calls the “larger truth”: That the Republican Party itself has become an anti-democratic force and an acute threat to American democracy. 1/
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1405540987313688579
As @ThePlumLineGS rightfully notes, not every Republican has gone as far as Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia in their open disdain for democracy, the rule of law, and those who protected it on January 6. 2/
But let’s remember that calling the insurrection a "normal tourist visit," as Clyde famously did, or acting the way he did towards a man who risked his own life to defend American democracy, does not get you in trouble within the Republican Party. 3/
As a matter of fact, the GOP is happy to accommodate people like Clyde, or the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election even after the insurrection, or extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene – or, of course, the insurrectionist-in-chief Donald Trump. 4/
Why is that? Because most GOP elected officials – and at least about half of Republican voters – share the underlying ideology that animates people like Clyde, and actively support the political project of installing conservative minority rule. 5/
The underlying ideology states that only Republicans represent the will of "real" (read: white Christian patriarchal) America, while Democrats are pursuing an "Un-American" political project fueled by a coalition of people who don’t deserve their place in the body politic. 6/
In this worldview, Democrats are not just political opponents, but a radical, Socialist, Un-American political force, trying to turn what is supposed to be a white Christian nation into a land of multiracial pluralism. 7/
Therefore, according to this widely shared Republican ideology, Democratic governance is fundamentally illegitimate – and it must be prevented and obstructed by whatever means necessary. 8/
That is the tale Republican officials and conservative intellectuals have been telling, and it’s been the core message of the rightwing media machine. That’s why the base is primed to believe Trump’s #BigLie and ready to abolish democracy in order to prevent Democratic rule. 9/
Here’s a (much) longer version of this argument, with plenty of receipts: 10/
https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1397183068734099462?s=20
This is the "larger truth" that @ThePlumLineGS mentions. The specifics of this or that radical claim – voter fraud? Fake Chinese ballots? The Insurrection never happened; or it did, but Antifa is to blame? – almost don’t matter, as long as they adhere to this larger truth. 11/
The inherent contradictions between the many far-right conspiracies are irrelevant. As long as it denounces Democrats as the enemy of the true "will of the people," it’s not a lie; as long as it’s based on the idea that only Republican rule is legitimate, it’s the "truth." 12/
What makes the current moment so acutely dangerous is that reactionaries who define "real America" as a nation dominated by white Christians feel their backs against the wall and are convinced that all measures are justified to defeat an illegitimate opponent. 13/
Upholding democracy is not important: If democracy interferes with white Christian dominance, it has to go. 14/
The insurrectionists? Many Republicans are certainly somewhat uncomfortable with what happened on January 6. But in the grand scheme of things, the people who stormed the Capitol had a point, as many conservatives like to argue, and were generally on the right side. 15/
Insurrection or not, in this worldview, someone definitely has to stand up against this Godless, Un-American liberal menace. Because conservatives feel like their side has been losing for too long, and defeat is not an option in a fight of good vs evil. 16/
If you are operating from this "basic place," as @ThePlumLineGS puts it, then it makes sense to denounce officer Fanone. The fact that he is a cop remains relevant only as long as he is acting to uphold the “right” kind of law and order: traditional conservative rule. 17/
If you believe, however, as many Republicans do, that on January 6 Congress voted to install an illegitimate president, after a fraudulent election, then what officer Fanone was doing that day was enabling a dangerous, Un-American faction to rule. 18/
Worse yet, Fanone has been actively speaking out against the insurrectionists and their enablers in Congress, against Donald Trump and the Republicans who still support him. He’s become the enemy, or, at the very least: a problem for the conservative political project. 19/
As individuals, the Andrew Clydes of this world won’t bring democracy down. But the party that elevates them might. The fate of American democracy depends on whether or not we acknowledge this larger truth: that the GOP is a threat to democracy and the rule of law. /end
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