We progressives and liberals cling to the notion that what our founders created, and generations have perfected and died for, represented some immutable force which, if knocked down, has built-in tools needed to rise anew. Clearly, that's not so. Clearly, we as a nation have embarked on a new path, one far more familiar to folks living in Russia, China or other anti-democratic regimes.
And it's not just happening here, but around the globe. Right-wing forces have clearly decided that it's their turn, and they are finding large enough chunks of their populations who seem to agree.
It only took three years of this administration's repeating the "fake news" meme for it to stick to every kind of news, fake or true. Millions now judge what's true or fake by what they already believe. I'm an old retired journalist, but I remember the days when news was accepted as just that, news. Editors and fact checkers made certain it was true before it was published. And I remember how hard hitting investigative stories actually resulted in action and change. No more. If readers feel a negative story about a public figure they like they simply push it out of mind by labeling it "fake news," or as the Nazi's called it, "Lugenpresse," or "Lying Press."
This is why that public opinion needle has barely budged after three of the most terrifyingly abnormal years I can remember.
And now we've had impeachment, and I no longer hold a shred of hope that it marks an end to all this. Trump's approval rating has changed little since 2016 and continues to hover around 40%, enough to put the 2020 election right back into the lap of the antiquated Electoral College, which gave us this horror show, to begin with.
And if you need further evidence that a second Trump term is a near possibility, look no further than the landslide victory this week for Boris Johnson and his conservative party in the UK, that left the Labor Party -- flat on their spineless backs.
So, what the hell's going on? Not just here, but in nearly every Western democracy on the planet.
I think I know. I call it, "The White Man's Last Stand."
The surge of immigrants from poor and war-torn countries has scared the living hell out of long prosperous, comfortable, predominately white Western nations. And now, add climate change, which is hitting Africa and South America and parts of Asia hardest, driving yet more refugees to the West for shelter and food.
This is what's really driving the swing to far-right, anti-immigration parties...which, by the way, also all have strong racist and anti-semitic streaks within them. Fascism has always been the go-to ideology at times of racial, societal and fiscal stress. (See America First movement 1940) And it's always been popular, at least until reveals it's true self, after which it's too late to avoid the damage done. Just ask Germany.
And we are right smack in the middle of just such a populist surge, here and abroad. The Brits want to flee their allies in Europe and go it alone, returning to their "fortress island" of lore. Eastern European nations, still finding their democratic feet after being freed from Soviet rule, fear the influx of brown and black immigrants fleeing their dysfunctional home countries. And here, in the nation made entirely of immigrants, we build walls and jail immigrant children, denying them not only freedom but basic healthcare, like flu shots. The Nazis would have approved, then upped the game.
As the impeachment process has rolled along, my email has been peppered by delirious notes from my liberal and progressive friends; "We've got the bastard now!"
No we haven't. No...we haven't.
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