We're Living Through a Right-Wing Counterrevolution. Here's Where Jan. 6 Fits In
We are living through a right-wing counterrevolution, and Jan. 6 was a milestone on America’s path away from democracy.
A century ago, Benito Mussolini called Fascism a "revolution of reaction," and strongman figures like Il Duce and Donald Trump hold appeal when nations undergo profound social progress that is experienced as a crisis of White Christian male authority.
In the case of America, eight years of governance by the first African-American president, Barack Obama, who legalized same-sex marriage and pushed through gender equity in the military, readied the country for an anti-Obama: a White supremacist and misogynist brute who boasted about shooting someone in January 2016 and was rewarded for his lawlessness with the Republican presidential nomination.
As I forecast on Feb. 1, 2017, Trump's ambition was not governance --he had zero interest in public welfare-- but autocratic capture. A coup mentality and logic were inherent in Steve Bannon's goal of using high office to strike at the state, creating chaos and fear that would enable the consolidation of executive power.
Over the next four years, Trump's own "revolution of reaction" took shape. Through threat and corruption, he converted the GOP into his personal tool, while relentless propagandizing, including over 100 tweets per day, created an alternate reality that suited his needs. The Big Lie, getting tens of millions of people to believe that he actually won the 2020 election, was made possible by the 30,000 lies and misleading claims that preceded it.
By pushing out critics and the noncompliant, and hiring zealots and sycophants, the Trump administration transformed federal agencies into staging grounds for a war against a growing catalogue of enemies of the people: climate activists, protesters, immigrants, Muslims, people of color, liberal intellectuals, journalists, and many more.
Attorney General William Barr came into his own under Trump as a counterrevolutionary operative. In 2019, he described Trump’s government to a police organization as a “unrelenting, never-ending fight against criminal predators in our society.” In 2020, as coronavirus ravaged America, Barr used the excuse of a state of emergency to ask Congress to grant the Department of Justice the ability to request that judges detain people indefinitely without trial.
Trump's refusal to accept the results of the November 2020 election intensified this war on democratic institutions and set the stage for exceptional actions. To ready the final assault on democracy, Trump ordered purges of those who supported the rule of law, and used pardons to free up criminals to serve him. First-hour enablers of his right-wing counterrevolution (Roger Stone, Bannon, Gen. Michael Flynn) all returned to prominence in this period. They promoted the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the armed attack and served as co-conspirators of the coup.
Tellingly, the PowerPoint former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows turned over to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, which contained "options" for engineering a Trump "victory," took a cue from the right-wing authoritarian playbook. The idea of declaring a state of emergency to stop "foreign intervention" in an election by Communists (in this case, China) has a long history - one that has led to right-wing autocracy.
Whatever we call Jan. 6 --an insurrection, a coup attempt, or a riot-- it was a counterrevolutionary action. Its goal was not just to maintain Trump in office, but also to keep the forces of social and racial progress, like Vice President Kamala Harris, out of power. They didn’t succeed in Jan. 2021, and it is up to us in 2022 and beyond to show the reactionary forces now mobilized in our country that they cannot stop the movement of history toward freedom for all.
Ruth, I hope this essay of yours makes it out to other outlets like CNN, MSNBC, the Atlantic or the Guardian etc.
The denial of the gravity of the danger to democracy has been a hallmark of journalists and Democratic leaders. This ostrich scenario has been as effective as failing to squarely acknowledge the cataclysmic danger of climate change. It's always the same story...the conditions for authoritarian rise requires a weak opposition party and a compliant media ecosystem. The editorial boards of every non-partisan media outlet must sound the alarms 24/7. The demise of US democracy NOT inflation is the story. Democratic leadership from Biden to local city council leaders should be clearly warning the country of the realities of authoritarian rule. Someone needs to step forward to lead a counter-fascism movement, consisting of Democrats, Independents, never-Trump Republicans, and pro-democracy infrequent voters. It's the only way to stop what's quickly becoming inevitable. Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi wasted a year. None have the skills, charisma, or imagination to lead such a coalition, but someone must do so, or this country will spiral into anarchy and chaos.