The Conversion of the GOP from Radical Right Tribe to Fascist Cult

GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel:

Asks for unity but will not try to stop GOP fascists

from rising to power

Fascism: a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy

The ongoing RINO hunts for prominent republicans who criticized the ex-president for the Jan. 6 coup attempt is a factor that has cowed many prominent republicans into leaving the party, silence or retirement. The GOP is collapsing into a fascist personality cult before our eyes. The personality is the ex-president. The New York Times writes:

Knute Buehler, who led Oregon’s Republican ticket as the candidate for governor in 2018, watched with growing alarm in recent weeks as Republicans around the nation challenged the reliability of the presidential election results.

Then he watched the Jan. 6 siege at the United States Capitol in horror. And then, to his astonishment, Republican Party officials in his own state embraced the conspiracy theory that the attack was actually a left-wing “false flag” plot to frame Trump supporters.

The night after his party’s leadership passed a formal resolution promoting the false flag theory, Mr. Buehler cracked open a local microbrew and filed to change his registration from Republican to independent. “It was very painful,” he said.

His unhappy exit highlighted one facet of the upheaval now underway in the G.O.P.: It has become a leaderless party, with veterans like Mr. Buehler stepping away, luminaries like Senator Rob Portman of Ohio retiring, far-right extremists like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia building a brand on a web of dangerous conspiracy theories, and pro-Trump Republicans at war with other conservatives who want to look beyond the former president to the future.

With no dominant leader other than the deplatformed one-term president, a radical right movement that became emboldened under President Donald J. Trump has been maneuvering for more power, and ascending in different states and congressional districts. More moderate Republicans feel increasingly under attack, but so far have made little progress in galvanizing voters, donors or new recruits for office to push back against extremism.

Instead, in Arizona, the state Republican Party has brazenly punished dissent, formally censuring three of its own: Gov. Doug Ducey, former Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the widow of former Senator John McCain. The party cited their criticisms of Mr. Trump and their defenses of the state’s election process.

In Wyoming, Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, headlined a rally on Thursday to denounce Representative Liz Cheney for her vote to impeach Mr. Trump. Joining Mr. Gaetz by phone hookup was Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, who has been working to unseat Ms. Cheney and replace her with someone he believes better represents the views of her constituents — in other words, fealty to his father. (emphasis added)

The head of the party, Ronna McDaniel, backed away from the rise of the fascists and says that she is not going to intervene. She only asks for internal unity. The fascist wing of the party has no interest in unity. They are openly gunning to take over and get rid of anyone in power in the GOP who does not pay sufficient fealty to the ex-president.

DT Jr. publicly argued that fealty to his father better represents the views of the people of Wyoming. He is explicitly arguing for a personality cult. The cult values loyalty to the ex-president above loyalty to the Constitution, the rule of law, facts, truth or democracy itself. This really is fascism growing onto a powerful monster right before our eyes, right now in America.

Two prominent fascists from the past:

how close will the GOP come?

Is the poison spreading?

For context, it helps to understand how deadly toxic the ex-president is for democracy.  A few days ago, the military in Myanmar overthrew the democratically elected government. The military detained the president Aung San Suu Kyi. The rationale given for the coup was that the election was flawed and fraudulent. In the last election in 2020, Kyi was re-elected by a vote of 83% in her favor and the election was not fraudulent. Does that sound familiar?

Most everything good that the ex-president touches is poisoned, damaged and/or destroyed. He touched democracy. Or, is it unreasonable to ascribe some culpability to the ex-president for what happened to a democracy on the other side of the planet? Does what happens in American have no influence on the rest of the world?

Myanmar

"Fraudulent election" → coup overthrows democracy