FANS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY had good cause to celebrate in November, when many election deniers and extremists were sent packing, and predictions of violence and chaos at the polls did not come to pass. Democrats were the beneficiaries, holding the Senate and making significant gains in governorships and state legislatures.
But a political force propelled by racism, conspiracy theories, and lies, led by a man who tried to overturn a national election, who incited violence to block the peaceful transfer of power, won control of the House of Representatives. In an election in which farright kooks generally fared poorly and no red wave emerged, the Republican Party, aided by racial gerrymandering and fueled by antidemocratic election denialism and extremism, still amassed a slim majority of seats in the lower chamber. And despite election results that showed voters rejecting far-right conspiracists, the new GOP caucus in the House will be more extreme-and a greater threat to democracy-than ever.
The Republicans' victory in the House is a troubling sign that millions of Americans still reside in a post-truth environment, in which fake plots are real, real news is fake, and Big Lie proponents and reality deniers are afforded power. In this slice of America, there are few-or no-consequences for waging war on democracy. House Republicans, in cahoots with their Dear Leader, tried to subvert the constitutional order with skulduggery and fueled the mob on January 6, 2021. They not only escaped punishment; they have been rewarded with control of the chamber that holds the power of the purse and the purview to launch impeachments. This is the opposite of accountability.
Bu hikaye Mother Jones dergisinin January/February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Mother Jones dergisinin January/February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
In the Name of the Mother - How Shyamala Gopalan Harris raised a presidential contender
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A few months ago, a man crawling along a rooftop in Pennsylvania tried to murder Donald Trump at a campaign rally. Hours later, press releases started to circulate, from analysts, think tanks, politicians, and pundits, all offering to cut through the swell of confusion and misinformation.
Food + Health / Global Warning - Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making
When President Joe Biden took office, Democrats held a slim majority in the House of Representatives and a single-vote edge in the Senate. Despite the monumental odds, he has presided over the most productive presidential term for climate action in American history. Under Biden’s direction, the federal government took up the arduous task of incorporating climate considerations into scores of administrative operations and procedures. The epa cracked down on superpollutants and issued stricter emissions regulations for passenger vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate spending bill Congress has ever passed, brings the nation closer to its goal of slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030.
Trumpnesia - To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.
One of the most oft-quoted sentences ever penned by a philosopher is George Santayana’s observation that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In 2024, this aphorism is practically a campaign slogan. Donald Trump, seeking to become the first former president since Grover Cleveland to return to the White House after being voted out of the job, has waged war on remembrance. In fact, he’s depending on tens of millions of voters forgetting the recent past. This election is an experiment in how powerful a memory hole can be.
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Imagine obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage.
THE ARCHITECT
TRUMP WANTS TO BE KING. RUSS VOUGHT HAS A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
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As an evangelical leader, I enticed lawmakers and federal judges to adopt a conservative Christian agenda. Donald Trump’s rise proved how wrong I was.
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