“On the de-Trumpification of America: It definitely won't be easy, but it must be done
Defeating Donald Trump might be the easy part. Uprooting the toxic movement he represents could take decades”
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The fall of the Soviet Union is remembered by many as the end of a bad idea — the idea that a one-party state can violently suppress its citizens in the name of the collective good. The "Fall of America" moment [caused by the pandemic] is of a different nature. It can be understood, not as the end of a bad idea, but rather as the pyrrhic victory of a whole set of bad ideas long present in U.S. culture which have grown to define the country in the last few decades.
The ideas Hughes cited were that "inequality is good," that "religious freedom [so-called] trumps public good," that "in the Civil War, the wrong side won," the myth of "American exceptionalism," i.e., "the idea that the U.S. is a unique, morally-superior civilization destined to guide the world" and "the myth of redemptive violence," meaning "the belief that good can triumph over evil only by means of conflict." These can all be seen as different forms of narcissistic fantasy and, more specifically, collective narcissistic fantasy. The more we cling to such fantasies, the more our shadow grows.One of those bad ideas ties directly to one of Feffer's three examples, that of "Reconstruction after the American Civil War," and the failure of that process created the historical foundation on which Trumpism is built.
The lesson Feffer draws is a tough one: "Today's Republicans, the equivalent of the northern Democrats of the post-Civil War era and a true confederacy of dunces, cannot be allowed to persist in their current incarnation as a vehicle for Trumpism." To avoid that, "the next administration would have to drain the swamp Trump created, bring criminal charges against the former president and his key followers, and launch a serious campaign to change the hearts and minds of Americans who have been drawn to this president's agenda."
To accomplish that, he concludes, "it's imperative to separate the legitimate grievances of Trump supporters from the illegitimate ones," and both must be addressed in different ways.
This is the strongest aspect of Feffer's argument — which is not to say it will be easy to pull off. Bringing charges against Trump may well be justified on multiple grounds, but doing so itself threatens democratic norms: The winners don't throw the losers in jail, not in fully-functioning healthy democracies. But "no one is above the law" is also a central norm — a norm previously violated when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and that came back to bite us in a big way with the rise of Trump. Clearly, this needs to be carefully thought through, and a professional, non-political investigation into Trump's actual or potential crimes will be required.
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https://www.salon.com/2020/08/01/on...-definitely-wont-be-easy-but-it-must-be-done/