With Trump’s indictment over illegally keeping classified documents in Mar-a-Lago, much of the dynamic shifts to whether the MAGA right will be able to mount a meaningful protest on short notice. As usual with the right wing, there’s a lot of big talk. Rep. Andy Biggs (Insurrectionist R-AZ) reacted with talk of “war” and saying it was time for “an eye for an eye.” Assuming the war metaphor, Rep. Clay Higgins (Insurrectionist R-LA) called Trump’s indictment a “perimeter probe from the oppressors” which must have surprised Trump who doesn’t view himself as the “perimeter” of anything.
In that light, “Pat’s” reference to the violence of anti-indictment activism making Jan. 6 “look like a playground” is consistent with the rest of the bombastic rhetoric from the MAGA/fascist right.
But a moment of sobriety also accompanied Pat’s bravado. At about the 46 second mark, Pat acknowledged that “It is what it is. This country’s so left right now but we got to bring it back to the right. We got to get right on the right path. We got to bring everything back. If we don’t, we’re gonna crumble.” Pat’s not speaking of MAGA as “THE PEOPLE,” as white conservatives being “the silent majority,” or the right-wing as “real Americans.” Pat’s speaking of an imperative to “bring it back to the right” rather than a certainty and acknowledging that the country is “so left.” I’m not sure what Pat means by “left” but it’s pretty clear that a super-majority of Americans favor the rights of trans kids to pursue their gender identity, the treatment of LGBT folks as normal Americans in school materials, and the teaching of real black American history. That’s in addition to the basic social liberalism of support for abortion rights for women, gay marriage, interracial marriage, and gender equality. Somewhat apart from social liberalism, people like Pat associate the “left” with the establishment of LGBT culture, black culture, and the vast web of immigrant, ethnic, and Native cultures as having an independent status within a multicultural American rather than being blended into the traditional “melting pot.” The DeSantis administration has conducted a non-stop cultural war against mainstream social liberalism and multiculturalism over the last three years in Florida. But Pat implicitly acknowledges that the right is still out of the cultural and political mainstream and may be tumbling even further into the margins.
The imperative of getting the country “back to the right” has a desperation that shouldn’t be discounted. But the MAGA/fascist right knows it’s at a disadvantage as long as the U.S. is a multicultural democracy.
Early Blackface, Cultural Change, Latest Politics 