2022: In a Mirror, Darkly

It is hard to say who has written the most hysterical hot take today.

There are so many good ones to choose from. The mood among establishment liberals is urgent and grim. We are on the brink of the total collapse of “our democracy” in the midterm elections.

Here is Jonathan Chait on “Conservatism and Fascism Are Not The Same Thing”:

New York Magazine:

“The Republican evolution into an authoritarian party is the most important development of the current political era. The conservative movement has a long tradition of anti-democratic thought, which Donald Trump catalyzed and which has accelerated since he departed office into his movement’s defining ethos.

Hardly a day goes by without some horrifying new expression of the right’s contempt for democracy. Here is Republican senator Rand Paul defining a “stolen” election as “targeting and convincing potential voters to complete [ballots] in a legally valid way.” Here is conservative talk-show host Jesse Kelly warning, “When I take power, communists” — Kelly’s term for liberals — “will not be allowed to hold jobs. Their children won’t be allowed in schools.” Here is an essay in a conservative journal urging the right to openly celebrate January 6 “as our Storming of the Bastille … One side is prepared to do everything necessary to secure their political power, so the other side must be prepared to resist every step of the way with equal determination.”

Ideas like this are not representative of the Republican Party — at least not yet. What they represent is a fringe that is creeping closer and closer to control over the GOP and meeting less and less resistance. …”

Here is Zach Beauchamp on “How Does This End”?

Vox:

“Her forthcoming book, How Civil Wars Start, summarizes the voluminous research on the question and applies it to the contemporary United States. Its conclusions are alarming.

“The warning signs of instability that we have identified in other places are the same signs that, over the past decade, I’ve begun to see on our own soil,” Walter writes. “I’ve seen how civil wars start, and I know the signs that people miss. And I can see those signs emerging here at a surprisingly fast rate.”

Walter uses the term “civil war” broadly, encompassing everything from the American Civil War to lower-intensity insurgencies like the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Something like the latter, in her view, is more likely in the United States: One of the book’s chapters envisions a scenario in which a wave of bombings in state capitols, perpetrated by white nationalists, escalates to tit-for-tat violence committed by armed factions on both the right and the left. …”

Here is Paul Waldman on “Will American democracy survive the next few years?”

Washington Post:

“Far worse is the fact that as we look toward the next year, American democracy is more threatened than at any point in our lifetimes.

The war now being waged on democracy takes many forms, involves many distinct kinds of people and is occurring at all levels of our political system. It has no single architect, not even Trump. It is the most important political story of 2022 and the years that will follow. The absolute best outcome we can hope for is that the nightmare scenario — the literal dissolution of the American system of government — will not come to pass, and that the damage will be real but tolerable.

This is what passes for optimism on this subject: Because 2022 is the first midterm of a presidential term and so the opposition party is likely to win a major victory anyway, the outcome may not be greeted with an explosion of violence.

On the other hand, that victory will enable “respectable” portions of the GOP to proceed in their effort to make fair elections a memory, as they take control of more and more of the apparatus of voting to ensure that Republicans can never lose. …”

Here is Greg Sargent on “The GOP grip on states is becoming a horror show. Some Democrats see a way out.”

Washington Post:

“As the political world stumbles into 2022, the GOP’s grip on state governments appears as formidable as ever. Republicans will fully control the governorship and legislature in nearly half of states, while Democrats will have less than one-third. Republicans control either legislatures or governorships in Democratic-leaning swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia.

You often hear Democrats lament this ongoing GOP capture. Here’s what you hear less often: This is happening even as a combination of factors is dramatically raising the stakes around who controls those governments on numerous fronts that carry far-reaching implications, including for the survival of U.S. democracy itself. …

At first glance, the report’s conclusion seems grim. When it comes to macro national political trends, it says, “The outlook for Democrats is precarious.”

The study ran dozens of potential scenarios over the next decade, adjusting various factors, such as the national mood and support for Democrats among college-educated and non-college-educated voters. It concludes: “We anticipate a defensive map over the next decade.” …”

Oh man.

This is it, fellas.

This is the year we destroy democracy.

What are they so afraid of that threatens “democracy” itself? Are you going to vote them out of power in the midterms? If they are losing to “Let’s Go Brandon,” might the problem be on their end?

About Hunter Wallace 12379 Articles
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Occidental Dissent

6 Comments

  1. The Democrats versus Republicans is over for the average working man or woman. The only people who care about that, are people getting a check every month from the government.

  2. >What are they so afraid of that threatens “democracy” itself?

    They never say — this kind of alarmist, emotion-laden, unfounded rhetoric is clearly effeminate (albeit many of the authors are male) — you can see where the term NPC comes from, since there seems to be a sizable population of people whose imprinted brains are receptive to it — I saw an apt meme the other day: it shows an NPC shouting ‘Fuck Trump’ at a chad character 2017 – 2020, then in 2021 the chad says ‘Let’s go Brandon’, and the NPC replies ‘This is dangerous to our democracy!’ (link) — one thing you can say about these people: they appear to be very morally self-assured.

    But it’s nothing new — years ago I decided to email the BBC whenever I saw one of their news stories refer to the Front national (Le Pen) as ‘far right’, which of course is a scare term used to demonize a political party (in general the entire article had the same tone) — I simply asked about their definition of ‘far right’, and specifically what about the Front national made it a ‘far right’ party — I also reminded them that I’d never seen them refer to any party as ‘far left’, and asked them to let me know if they had — but I never got an answer (the BBC did answer an email I sent earlier about something else, so I know they read email).

  3. We are entering the stages of communism and the only ideology that can defeat communism is fascism and NS. Conservatism is the enemy of everything pure and good. They support the same thing as liberals, degeneracy, porn, etc.

  4. Descend into “fascism” and “authoritarianism?” Ah, perchance to dream…Of course, given that the left now uses such terms to describe the family and traditional norms of morality and governance, we should be on our knees grateful if for once the left got something right.

  5. The journalist class is turning the concept of a “second” civil war into a played-out flavor of the week fad, like they do with everything else. Mauling it like rabid dogs. The normie yawns and changes the channel.

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