OPINION: Four hard truths about MAGA Republican extremists

This article was originally posted on Edwin’s Substack newsletter on March 29.

The MAGA Republican extremists in Congress are still threatening to destroy the American economy and our global financial leadership by refusing to act on the debt ceiling. In the states, MAGA governors and legislators have accelerated their path to autocracy — in Florida they are tossing out sunshine laws so the people cannot know what the government is doing or where their governor might be campaigning. In Mississippi, they are saying to local municipalities, “You no longer matter; we will rule you by fiat from the capitol.” Meanwhile, MAGA judges — and that is what they are, tools of the movement embedded into our judiciary — are engaged in tyrannical law making — declaring that Congress cannot control campaign finances, that Congress cannot fully protect voting rights, that the executive branch hasn’t the power to regulate.

Instead of talking about these threats or the newly released IPCC report on climate change or covering the many and exciting efforts all over the country to improve our lives, the national media continues to play Linus to Donald Trump’s Lucy, haplessly running up to a football that is always going to be pulled away. They wasted another week in breathless anticipation of an indictment that did not come, giving Donald Trump wall to wall coverage, once again making him the only story that mattered.

It is beyond disappointing, and so boring, but if they haven’t learned by now, I hold no hope they will.

And since we are in this world, then it is important from time to time to review. So, class, let’s review.

1. Every accusation a MAGA politician makes is an admission.

They always accuse others of what they are actively doing themselves. They lie and say Democrats are trying to steal the election. In fact, only MAGA Republicans filed false slates of electors, passed laws to limit voting rights, closed the doors to judicial oversight of gerrymandering and actively intimidated election workers. When they accuse others of cancel culture, they lie. Yes, people on the left have standards and are not interested in giving platforms to hate. But only MAGA Republicans passed laws to censor books, forced changes to college curricula and made it a crime to teach history.  When they point fingers at cities like Chicago and blame Democrats for violence, they lie. St. Louis, Mobile, and Birmingham, Alabama are the three most dangerous cities in America.  New York is actually the fifth-safest large city in America. All cities are seeing increases in mass shootings and only the GOP is responsible for the ubiquitous access to weapons of war.

2. The MAGA GOP sees itself as history’s greatest victims.

The holocaust followed two millennia of antisemitism.  No wonder so many MAGA true believers deny it ever happened. Four centuries of American slaveholding followed by a century of Jim Crow is a real thing. Just as naturally, the MAGA folks now object to teaching that history in our schools. They have not been victims, but they have been dupes, blinded by the diet of lies.

The facts and the truth are available, but I do not expect them to look for it just yet. Because:

3. MAGA Republicans excel at using outrage to change the subject.

This is the entire basis of Tucker Carlson’s success, and he’s not alone. This week, a charter school in Florida fired its principal after an outraged parent complained that sixth grade students were being exposed to pornography. They weren’t. The obscenity in question was Michelangelo’s sculpture, David.  Courtesy of its political leaders and its media arm at FOX cable, the GOP habit of mind is one that finds outrage everywhere. The rest of us live in a real world that is far more beautiful than they can see.

4. Cruelty is a feature, not a flaw in the MAGA worldview.

In the MAGA world, government exists to enforce a worldview. It is government overreach, and it is cruel.  Right now, their victims include trans teens, or a woman seeking private counsel on reproductive choice, asylum seekers who still sees America as the greatest nation on earth, and curious minds looking for a book. But you know how this goes. Once they start coming for people, where does it stop?

Please remember these four things.

I could not be more bored by their continued mindless nonsense. But we cannot risk ignoring it. Quite the opposite: Until they are no longer in positions of power where they can erode our democracy, we must pay attention.

Edwin Eisendrath hosts “The Big Picture” on WCPT 820AM every Saturday at 1 p.m. CST. You can follow him on Twitter @eisendrath.