REPUBLICANS’ LIST OF ENEMIES KEEPS GROWING
The disgraced former president maintained an enormous list of people and institutions he insulted while in office. The Republican Party’s list of enemies seems to have expanded well beyond even that.
Republicans these days don’t like the National Football League, the National Basketball Association or Major League Baseball. They do not like corporations such as Coca-Cola and Delta that, however belatedly, support voting rights (though they are fine taking their money). They don’t like historians, climate scientists or statisticians. They do not like Anthony Fauci and other public health officials.
They do not like atheists or churches that practice the social gospel and advocate for civil rights. They do not like critics of the Confederacy. They do not like police reformers.
They don’t like judges — even ones they appointed. They do not like book publishers, social media platforms, the mainstream media or Hollywood. They also think universities and tech companies are bad.
They do not like many local voting officials or people who take part in large-turnout elections. They do not like former vice president Mike Pence, former attorney general William Barr or many other officials who served in the last administration (from FBI Director Christopher Wray to former defense secretary Jim Mattis to former cybersecurity chief Christopher Krebs).
They really do not like immigrants — even when they are legal. They do not like international organizations (e.g. NATO, the World Health Organization and the International Monetary Fund).
They do not like a long list of Republicans in the House and Senate. Even the GOP heroes of the past often make the enemies list: President Ronald Reagan (for his immigration policies), President George W. Bush (for his spending) and Sen. John McCain (for his decency).
They do not like spending money for such things as foreign aid, food assistance, state and local government, caregivers, electric vehicles or really any infrastructure project you cannot drive your car on. They do not like deficits (when Democrats are in the White House) or tax hikes on corporations and the rich.
You get my point. Not only have Republicans jettisoned policy and governance for cultural memes, but they seem to have decided that what binds them together is a list — a really, really long list — of common enemies. It is hardly surprising that a party dedicated to reverting to a time when white men dominated every aspect of society resents or even detests much of the modern world. It’s hard to miss what they mean when they declare they do not “recognize” America any longer.
Just about anything and anyone that reminds Republicans that much of society no longer shares their worldview and that they cannot rely on systematic advantages of race and gender to maintain power becomes their enemy. In turn, they cast themselves as the victims of all these “radical” people, forces, ideas and institutions. Hence, they retreat to a parallel media and political universe free from facts.
While frightful and depressing, this phenomenon of a permanently alienated, furious and irrational segment of Americans should inspire the rest of us to remain engaged in the real world and to fulfill the obligations of responsible citizenship. Who else is going to stand up for democracy and reality?