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For sake of argument let& #39;s assume no more surprises & Trump leaves Jan 20. He& #39;ll be weaker, & much of political press that still thinks in terms of "who& #39;s up, who& #39;s down" will more or less conflate that w/ gone. But he won& #39;t be.
Worth noting that the who& #39;s-in, who& #39;s-out idea of politics is for some pundits being restored daily by Biden& #39;s restoration of an establishment. But it was never an accurate frame, and it& #39;s less so now. Trump& #39;s weaker, but *Trumpism*& #39;s still strong.
It& #39;s been interesting to see establishment pundits rush to declare now that there is now Trumpism, since Trump had no "ideas"--as if ideas are the only measure of a movement and its power.
Another version of magical thinking holds that we don& #39;t have to worry about Trump, or Trumpism, anymore because Trump will be prosecuted. Maybe. Let& #39;s imagine he& #39;s even convicted! That won& #39;t kill Trumpism. It& #39;ll give it a martyr.
(That doesn& #39;t mean I& #39;m opposed to prosecution of Trump. All for it! But I don& #39;t imagine it& #39;s any kind of slam dunk or a solution to the fascism he made visible and stronger.)
As a journalist with a couple decades on the God beat, I& #39;m interested, too, in what will be--if precedent holds--a quick secular assumption that Christian nationalism has been defeated. Not at all, alas.
The demise of American fundamentalism has been declared by the secular press about every 5-10 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. What& #39;s different this time is the awful transformation Trumpism has wrought within white evangelicalism.
Bad news: Trumpism licensed the drive for power within Christian nationalism and a much more explicit embrace of white supremacy. It& #39;s just plain meaner. Good news: Absent presidential legitimation, that meanness *may* erode its base.
More good news: As a longtime journalist covering the right, I& #39;m pretty confident that Trump& #39;s base will erode, significantly. More bad news: It will still remain vast--and malleable. Fascism is in one sense surprisingly flexible in its pursuit of self-justifying myth.
Biden& #39;s restoration of liberalism won& #39;t be enough, & that& #39;s as true for anti-fascist centrists as for the left. The restoration alone won& #39;t put fascism back in its box. Respect the power of the right even as we revile it, & organize accordingly. Build beautiful.
I don& #39;t think the antidote to fascism& #39;s fetishization of strength is counter-strength. I think it& #39;s beauty, loveliness, care. That& #39;s what made the New Deal work--not its elites, not its strength, but the loveliness of its vision, the beauty of its commitment to care.
In response to critiques of FDR: Agreed, pretty much across the board. No hero of mine. That& #39;s why I said New Deal, the work of millions, not FDR, one politician. History deceives when it attributes the work of many--always complex--to just one.
