Today is February 28, 2017. Donald J. Trump has been President of the United States for 39 days. I’m not writing this for myself nor for others engaged in the continuing war – for that is what it is – to save the American experiment in democratic governance. I’m not writing to consider how we came to this. This is for those who will follow and who will have to wage a new war to regain the American ideal of democracy and forge something re-imagined and greater. This is how it was. In the present moment, we continue to struggle and fight in the best ways we can, but the truth is we have lost American democracy.
On what evidence do I say that our battle is over? Today an American citizen, writing to the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. wrote without irony that discussion of a diverse American society was an “attempt to make us all believe that all cultures have equal merit or value.” America’s founding myth has been of a diverse and open society in terms of race, national origin, and religion among other attributes. The notion of a “great melting pot” where people came together and became both Americans and themselves in all of their diversity had been such a part of our national experience that it was taken for granted. It was what we were taught in school. Though we were imperfect, it was the ideal to which we strove. It was whet we believed made our nation a unique experiment.
Now a significant number of Americans believe that only “our culture” has merit and value and it is not clear to whom that culture belongs or what defines it. It’s a phantom that can be changed by those who wish to put anyone outside of “our culture” and to make them inhuman, unnecessary and disposable. These nativist notions have existed before, but they have never before been harnessed to a President with a commitment to authoritarian rule and no interest in the tools of American governance.
In 2017 the term “our culture,” as used by Stephen Farrow, described white, Christian, socially conservative people who nurtured extreme, intolerant, violent nationalism. These individuals did not see themselves in this manner, but rather as the saviors of a White Nation. One race, one nation, one leader. The “culture” bore many of the hallmarks of fascism. You can discover this for yourself.
On what evidence do I say that our battle is over? In the 39 days since he has taken office, President Trump has, among other things, established racial and religious tests for entry into the United States; declared the free press “an enemy of the people;” impugned those who safeguard our security as well as other civil servants and labeled them traitors; undermined and disparaged an independent judiciary; suppressed investigations into possible collusion with Russia in internal American affairs and demeaned truth, science, knowledge and reason. President Trump has lied continuously and so outrageously as to beggar description, refuting even observable, verifiable, objective reality. Though there are effective Constitutional tools for addressing these assaults, the Republican Party holds power and shows little interest in using those tools.
On what evidence do I say that our battle is over? In the past 39 days we have seen programs of anti-semitism, nativism, and racism that have resulted in the desecration of cemeteries, the murder of innocent people, and the organized spread of fear among immigrants and refugees.
It has not yet spread widely to the nation as a whole, but the programs of hate and intolerance are organized and encouraged at the highest levels of government. Sometimes openly, but more often in words that wink and nod approval or through silence. We are waiting for the evil blossom to open, but the flower is only 39 days old. The petals are still gathered in a loosening spiral, moistened with the dewy fear that yields terror.
I was taught to believe, and do believe, that the struggle for American democracy was always a marathon. I also knew that any assault on American democracy would come from within, not from without. I did not however, anticipate the fury of the assault or the many fronts that would be attacked simultaneously. I did not fully understand how fearful legions could be raised in our midst, springing up from hydra’s teeth.
The war against American democracy has been thoroughly planned and executed. It has many parents, but the names of Stephen Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller, Sean Spicer, Paul Manafort. Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell deserve special mention in the Halls of Betrayal.
The effect of this assault is like fighting harpies come to rip the nation and us as individuals apart and feed on our flesh. It leaves one confused and numb, fighting on every front and at ever turn. It feels like we are surrounded.
My generation may yet prevail in reining in Donald Trump. Ultimately, we may be able to remove him from office. However, the forces that gave rise to his presidency are still at large. Plutocracy, corporate greed and manipulation, unrestrained capitalism, political opportunism, a chasm of income disparity, civic ignorance, bigotry, racism, and narrow nationalism. These will remain and, so long as they remain, these forces will constantly seek a new body to inhabit, an immoral golem to do their will. This is what future generations must battle.
I feel guilty. That is also how it was. I feel guilty that I somehow did not do what I should have done. Guilty that this is the legacy of my generation. But you who follow are not guilty. You have a long and dangerous war ahead, but you have a noble calling if you will listen for it. You must prevail that the world not sink backwards into a New Dark Age.
Michael Pfeifer, WCD Member
St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America