Reflections on Descent: Necessary Truths From a Pivotal Moment
We are not doomed to a fascist future. But it will require a fight.
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I was naive.
That’s the kindest way I could put it.
In June of 2016 I went to a Trump rally in Greensboro, North Carolina and reported what I saw and heard. For a full year I had watched the Trump candidacy with equal measures of disgust and anxiety, but starting to attend the events had only worsened the feeling that was gathering within me. In those rooms, among his supporters, I could see very clearly that MAGA was metastasizing into a very, very real problem that would, unless necessary actions were taken, threaten all of us. By the time I made it to my car I was convinced we would all be incredibly fortunate if blood wasn’t be spilled.
Unbeknownst to me, my coverage that day went viral in a way that was only possible during a limited window on Twitter. The full weight of having the world’s attention was overwhelming, frightening even, but in the first few hours that followed I was possessed by a notion that now feels almost innocent.
Well, I thought, now that people know it’s over.
Eight years later, I sit here writing this with a whole lot more gray in my beard. In moments of reflection, I try to send love back in time to that younger man. I think about how, in the following days, he would scramble to tell anyone who would listen what had happened while surviving attempts on his life and near-constant harassment and targeting. The first realization hit him in July, standing in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, outside the Republican National Convention, as he watched a group of young men greet Donald Trump’s nomination speech with an aggressive round of Sieg Heil salutes. By November 8th, a cold, harsh wave had washed over him.
Now, in March of 2024, I’m a different person. That experience meant I had to regroup and then use my time, faculties, and energy to reframe literally everything I knew about the United States, history, politics, and reality itself. This newsletter, my books, my Bourbon Talks, literally everything I do, is a documentation of that ongoing process. My attempt at spreading the information as I get and metabolize it.
Meanwhile, watching our culture continue to descend into this disaster is just hellish. I look around now and I see millions of Americans in delusion. The MAGA base has obviously been lost in a cult for years, if not longer, but now you can recognize a similar situation with liberals, Democrats, and even anti-Trump Republicans. 2016 is just replaying before our very eyes again and most of the time it feels like the only thing you can do is try and scream them awake. And yet…
The denial works in layers. Some believe there’s no chance Donald Trump could become president again. Others think, even if he did, there’s no way it could possibly be as bad as many of us are warning it absolutely would be. Some say our problems will be solved if Trump is defeated. Others say the problems are actually just imagined and overblown.
Then, you look to New York City. A Democratic governor and a Democratic mayor have activated a plan to flood the city’s subway terminals with thousands of National Guard members and additional police to engage in random searches. Daily life in the city is now punctuated by a strong military and law enforcement presence, adding to an environment of worsening fear. Never mind that crime is actually down and that the city’s cops have more than enough resources already. And, you’ll notice, coverage is already calling this “bold,” “decisive,” and praising Kathy Hochul for taking action.
Of course, it is an acceptance of increasing authoritarianism. The militarization of public space. An emphasis on the perception of safety over everything else. And, again, Donald Trump isn’t doing this, at least not presently. Because he doesn’t need to. The United States is slouching toward authoritarianism with every passing day. Trump is a symptom of a larger disease. And with looming climate change, the dismantling of the progress of the 20th century, and neoliberalism’s fascistic turn, we need to understand this multiplication of state power and oppression is where we are currently heading.
I would be lying if I said this wasn’t dispiriting. But it also isn’t the case that all hope is lost. In fact, I remain wildly optimistic.