Jason Scott Montoya

“Authoritarianism is the conversion of the rule of law into rule by the lawless. It makes perfect sense that a convicted felon and the man who sent the violent mob into the Capitol on his behalf would initiate an American autocracy.”

“Jan. 6 radicalized the GOP, accelerating its transformation into an entity dependent on lying, corruption, and the threat and reality of violence against internal enemies. But it is fear, as well as fanaticism, that has kept the GOP disciplined in the years since the insurrection, no one wanting to be a target.”

“…by accepting his violence, you have validated the strongman’s mantra: I am everything, and you are nothing.”

“This hollowing out of political elites is a precondition for a political party to institutionalize violence. In pledging support to a brutal demagogue, you are sooner or later required to betray not only your compatriots, but also yourself. As political violence spirals, you can become a target of that demagogue, no matter how loyal you have been in the past.”

“Strongmen need to bring everyone around them down to their level of corruption and depravity. To show their loyalty, elites compete to be the most sycophant and self-abasing, doing anything the leader asks, no matter how criminal, and going along with the inevitable escalations of violence and corruption.”

“I’m going to spend the next four years warning people that Trump’s party will resist handing over power if it loses the next presidential election and practically everyone will call me hysterical for saying so, as if it didn’t already happen once before.”

“And SCOTUS has all but naw-dawg-ed this idea already,” she continued. “[In] 2014 they unanimously shot down [Barack] Obama when he tried to recess-appoint over a three-day intra-session recess. So your plan is to ignore the Supreme Court AND hand your opponents an enormous weapon in a few years all while gutting the constitutional function of the Senate? Cool, cool.”

“That’s especially so if Trump and House Republicans end up colluding in recess-appointment chicanery to let him install the Cabinet he likes without the Senate’s advice and consent. To my knowledge, no president has ever sought to dispense entirely with the upper chamber’s confirmation power, which is what Trump’s scheme would amount to. It would be a meaningful step toward dictatorship if he succeeds, without hyperbole.”

“Trump, for instance, has been president-elect for all of two weeks yet has already unspooled more “creative” ideas on how to consolidate power than most presidents manage in four years. Forget his Cabinet of anti-qualified quacks: There’s talk of him deploying the troops to enforce immigration law, forcing Congress to adjourn so that he can recess-appoint any loyalist stooge he likes, and purging military officers who lack “leadership qualities” because they prioritize obedience to the Constitution over obedience to him. Those who voted on November 5 for cheaper eggs and a stronger border will soon find most of America’s political energy consumed by battles over just how much of a dictator Donald J. Trump should get to be.”

“Throughout the war, American populists have assigned moral culpability for escalation exclusively to Ukraine and its Western supporters for resisting Russian fascism and not at all to the Russian fascists who chose to brutalize their neighbors in the first place. Yet, as perverse as that may be, there’s strategic logic to it. Postliberals in the U.S. want to normalize ruthlessness toward liberals and part of the normalization process is muddying the moral waters whenever postliberal regimes abroad behave ruthlessly.”

“Trump’s supporters accept his moral authority over everything else, so the focus on his flaws did not matter as much as his braying promises to rule the country as a strongman.”

“Strict Father morality is growing stronger

All politics are moral politics. Trump won because he has tapped into something deep in the American psyche: Strict Father morality. This is a hierarchical view of the world, rooted in the metaphor of a family with a dictator-like patriarch whose word is law. Millions of American brains are wired to accept this moral system, and this is why none of the facts about Trump (his impeachments, his convictions, his lies) mattered.

In the aftermath of his victory, there are – once again – many explanations for why he won. Most of them are piecemeal and incomplete. Strict Father morality is the key to understanding why Trump retains a strong support base. Trump’s supporters accept his moral authority over everything else, so the focus on his flaws did not matter as much as his braying promises to rule the country as a strongman.”