The End of the Road for MAGA
Repugnant is the best word to describe this weekend’s protest in Wadsworth, Ohio, against “Rock-n-Roll Drag Queen Story Hour.” This new version of the “Alt-Right” (or whatever it should called) leads only to violence and chaos, as did the old AR, ultimately.
To be fair, five years ago, the status of Civil War monuments was a serious issue worthy of a conversation. The status of drag queens, less so… Regardless, the protests that surrounded these “hot buttons” become excuses to revel in harassment and mayhem for many participants. It’s easy to call the protestors “Feds,” but the fact is, most are simply motivated by malice. The slogans that cropped up this past weekend—“Victory or Death” and “There Will be Blood”—are, at best, vague threats and intimidations. At worst, they are attempts to inspire others to commit violence against those present at the gathering.
Five years ago, as the face of the Alt-Right, I had the feeling of riding high. I genuinely cared about the monument issue—and I, of course, cared about self-promotion—and told myself a few rotten apples wouldn’t spoil the bunch, or that I could overcome any “bad optics.” But I wasn’t being entirely truthful and self-critical. The regrettable reality is that I more than tolerated the rotten apples: I largely played to them as a political base. This dynamic brought out the worst in me. And I take moral responsibility for inspiring bad actors, angry young men, and the mentally ill.
On another level, the dynamic of the 2017 Alt-Right has returned. Scrolling through reports, I see that the Proud Boys hate Patriot Front, who can’t stand the Neo-Nazis, and all of them despise mainstream conservatives. In reality, all these infighting forces are part of the same movement. Whether it’s promising to “eradicate transgenderism” at CPAC or yelling “Pedos get the rope!” in Ohio, the Right is fixated on a minor issue that they inflate to the status of Absolute Evil. This relieves them of having to offer anything resembling a positive vision for society. The Right’s agenda for White people or “Real Americans” is the prospect that they, too, might engage in sadism—big and small, in-person or virtually—against marginal people. I, too, wouldn’t take my children to “drag queen story hour,” but the Right’s obsession with these events—their compulsion to endlessly denounce them—only covers over their own emptiness.
It’s incredible that one of the promises of Trump in 2016 was to end the “Culture Wars” and focus on building something new. Perhaps it was naïve to take such things at face value. Regardless, given enough time, any version of MAGA will eventually resemble Charlottesville, January 6, or Wadsworth, Ohio.
Refreshingly insightful; thank you for your candor, Richard.