How the era of Trumpism proved that Loyalty can still inflame the destruction of the democratic system.
Loyalty can often be described as a firm allegiance towards a person or idea. An impenetrable bond of dual support. In some cases it takes one small act to break it. In others, an ocean of lies and deceit still cannot sever such devotion. Loyalty is a trait that is weak enough to break over one bad feud. But simultaneously strong enough to overpower morality, civility, and even democracy.
Over the past few years, America has begun to notice a steep rise in loyalty. Not just loyalty towards those who we love, share friendships with, and care deeply about. But loyalty towards political parties, political ideologies, and even so, politicians. The dangers, however, that lie within loyalty in politics, are growing by the day, and are seen in a variety of instances. Whether it be simple feuds with neighbors over pressing topics, or in the extreme: violent protests sparked out of hatred for others, all of these events are linked to an individual's political ideologies, and how strongly they feel loyal to them.
So where did this extreme loyalty specifically in politics come from?
Ever since the rise of Donald Trump’s political career, Republicans have begun to show a deeper sense of devotion towards solely what he believes in. His campaign in 2016, unique from others, showcased a person who fought solely for this “rebirth” will you say of America. And we’ve all heard the chants “Make America Great Again” which provided a strong slogan to couple alongside Trump’s crowd of United States nationalists. Middle Americans were looking for a voice, a voice that wasn’t heard within Obama, the Bushes, or the Clintons. And Trump brought that.
Part of the reason for Trump’s uncanny win to many election analysts and liberals, was the fact that they had no idea of the capabilities of Donald Trump. A man who had so subtly yet so greatly ignited a flame across the Republican base. And over the course of his presidency, we saw that flame grow as Trump began to publicly target those opposed to his viewpoints and personality through grand gatherings with his followers as well as the slightest twitter posts. And for a while, many middle Americans were satisfied. Not only was Donald Trump president, but both the Senate and Congress were red, an event that hadn’t happened since 2005. So when the time came for Donald Trump to depart the White House right after the final votes were read in 2020, this immense loyalty that had grown and grown over time, wouldn’t concede. A chain that was fueled by MAGA hats and angry tweets, barred Joe Biden from succeeding to the Oval Office. And this was simply the beginning.
On November 7th, 2020, Donald Trump launched a series of attacks that would begin to impair our Democracy. The first step was denying the election.
“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” his statement read.
And when Donald Trump said “far”, he meant it. Even to this day many midterm candidates entire campaigns’ have been built off of denying that there was a fair and true election in 2020. People are getting elected to Congress simply because of their “stance” on genuine facts. And this strategy taken up by many politicians is proving quite effective. Even if it isn’t denying the election results, having the endorsement of Donald J Trump in many red congressional districts is enough to constitute a victory. Or so it may seem.
Now, one of the biggest critiques many democrats have towards the current Republican Party is that besides their usual crowd mongering and anger towards Biden, many of the issues they continue to bring up towards voters, (ie Inflation, Crime, Immigration), as a referendum on Biden and the current Democratic Party, they in turn have little or no solutions to. Conservatives continue to mock and blame the democratic agenda when their agenda is completely and utterly blank. That is why the 2022 midterms, which had anticipated this sort of red tsunami, ended subtly with a red trickle. Similar to their astonishment of Trump’s win in 2016, many analysts were surprised to see that despite the polls and current state of MAGA extremism that was seemingly ubiquitous, the bond that had once ignited an attack on the U.S. Capitol had begun to experience its breaking point. The loyalty that had once ensued a coup of raging radicals was broken. And that is where loyalty begins to fade.
While many had attributed this unexpected Republican trickle to things like higher voter turnout on the democratic side over issues such as abortion and democracy, that wasn’t the only factor that played into this Republican loss of the Senate and slight victory of the House. Could it have been that after four long and tumultuous years, Trump had sorta lost his grip? Was the GOP in shambles, looking for its next figure to back behind? Or perhaps, it was an indication that loyalty, similar to life, has a time limit.
The true loser of the 2022 midterms was clearly Donald Trump. Many are now even beginning to speculate that his torch (and the entire Republican base) will now be up for grabs in the next presidential election. Rising stars such as Ron Desantis of Florida and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia might finally get their shot to appeal to the next Republican Party. Questions about moving forward and abandoning the former president to reform the GOP into a new era will be brought up alongside the rare, yet growing audience of Republicans who wish to return to the days of bipartisanship and compromise. And perhaps most importantly; one question still remains: Will the MAGA hats burn as quickly as they were built?
Comments