Rotten to the Core?: America’s Obsession with MAGA-Brand Authoritarianism
“I think the apple’s rotten right to the core, from all the things passed down from all the apples coming before.”
Emilie Richardson / Bloomberg / Getty
In a bitterly ironic way, this lyric from Charlie XCX’s recent summer album Brat, an album and artist quickly embraced by the Kamala Harris campaign, provides a cynically accurate characterization of the baffling phenomena and cruel mystery that is the contemporary American political landscape. You’d likely find a rare point of agreement between the opposing sides of the growing political divide that the American apple is rotten to the core. And yet, what exactly are the things passed down from all the apples coming before? To what historical factors, events, and episodes do we turn to in an effort to explain the seemingly unprecedented, yet undeniable, American shift toward authoritarianism? The answer to this question is far from simple.
Until Trump ushered in a new era of American politics, it might have been said that American authoritarianism was an oxymoron; an inconceivable idea. Authoritarianism was a relic of the past, and democracy, led by the triumphant United States, was the future. America was “a country founded on freedom, steeped in equality and justice, and uniquely immune to it.” We know now that America is far from immune, and getting sicker. So what is rotting the apple? What is driving America’s addiction to Trump’s reality-star authoritarianism? I might suggest it is his unique ability to chew up traditional populist rhetoric, give it the American media twist – a sensational and delightfully awful claim or narrative– and never admit defeat, mistake, or flaw. Maybe, in some twisted way, he does strategically grasp the core elements of the American psyche – if not the worst kinds – to be packaged up and sold in soundbites and dog whistles in exchange for unflinching defence and political worship from his supporters, who binge every season of his descent to dictatorship like cheap reality TV. But this is not The Apprentice – this is real life, with real consequences, and the fundamental rights and freedoms of human beings are at stake.
In an otherwise disastrous debate performance that led to his dropping out of the race, President Biden offered a powerfully apt characterization of Trump. Amidst a moment of visible exasperation, Biden venomously told the former president, “you have the morals of an alley cat.” This statement is an insult to the alley cat. Donald Trump is a school-yard bully and a career liar; a legally liable sexual abuser (with over 20 public allegations dating back to the 1970s) and 34-count convicted felon, who desperately deflects any and all personal responsibility as he floats between flimsy values and baseless narratives in a frantic and vain crusade for the power and vindication he seems to so desperately crave. Trump himself, his rhetoric, and his supporters operate in line with values directly antithetical to the principles and morals upon which America was founded. Long gone in thought is the “shining city upon a hill” metaphor employed by President Ronald Reagan – a figure often lauded by MAGA Republicans – in which he describes America as a “tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace” with “doors open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”. Instead, we see the modern GOP devolve into something shamefully distant from the American dream of freedom and opportunity. At its best, it operates as a cult of personality, the woefully misinformed and the wilfully ignorant pledging allegiance to the man who crowns himself their justice and retribution, carving dangerous social divisions and alienation through fear mongering and tribalistic views of the ill-defined “other.” At its worst, it’s something along the lines of neo-fascism masquerading as traditional conservatism, wearing culture war debates as a wig. Donald Trump and the GOP have no coherent policy. They, in true authoritarian fashion, desire power not for good or change, but for the sake of wielding it. Trump’s love for dictators is his worst kept secret. In audio from a series of remarks at a Florida fundraiser, Trump, speaking of China’s Xi Jinping, who in 2018 declared himself ‘president for life,’ said:
"He's now president for life, president for life. And he's great…And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday."
The most terrifying element of this is the report that Trump’s words were met with cheers and applause. Whether a terribly brash joke, or genuine insight into his dark intentions and desires, the open willingness of Trump’s supporters to blindly clap and smile as he waves the possibility of reduced freedom in their face is what makes him most dangerous. And he knows it – no clearer is this than in his infamous declaration that he could “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and…wouldn’t lose voters.”
Yet, despite all of the red flags and warning signs, the unfathomable significance of the events that transpired on January 6th, 2021 seems to be inexplicably lost on much of the American populace. This day was a clear demonstration that Trump’s praise of dictators, his hints and admissions of affection towards anti-democratic objectives, perhaps his own desire to be a dictator, were not just bad jokes. He really meant them, and showed it when he was both willing and eager to incite a violent insurrection, call for the termination of the American constitution, and engage in attempts at blatant electoral interference, which included pressuring Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, the state’s top elections official, to overturn the election results in his state – all to remain in power. One need look no further for proof of Trump’s brazen corruption and disregard of democratic integrity than any number of the excerpts from his phone call with Raffensperger:
Trump: I don’t even know why you have a side, because you should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican.
Raffensperger: We believe that we do have an accurate election.
Trump: No, no, you don’t. No, no, you don’t. You don’t have, you don’t have. Not even close. You’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes… So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this. And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to re-examine it, and you can re-examine it, but re-examine it with people that want to find answers, not people that don’t want to find answers.
For all their phony nostalgic patriotism, Trump and his supporters cannot seem to imagine how George Washington would be turning in his grave at the thought of a democratically defeated president breaking the sacred tradition of the peaceful and orderly transfer of power without remorse, over 200 years since Washington himself set the historical precedent that solidified America’s foundation as the blueprint for liberty and rule by the people.
In the eyes of American culture, it sometimes appears democracy on U.S. soil is taken to be a given. An immutable constant, too deeply entrenched to be lost or eroded. This is far from true. Maintaining the sanctity of democracy is like treading water – you cannot stop kicking or you will sink and drown. To quote Reagan once again (largely to demonstrate just how far Republicans have strayed from their roots), “freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs production [and] protection.” Democracy in the United States of America, if it dies, will not be a swift killing; it will suffer a slow death by a thousand cuts. A Trump administration would likely aim to purge itself of any perceived traitors – anyone who dared to question the rhetoric and claims of Trump will be cast out, and replaced with a band of conspiracy theorists and election deniers who won’t hesitate to put party over country, Trump over constitution. If Trump is able to instill hard line loyalists in crucial positions of authority, the independence of institutions meant to safeguard democracy is curtailed, and the separation of powers risks becoming diluted and weakened in its capacity to hold the ruling party responsible and accountable – this is the authoritarian blueprint in modern governments. Look towards Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela, or Victor Orbin’s Hungary – the same Orbin whom in recent debate Trump called “one of the most respected men,” “a strong man,” and the “Smart prime minister of Hungary” – to see these systematic violations of democracy in action.
The initiation of such authoritarian agendas was already evident under the Trump administration, with the 2020 issuing of an executive order – ultimately rescinded by the Biden administration before it could go into effect, referred to as “Schedule F.” If implemented, it would have stripped vital protections from civil servants perceived as disloyal to the president and encouraged expressions of partisan allegiance to the president through hiring decisions. Trump has vowed to reissue Schedule F on day one of his next administration, and his obsession with loyalty has taken centre stage in light of his most recent controversy surrounding the horrifying allegations from Trump’s former White House chief of staff and Homeland Security secretary, who told The Atlantic that Trump expressed his need for the kind of generals Hitler had, stressing his desire for people who were totally loyal and subservient to him in following orders. The claim, while vehemently denied by Trump spokespeople, stems from a credible source and comes along a coherent string of accusations sharing a common theme – people who have worked closely alongside Donald Trump have consistently reported and confirmed his fondness for autocracy and disdain for the rule of law, and deemed Trump an immediate and pressing threat to democracy.
The crux of this presidential election is both ideological and practical. If Donald Trump is elected president, will he move toward dictatorship? Maybe not. Will he carve dangerous wounds in democratic institutions? He’ll almost certainly try – he already has. Will the harm brought to American democracy by a Trump administration be irreparable? This remains to be seen. But above practical fears, the message a Trump election sends, the devastating symbolism it could have, will be a stake in the heart of American culture and unity. It is already an unavoidable reality that millions of Americans are willing to fiercely back a man who has shown bitter contempt for every foundational value of American government and society; freedom of press, rule of law, separation of powers, and the Constitution itself. A man who has, and continues to, lavish and praise dictators, ideate and imagine an America void of democratic barriers to his jurisdiction, suggested weaponizing the military against dissenting citizens, disparaged veterans, and sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and undermine the integrity of the electoral system. The question is now, in spite of all this, are enough Americans, whether through ignorance or willful indifference, prepared to democratically elect this individual? Is America ready and eager to open the door and welcome into its democracy an existential threat to its very nature; to deliver the crushing blow to its own moral centre? The consequences of this election transcend any four year term. They reveal whether the United States we see today contains, at its core, a strong enough adherence to the values it was built on to stay standing, or if these values have been so deeply eroded – so rotten to the core – that collapse of the American empire of democracy is all but inevitable.
Julian (he/him) is a fourth-year Politics student, Philosophy minor, and Editorial Board member at Political Digest.