One of the more disturbing legacies of the MAGA era is that trolling has probably robbed at least a generation of conservative red state white folks of any sense of wonder or hope about the world they live in.
Cynicism and environmental destruction make up much of the rhetoric they are fed and ingest at an alarming volume.
The messaging is of course backed and baked into every aspect of their lives by oil & gas industry and petrochemical behemoths that have spread their dark money around D.C. with orgiastic determination since the dawning of Ronald Reagan - and the post-Carter slap down over any sort of environmental awareness.
Science was reinterpreted and relabeled during the Bush/Cheney years when “global warming” morphed into the Frank-Luntz-focus-grouped, much-more-palatable “climate change” - which was then adopted by most scientific agencies after vast amounts of pressure from Republican politicians.
This calcified into the current “own the libs”-at-any-cost mentality on the American right - manifesting in mass sales of giant pickup trucks and rolling coal.
The cruelty-is-the-point way of thinking that Trump sees reflected in his followers and does his best to coax out of them.
He appeals to the kind of guys who pull the wings of off butterflies just ‘cause they can.
The sort of emotionally blunted boys who stomp on flowers and throw rocks at birds.
Trump used to throw rocks at the neighbor’s baby as it sat in the playpen in their backyard. True story.
Brutality at the nexus of ignorance and power that we hope most of those stunted boys outgrow before they enter adulthood.
Otherwise those instincts can combine into a toxic brew that in the wrong hands, such as a charismatic leader willing to bend their will to serve his own malignant plan, can be exploited.
And the endorphin rush of the screaming hordes turns into a violent mob or worse, an army.
The constant lack of respect for our institutions, political leaders and fellow man has made the far right wing exhaustingly deficient when it comes to any sense of hope and empathy.
Both of which are going to be essential requirements if we are going to adjust to climate change and fend off calamity in the natural world.
We face an alarming rise in fascism at the same time we face an alarming rise in sea levels.
They’re both being caused and financed by the fossil fuel industry and they both present us with the greatest strategic and security risks of our lifetimes.
It’s no accident that cars and trucks got bigger in the United States at a time when they should have been getting smaller.
We have gone in the wrong direction for decades in many ways - and now that severe weather is a constant - severe politics have become the norm in red states as well.
We learned recently that Exxon accurately predicted the increasing effects of fossil fuels as far back as the 70’s.
It was at this time that the emerging conservative groups turned their attention to the federal judiciary.
Enormous amounts of money poured into Washington from the fossil fuel industry; in many ways turning the modern GOP into nothing more than a trade group for Big Oil.
The political wing of the anti-environmental energy operation that is willing to traffic in authoritarianism to protect their bottom line.
Extremism has become the deliverable goods on behalf of a giant investment that was made to purchase our political system decades ago.
The product of the modern conservative movement is more rhetorical and real world violence, whether that is against opponents, leaders or the environment itself.
The quickest way to accomplish the most corruption and bang for their big oil bucks is to control the federal judiciary.
We are seeing the results of their largesse now: it should terrify anyone who values equality, freedom and the safety of future generations - and perhaps the American experiment itself.
If the chaos and calamity we have witnessed in the relatively short period of time since 2016 are any indication, we, for certain, face an existential threat if the corruption of our courts continues.
There were 234 federal judges seated on the bench during the Trump administration.
Many of them grossly unqualified and outwardly corrupt (see Aileen Cannon or Kavanaugh & Coney-Barrett).
This number of course includes the three SCOTUS appointments but it should be noted that all of the judgeships doled out by Trump and a GOP-controlled Senate were Article III appointments, meaning they have lifetime positions.
Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the Federalist Society, has a for-profit political consulting firm, which handles billions in donations from conservative billionaires, through a company whose only physical address is a post office box in Georgetown.
He also recently purchased two mansions in Maine and paid off his mortgage in McLean, thanks to the Trump administration and how lucrative it became to influence and appoint the federal judiciary, essentially Leo’s job description.
This is achieved with a coterie of co-conspirators including Ginni Thomas, the spouse of a Justice Clarence Thomas, and others in D.C., who have attempted to hide the income they receive from the Federalist Society.
It’s a vast dark network which could continue to have a huge influence on American life for generations to come.
It is also very good at hiding in the shadows; the complexity of its infrastructure makes it easy to conceal.
The chaos and noise of much of the modern GOP and MAGA movement is designed to give cover for the darker, more quietly nefarious arms of the operation. If this was a war (and it is in a way) the Federalist Society and its operatives would be the elite troops.
A SEAL Team Six that slips in under the cover of darkness and is gone before you notice the damage done.
The way we circumvent and defang their operation is through intelligence; awareness of the connections and motivations of the political operations of the GOP.
Essentially, “Follow the money,” it’s always about the cash.
The stakes have, in many ways, never been higher for those of us who value democracy.
I love your insights. Your writing keeps me glued.
People have been making noise about the climate since the 1960’s. I recall generally, first concerns about foods like saccharine, too much salt in canned foods and what we were seeing in the environment. NY soot and pollution in Long Island sound. Since I’m from there, these were prominent for me. Some things got fixed. Cigarettes are banned nearly everywhere now. Poop laws too. But things that really affect climate have been accelerated, fought for and here we are. What I’m trying to say is the fight isn’t new. It’s more fierce, more crippling. Education, guns, all the hate has risen from the one fundamental struggle to protect our home. Rather than feel doomed, I suggest we see a clearer focus and find a better way to the goals. Big difference between the past and now, is we have more politicians that understand the ticking clock of the environment.