I have a few friends from high school and college that fell down the rabbit hole and there no longer seems any escape. One of them is Bruce. It's not that I knew him very well in high school but we became friends through facebook all these years later. He seemed like a reasonable person. A graduate in geology who spent a big chunk of his time in Brazil, where he married and had children but is now divorced. He's in the petroleum industry, currently residing in Houston, where he has become a big Astros fan.
Before Trump we used to engage in friendly conversations. We had different views politically but could usually find a middle ground or at least remain friendly. He was even critical of Trump during the 2016 election, especially the way he treated women. Sadly, after the election he became a committed Trumpist, willing to look the other way when it came to his many indiscretions. Bruce has only gotten worse in the two-and-a-half years since Trump lost the 2020 election, posting an endless string of memes promoting one conspiracy theory or another.
I've given up trying to reason with Bruce, even as I try to point out that the conspiracy theory he promotes one day contradicts the one he pitched the day before. Still I wonder what led him to make this leap. Is it some form of personal existential crisis or is it just the deep-seated cynicism that so pervades the conservative movement that they are willing to accept any contrarian position in regard to government? He and other conservatives don't seem to realize they have become anarchists in the worst sense of the term.
It's not like he is getting anything out of this like the influencers and politicians who initiate these conspiracy theories. He is one of the "sheeple" that willingly spread the memes through social media sites. Facebook does little to combat them. There are no longer warnings. It's like the review board at Meta simply gave up, even to the point of reinstating Trump and the worst of his followers in the name of "free speech." Not that Trump bothers with facebook these days, having found his own social media site in the wake of the suspensions.
There seems to be a great deal of entertainment value in these conspiracy theories, as if testing the audience to see just how gullible they are and laughing about it on the various podcasts, which proliferate on social media. I thought of creating a podcast of my own at one point but the effort I would have had to put into it to get any kind of following deterred me. Besides, I spend too much time as it is trying to make sense of the chaos on social media.
Truth seems to have become relative, which is ironic, as conservatives long accused liberals of being relativists but now here they are accepting all these contrarian positions and arguing "what is truth?" They push aside any form of fact check as "Orwellian," but alas irony seems to float right past them.
Look at the January 6 insurrection. This seemed like an open and shut case. We saw with our own eyes the assault on the Capitol building. It was streamed to us by every news source. At first, Trumpists tried to deny it was their folks, that it was some "Antifa" members dressed up as Trumpists. When the names started emerging in the indictments, many of them prominent influencers within the movement, Trumpists decided it was a form of rebellion like the Boston Tea Party, and that these conspirators were actually patriots for standing up for their beliefs even if Trump ran and hid for cover in the White House. Now, we are back to it being a "false flag," to see Bruce's memes, even if Trump and DeSantis have both said they would pardon the whole lot if elected President.
It's not like there aren't reasonable conservatives. My elder cousin Louis wrote me a long heartfelt letter about how the insurrection deeply hurt him and that he could not in good faith continue to support Trump. Alas, they just don't get much attention because they aren't voicing outlandish conspiracy theories. I suppose this is a product of the reality shows we became obsessed with.
I think Duck Dynasty figured heavily into the rise of the MAGA cult, as Papa Robertson and his backwoods brood epitomized this nostalgic rural view of America. They were even being invited to SOTU addresses at the tail end of Obama's administration, which in itself became a form of reality show. Papa endorsed Trump whereas his son, Willie, who actually invented the famous duck whistle, supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 election. In the end, they both threw their celebrity weight behind Trump. The fact that Trump was born into a billionaire world and never had to do any real work in his life seemed lost on them. Instead, the radical new Republicans flushed the reasonable voices out of their party, derisively referring to them as RINO's.
When Liz Cheney spoke out against Trump, she was censured by her own party. Nevertheless, she chose to be part of the January 6 investigation, along with Adam Kinzinger, who similarly was disowned by his party. They were hailed as heroes in the mainstream media, but they were doing what any reasonable person should do when confronted by such an open act of sedition. For whatever reason, the GOP simply couldn't pull itself away from Trump despite the numerous opportunities. As a result, no House Republican speaks out against Trump today, fearing they will be "primaried" like Liz was in Wyoming.
It's a term Sarah Palin, aka Mama Grizzly, came up with years ago when she led the Tea Party movement in the GOP, before giving way to Trump. If you fall out of line with the radical new Republican agenda then the party will run someone against you in the primaries. States like Wyoming are deeply conservative so Liz had no chance when she was up for re-election in 2022. Hell be it to anyone who speaks out against their chosen leader. Unfortunately, this doesn't work so well in general elections as Sarah found out when she tried to run for the lone US Representative seat in Alaska. She lost twice to Mary Peltola, the first Democrat to represent Alaska in 50 years!
The Trump cult may be loud but it is not a majority even in many red states. Establishment Republicans, or RINO's, rued all these Trumpists running in the general election, knowing it just made it that much more difficult to regain full control of Congress. Many cite this as the reason Republicans lost key Senate races, denying them the majority in this chamber. It was a bitter pill for Mitch McConnell to swallow, as he could not block Biden's judicial appointments, as he had Obama during the last two years of his tenure. The problem is that Trump is more popular than ever and we are sure to see more election deniers, insurrection sympathizers and other conservative loons running in the 2024 election. They simply can't believe they don't represent the majority.
It's similar to when Jerry Falwell led his "Moral Majority" back in the 1980s. These religious conservatives not only believe they have God on their side but the popular will of America as well. Trump gave them a new role model to follow. One who denies defeat and is determined to impose his will on the nation. This authoritarian impulse has similarly long been there, but it was previously tempered with the knowledge that you don't always get what you want. However, "Compassionate Conservativism" gave way with George Bush, and what we have now is a brash form of religious conservatism that brooks no compromise.
One can chart the precedents but it doesn't really make any sense. You would think conservatives would grow to accept the religious and culturally diverse country we live in, carving out their piece of it and allowing others to live their lives as they see fit. Instead, they try to dominate the country with their evangelical zeal, determined to convert every last man, woman and child to their beliefs. Failing, they blame liberals for "grooming" impressionable young children in elementary schools. Undaunted, they take over school boards and do the exact same thing they accuse liberals of doing, inculcating their narrow-minded view of the world on children. They are still smarting from Gen Z having voted overwhelmingly Democratic in the last election and are determined to make the next generation more conservative.
The reality is that most of these religious conservatives are domineering parents and turn their kids away from them. No one likes growing up in a repressive household. You look for any means of escape. My friends did when we were in high school. We would sneak out to the clay pit to get drunk as skunks, sleeping off our hangovers in our cars, too afraid to drive home. My parents were more forgiving. Theirs weren't. They would come the next day with bruises from the leather belts and other forms of beating God's will into their heads. Spare the rod, spoil the child. It seems that despite this teenage rebellion, many of them became just like their parents. Sad really, I remember hearing all the horror stories and how they weren't going to be that way when they grew up. Well, here they are treating Gen Z like some scourge released on the nation, when it is just a reflection of their young rebellious nature.
I had "snoozed" Bruce for 30 days to give me a bit of reprieve from his memes, but they started popping up on my timeline again this morning. I will try not to respond as I know it is not worth it. Sadly, he is another victim of the MAGA cult. Why it has to be this way, I don't know? The best thing is just not to think about it anymore.
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