Maybe the most terrifying aspect of the outcome of the coming election will be having to deal with the upside down language that will permeate all of our discussions. It’s one thing to debate ideas and quite another to combat lunacy.
I was hoping that the Republicans would have to contest the Presidential election, which they’ll do no matter what if they actually lose, but it’s looking more likely that they’ll win the electoral college and take the White House. To be clear, Trump will lose the popular vote by at least 7 million, but he’s likely to win by the rules of the game as it currently stands. As against the one person one vote mantra that we hold so dear, we never addressed the electoral college, so here we are again. For the third time in a quarter century a Republican will likely take the white house against the will of the general population and we’ll all have to suffer the consequences.
And one of those consequences will be the full on assault of truth like we’ve rarely seen before. Sure we’re already dealing with it, but to quote Bachman-Turner Overdrive: “Baby, you just ain’t seen nothing yet.” I didn’t use that phrase arbitrarily or just to be funny, it’s more to make a point. Everything you know, ideas, common phrases and cultural norms will all be turned on their heads if the Republicans can take all three branches of government this Fall. This is nothing new, W. Bush gutted the Clean Air Act with a thing called the Clear Skies Act, but like the man said, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Do you remember in 2016 when we had Pizzagate and all this crazy stuff that at the time we called Fake News? Because it was, literally, fake news. Remember that? Do you? Or was that lost in the mist of time because just a few months later Trump came out and called all legitimate news Fake News and tens of millions of his followers believed it, and now most of us take it for what Trump means it to be. We know he means legitimate news, but his followers don’t. That’s basically what Orwell defined as doublespeak. And now actual fake news is prevalent and permeates our discussions because we’ve come to accept that it’s everywhere and just part of what’s normal. Yeah, that’s what I mean, but as the song says, you ain’t seen nothing yet. All right, I’ll stop already..
So if you listen to the coming regime, and they believe themselves to represent a regime change by the way, their use of language is maddening. It’s topsy-turvy, it’s bizarro Superman stuff. And it’s coming to a theater near you very soon. And by theater I mean, participants, like in a field of war. Because that’s the first thing they’ll say right now. They’re already at war. With whom you might ask? Anyone that matters is probably the easiest answer. It’s not really actual people or ideas. They’re basically at war with misdirections and delusions. So with that in mind let’s take a listen to what happened at Turning Point USA’s Chapter Leadership Summit this past week.
For those of you not already in Bizzarro USA, the Turning Point USA Chapter Leadership Summit is a conference meant to teach young people about the state of America today. It’s really just a chance to promote the Republican agenda, and currently the Republican agenda is the Project 2025 agenda (project2025.com, it’s a real thing). The conference is supposed to only be attended by 16 to 26 year olds but, like everything else that’s doublespeak, it was reported by NPR that of the 8,000 participants only 3,000 were likely in that age range (I know, I know, FAKE NEWS). At the Summit the usual Trumpian suspects took the stage to cheering crowds as they proceeded to take doublespeak to new heights. Speaker after speaker turned reality on its head but probably Steve Bannon is the best case study to illustrate the overall point.
A few Steve Bannon quotes. For context it’s probably good to understand that he’s going to jail in a few days.
“Are we at war?” – The crowd chants yes!
So as I mentioned, who are they at war with? Hard to say but I’m probably someone they would severely disagree with, so maybe me? I don’t know, and more importantly they don’t know. In general it would be Democrats and Liberals mostly, but as Steve Bannon goes on to say it’s not a war between Democrats and Republicans, it’s actually a war against a shadow group of idealogues that have taken over the country. But, wink, wink, they’re probably Democrats.
“There’s no chance they (Democrats) can win the election, so if they steal the election, and they fully intend to steal it, then this Republic ends.”
Well, obviously we know who tried to steal the last election and who will try to steal the next one, but to the MAGA-verse it’s backwards. Joe Biden stole the 2020 election and if they don’t stop him he’ll do it again.
“We’re coming after Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, the senior members of the DOJ who have prosecuted Trump, Jack Smith. This is not about vengeance, not about revenge, this is about Justice, this is about saving our Republic.” He goes on to say “Let me say to those (that put Trump on Trial) whether you are in the Federal government, or in Georgia or Arizona or in Michigan – You’re going to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated.”
Did I mention that the crowd goes wild when stuff like this is bantered about? So you can easily see how this works. Real investigations, like those into Trump’s activities, are the sham trials, but when they decide to jail their political opponents and anyone in their way it’ll be justice.
This is what’s going to be crazy making as they dismantle our checks and balances. Something they are clearly talking about doing over at the Project 2025 website and in their stump speeches. But when they dismantle our frail Democracy they won’t say “Hooray, we finally defeated Democracy”, instead they’ll say, “We finally defeated the Communists!” Or maybe marxists, or socialists, or vermin, or whatever topsy-turvy play on language they’ll come up with.
But whatever it will be it definitely won’t be the truth. And tens of millions of people will buy it. And that is going to absolutely drive the rest of us insane, because having to debate lunacy is crazy making.