In this episode of his podcast, Ezra Klein talks to Robert Jones (no relation!) of the Public Religion Research Institute. What they explore are the shifting demographics of American culture and American religious life. What seems clear--to them and to me--is that the hard Right is (1) frightened by significant changes and (2) desperately committed to maintaining political power it is surely losing. There's nothing particularly random about Trump's ICE raids in Mississippi, or his tirade against the four congresswomen two weeks ago, or anything else he's doing.
Two issues, in particular: the hard Right (see Hannity, Sean; Trump, Donald; McConnell, Mitch; Ingraham, Laura) is experiencing a diminishing of white privilege and white hegemony in the political realm. This scares the hell out of them (and their investors). And in response, they act as if they're the real victims of just about everything in the news. What they're really saying: "We're losing control." And second, the Christian Right is experiencing a similar decline in both demographic power (numbers) and political influence. They hit their peak, maybe a decade ago, and those days are gone. In 2008, a full 25% of the electorate identified as white evangelical Christians. In 2018, that number was down to something like 15%. (I think I got those two numbers right!)
In this climate of decay, the coalition that brought us Trickle-Down Economics, Crazy-Nuts Tax Policy, Climate Change Denial and all the rest risks losing its strangehold on economic policy and all the rest. This drives the Koch Brothers, FOX News and all their underlings to fury and frenzy.
To protect what's left of their hold on power in America, they MUST gerrymander the system: intimidate voters of color into not voting, scare folks away from the 2020 census, gerryrig as many districts as possible, etc. etc. etc. THIS IS THE POINT of Trump's every tweet, his every policy, his every hissy fit. THIS IS THE POINT of Mitch McConnell's draconian leadership in the Senate. It's not just a madman (or two) on the loose: it's hard Right policy dedicated to white nationalism and the preservation of white power and privilege. Because they're scared. Trickle-Down Economics is God to them.
Check out the podcast...and Ezra's others on the subject. Really good stuff!
