A Conspiracy Against the People

 Whatever the reason, it is beside the point now. In the eyes of millions of Middle Americans, U.S. fundamental institutions are irreparably corrupt, acting merely as instruments of coercion and control for an order that does not represent the people.

Getting to this point wasn’t easy. The regime has managed to radicalize the very people who are most patriotic about this country and most reverent of its myths, symbols, and founding documents. Middle Americans had been led to believe that if they disliked a particular order, they could simply vote for another one. That was the essence of the Trump moment—a repudiation of the status quo through a legitimate democratic process. But when the establishment attempted effectively to negate millions of votes by conspiring to unseat an elected president, it destroyed the illusion of institutional neutrality. When the establishment began demonizing Middle Americans as terrorists, it gave them the impression that they were living in an occupied country, one run by people who are not just indifferent but actually hostile to its citizenry. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said he agreed with the claim that today’s Republicans are more “nihilistic,” “dangerous,” and “contemptible” than any other extremists in the world. In a Sept. 1 speech before Independence Hall, Biden himself declared that “MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” Of course, in order for it to be threatened, there must first be a functioning republic.

America today resembles the Roman Republic just before Caesar ended the farce. Trump, in retrospect, was never half the monster his enemies made him out to be. In many ways, he was too kind to political enemies and incapable of making correct distinctions between friend and foe. But by disabusing so many people of the illusions necessary for maintaining the pleasant charade of the status quo, the establishment has all but guaranteed the rise of a force in the future that will be as bad—or worse—than what they pretended Trump was.