American Extremism — A Weekend Deep-Dive
Tim Dickinson, Tom Joscelyn & Susan Corke offer two takes on the implications of far-right ideology and practices becoming normalized in Trump's regime
American politics have shifted — not gradually, but with a lurch that has left many observers struggling to understand who we are as a people. The figures who once prowled the fringes of the far right, disregarded by many as being too radical, too extreme, too dangerous for mainstream legitimacy, are now not only accepted and encouraged to espouse their most hateful opinions — they occupy cabinet offices, advise the president, and shape policy.
Men who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6th have been pardoned and celebrated rather than condemned; while Christian nationalist ideology, once confined to militia meetings and late-night infomercials, now echoes openly from the halls of power and is used to justify a senseless war.
This weekend’s deep-dive, delivered in two columns, is not about rhetoric drifting rightward — it is about the architecture of American extremism being deliberately normalized. These two pieces trace the implications (which reach far beyond any single election or administration) of the far-right becoming normalized in the United States.
75 years ago, a slim book crisply captured and insightfully characterized the folks who now dominate the US givernment. The True Believer by Eric Hoffer deserves to be read and reread if we hope to deal effectively with the challenges created by these new “true believers.”
"The figures who once prowled the fringes of the far right, disregarded by many as being too radical, too extreme, too dangerous for mainstream legitimacy, are now not only accepted and encouraged to espouse their most hateful opinions — they occupy cabinet offices, advise the president, and shape policy."
These people are still A MINORITY albeit a noisy and for the moment, a powerful one. However, all of the protest activities and lawsuits indicate that we, the majority are neither accepting nor legitimizing their influence.