Although the far right has always had a presence in American politics, especially due to the fact that American politics is slanted so far to the right, in recent years, it has become a more integral part of the mainstream conservative branch. Nazi-like populist rhetoric such as The Great Replacement Theory and a lack of forbearance and mutual toleration on he right has contributed to the rise of democratic erosion in the United States.
Tucker Carlson, America’s most watched conservative, has accused Democrats of “an unrelenting stream of immigration…to change the racial mix of the country, to reduce the political power of people whose ancestors lived here and dramatically increase the proportion of Americans newly arrived from the third world. In political terms, this policy is called The Great Replacement —the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far-away countries.” This belief contributes to a lack of forbearance. Studies suggest that 63% of insurrectionists believe in this theory.
For a clear example of this breakdown in forbearance, one need only look to the events leading up to the January 6th insurrection. Despite all evidence to the contrary, President Trump, as well as other Republicans, insisted or implied that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent. Essentially, they called into question the legitimacy of a fairly and democratically elected leader. Ultimately, their narrative prompted the January 6th insurrection in which an angry mob of hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. They sought to overturn his defeat in the by disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes that would formalize then President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Many believe that those willing to commit acts like these are on the fringe of society but, there is evidence that these beliefs have become an integral part of the American Right. 87% of those charged in the Capitol Attack were not part of militias such as the Proud Boys, the Three Percent, and the Oath Keepers, but everyday Republicans. Some polls show that as many as 68% of republicans believed that the election was stolen.
This is the clearest imaginable example of a lack of mutual toleration. This also contributed to a lack of forbearance when, according to one journalist, “In statehouses across the country, Republican lawmakers [used] this stolen-election myth to fuel a campaign to rewrite election rules and limit future voter turnout in predominantly BIPOC communities…Republicans are actively playing constitutional hardball as they work within their current positions to legislate election rules that will maintain their power at the expense of democratic participation.” (Lyons 2021).
Another example of a breakdown in forbearance in the American system is the dealings surrounding the Texas abortion law. Regardless of where one stands politically, this is a breakdown of America’s institutions that are meant to preserve democracy. In a law referred to as a heartbeat bill, Republican Texas legislators abandoned forbearance and used a procedural trick in order to implement a six-week ban on abortion, effectively voiding Roe v. Wade. They were able to do this by deputizing private citizens to sue anyone who aids in an abortion, but not the mother herself. This includes doctors, uber drivers, or anyone who contributes to the cost of the procedure. The typical procedure to keep unconstitutional laws like this from going into effect comes from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Ex Parte Young. Someone raising a constitutional challenge to a state law can sue the state officials responsible for the enforcement of the law. However, in this case, the legislators effectively eliminated state officials from any responsibility by placing enforcement on the shoulders of the public. Therefore, a court injunction against the enforcement would be null. When the case went to the Supreme Court in an attempt to hold state judges liable, the conservative majority failed to grant injunctive relief arguing that, despite constitutionality concerns, it is unclear whether the court has the power to issue an injunction against state judges asked to decide a lawsuit under Texas law.
This appalling misuse of procedure to violate individual rights and avoid federal oversight by the Texas legislators has troubling implications. Essentially, this sends the message that states, should they so desire, can get around constitutional issues by using the same public enforcement mechanism. Imagine the chaos if applied to other constitutionally guaranteed rights such as those expressed in the first or second amendment. As shown through the previous examples, this lack of forbearance and respect for the opposition, inspired greatly by populism and white supremacy parroted by those at the top, have blurred the
lines of democratic norms and the resentment it has created sew the seeds of distrust in our democratic institutions —distrust may mean further actions similar to those taken on January 6th and further erosion of American democracy.
I appreciate your mention of the lack of representation for left-leaning voters in America under the current party structure system. Another thing that concerns me about the Republicans’ attempts to overturn the election are the reactions of some of the people who didn’t believe them, but seem to think it wasn’t that big of a deal. The Republican party members who claimed that the 2020 election was fraudulent were, themselves, committing a form of fraud in trying to undermine the results of an election (Schwartz, 2021). But I’ve encountered a concerning number of people who accept that the claims by Republican politicians were untrue, but also seem to think those claims were made honestly and in good faith.
On that note, I do think it’s important to clarify something. There is a large difference between the individuals who fund and operate the Democratic and Republican parties as institutions and the people who make up the voting blocks of the two parties. Conflating the two types of party members under the labels of ‘Democrats’ or ‘Republicans,’ while convenient shorthand, only confuses discourse and further solidifies polarization between the two voting groups. The great majority of Republican voters who say that the election was stolen I think honestly believe that, because that’s what they were told by their authority. The rising number of people who believe in the great replacement theory is due to a similar phenomenon, the powerful figures of Tucker Carlson and other pundits tirelessly scaring their voterbase into obedience.
Great work! Your post is partially congruent with one of mine. I wrote about how white anxiety was a major factor for Trumps election. The question which crossed my mind while reading your article was: Why do anti-democratic tendencies in the Western World always occur on the right side of the political spectrum? I answered this question based on my own thoughts.
Let’s think about the different thematic expertise’s parties have or, in other words, in which issue-areas the voters trust them to solve problems. Right parties are invariably against unbridled migration. As a consequence, their representants are supported form voters who op-pose (unbridled) migration. Means, they adjudge this party or its representants the competence in this specific subject. In the case of the US, it is also evident: People who fear migration vote for the Republicans. This of course is completely legitimate. Not all voters of right-wind parties are racist or the like.
The negative aspect of this is the fact that anti-migration policies are a reaction to a sub-jectively perceived threat. The thing with anxiety is that it overshadows everything else. Let’s take Trump’s election as an example, like I did in my post. A crucial part of his voters supported him because he promised them to address their fear: becoming a minority. Pointing the finger at others is of course the most obvious and easiest solution. Instead of proposing complicated economic initiatives, he just scapegoated Hispanics. And his voters, as a consequence of elab-orated propaganda, fell for it. For example, by holding out in prospect to build a wall, he won the votes of people which see migrants as an existential threat. And these people agree to a compromise: They trade the cure of their fear for less democracy. It is likely that they do not even know that they make a pact with the devil.
The pathway, according to this logic, is simple: If a populist wants to challenge the dem-ocratic foundations, it has to address migration in order to even have a chance to be elected. Once it is elected, it can begin its demolition of democratic values. But still, under the sword of Damocles of a possible recall, he still needs to have people who support him. Followingly, he is interested to keep the anxiety among his voters alive instead of resolving it.
The described process did not apply to the left because the left ideals simply did not ad-dress perceived existential threats. Nowadays, especially in the US, they are elected of people which fear something. Namely the erosion of democracy.
In the end, the perfect polarization becomes real: Two parties with diametral different existential fears fight each other. And no one wants to back down, because it’s about existential principles. The difference between the opponents is just that one’s reason to fight is justified and the other’s is a pretense of a small elite to gain power.
To make it clear again: These are my own thoughts.
I found what you wrote very insightful and frightening at the same time. To this day, it shocks me that some people who follow Tucker Carlson and he himself do not believe themselves to be racist and yet they spread so much white supremacist rhetoric. The fact that he has one of the most watched programs on cable TV speaks to the pervasiveness of white supremacist propaganda. Though you don’t call it by name, the conspiracy theory that you mention that inspired the January 6th attack on our democracy has been coined the “big lie.” The fact that so many people on the political right have adopted this conspiracy theory, especially elected officials, is indicative of what you have laid out in your post. The propaganda of the far right relies on the use of doubt and white supremacist dog whistles to push the nation further away from the democratic values it was based on. The voting restriction laws being passed by Republican state lawmakers is a very worrying trend. It will split up our states as more/less democratic than others, which is a dangerous state for our nation to be in. On the other hand, there has been an equal counter effort to pass more robust voter protection laws by Democratic elected officials. We must find solace in that effort and elect officials who will put our democracy and country above party loyalty and conspiracy theory.
Hey Jasmine, great post! I really liked how you broke down the wrong-doings of one side instead of simply stating your partisan stance. Controversial issues such as abortion come down to the legality of it based on our Constitution, not party affiliation. My biggest grapple with abortion politics is that its very much intertwined with religion, which is something I don’t think many Americans are even capable of realizing due to the puritan roots that our country was founded on. Of course there are exceptions or cleavages within the pro-life stance, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that the majority of those who are pro-life are largely religious. When laws are catered to one religion in a country where we preach religious freedom, it is bound to create conflict between groups. Whether the intentions are good or not, restrictive laws on women’s reproductive health are never good for democracy, especially when the policy is confused with morality. I feel as if women should have access to bodily autonomy in any form that may look like, so if she feels it is within her beliefs to never have an abortion, that is her right. However, it is not her right, or anyone else’s for that matter, to control what someone else does with their body. Abortion is a grave topic, and I think it should be realized that it is never the ideal option. However, the narratives that are attached to it make harmful implications about the person receiving the procedure. I am hopeful for the future – I don’t think we will erode that far back (thank you California and NY), but I do have my days where I fear we will be living like the Handmaid’s Tale.
Hey Jasmine, I really enjoy the topic you chose. I chose to focus on the rise of the far-right in France, which is somewhat analogous to the situation in the United States. However, you delve deeper into the actual policy and consequences of the far-right presence in American politics, whereas I analyze the reasons behind the rise of the French far-right. I appreciate the connection between the insurrection and anti-voting legislation – it is well founded and very true. I also wrote about the anti-voting legislation that followed the 2020 Presidential election, and it is incredibly discriminatory in nature. Minorities in Georgia, Kansas, and Texas have seen their voting ability hampered due to the enactment of subjective and discriminatory voting policy. However, I was not well educated regarding the situation surrounding abortion in Texas. I had heard that Texas had passed some sort of anti-abortion legislation, but I did not realize the government was encouraging the weaponization of private citizens. It is honestly astounding that people are so concerned with the lives of others that they will go as far as sue an individual for “helping” someone get an abortion. The fact that this mechanism is intentionally subverting the constitution was unbeknownst to me as well. You make a good point in your concluding paragraph that this is a dangerous situation – if states continue to delegitimize or dodge the parameters established by the constitution, the implications for American democracy may be severe.
The far right is certainly a major problem in the United States and media like Tucker Carlson’s show seems to mainstream far right ideas. Even the Republican Party, seems to take on some far right tendencies having ample examples that show them stretching the sometimes amorphous line between democracy and autocracy. This has also come with a rise in far right rhetoric and ideology that is echoed by the elites and their constituents within the party that frequent shows like Carlson. The mainstreaming of far right politics is certainly a part of the wider phenomenon characterized as the “fourth wave” of the postwar far right [1]. Something I believe you’ve highlighted wonderfully in your post.
I think one of the big problems in the United States is the capitulation of the Republican party to far right ideas. The GOP certainly seems to be suffering from symptoms that indicate it is infected with the far right disease. However, do symptoms of far right leaning ideology mean that the Republican Party is barreling toward authoritarian rule? Will the Republican party transform entirely into a radical right party such as the Hungarian Fidesz or the Polish PiS party or can it return to a more moderate conservative role in America’s democracy? I think the answer to this problem is a difficult one. In my view, the Republican party is experiencing a “flare-up” of far right ideology that certainly has penetrated into its contemporary consciousness. And this can certainly be because of the mainstreaming of far right ideas. I also really hope that there is an off-ramp for them to be a more agreeable political entity in a pluralistic democratic society. Otherwise, a democracy cannot function if one of our two parties is anti-democratic as far right ideology entails.
Great post and really good points, I also really loved the incorporation of How Democracies Die as a lens of analysis.
[1] Mudde , Cas. The Far Right Today (p. 4). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
Jasmine, I really enjoyed reading your post and understanding your perspective. I think the Republican Party is having a severe identity crisis right now and it’s playing out in heightened far-right extremism. As the parties have become more polarized over time, party leadership on both sides has edged further and further from the center of the political spectrum. I think a culture of vindicated extremism has been propagated by conservative television pundits and Republican leadership to the point that those ingesting this media genuinely can’t see the truth anymore. I think this has been seen to a more extreme extent with conservative Russians currently exposed to and ingesting Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine. Many of these people agree that they had been misled and unnecessarily mongered into fear by leadership. I think something dangerously similar is happening in the US Republican Party, and I think the only feasible remedy to the increased extremism, racism, and conspiratorial talking points would be a complete overhaul of leadership. This may not seem realistic, but on its current trajectory, the Republican party risks alienating moderate voters or conservative voters who may not understand how the party of small government is increasingly concerned with increasing its federal powers. The party has now become a shadow of its former self, bent on staying in power, rather than pushing for widely supported policy. Increased frustrations by minority groups and Americans unhappy with the polarizing parties and hateful rhetoric of the right offer hope that the party will have to appeal to a more moderate voter and abandon far-right sentiments.
Let me give you my appreciation on this topic. Good job and you did well!
I appreciate the acknowledgment of left-leaning voters’ underrepresentation in American politics. I would express concern about the response to the Republican party’s election challenges, noting that some consider it significant. I argue that Republicans may genuinely believe in election fraud claims, though this doesn’t necessarily mean they commit fraud. It’s troubling that some acknowledge these claims as false yet believe in their sincerity. Let me emphasizes the need to distinguish between party leaders and their voting base. Using ‘Democrats’ or ‘Republicans’ as labels can confuse discussions and exacerbate polarization. Many Republican voters believe in election theft due to trust in authority figures. This parallels the rise of the great replacement theory, driven by media influencers like Tucker Carlson. This highlights the media’s significant role in shaping political perspectives.
You did great job! Thanks for your sharing on this topic.