Sadly, the 6 January 2021 Capitol Insurrection will not end the civil unrest and chaos in America. Instead, I think the storm of nihilism set loose by President Donald J. Trump Sr. (R-Florida) and his enablers will get worse.
Processing such events is always difficult. Here are a few observations to help you analyze our dark times.
Trump Nihilism
First, Trumpism is nihilism. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes nihilism as “the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.”
The violence against Congress shows Trumpism, like Communism and Nazism, is Nihilism disguised as a political ideology. As in Nazism and Communism, the values, policies, and ideas expressed by Trump and his followers are nothing but excuses to destroy.
Trump Racism
Second, racism is one of the key elements of Trumpism. Trump himself may not be a racist, but he empowers white racists.
The images from 6 January are disgusting. The pictures and video I saw show a mob of white people trashing the seat of our democracy: the U.S. Capitol.
There is evidence some protesters were racist. For example, BuzzFeed News claims Capitol Police offers heard mob members calling black officers the N-word.
Moreover, The Washington Post reports that rioters wanted to kill officers and singled them out for attacks. Since many of the officers were probably black, I consider what happened on 6 January a race riot. In American history, race riots are often disguises for political violence and seizures of power.
Disturbingly, CNN and SirusXM personality Michael Smerconish told podcaster Scott Galloway that Trump rioters went to Jim Clyburne’s office. U.S Representative James Clyburne (D-South Carolina), the House Majority Whip, is black. Frighteningly, Smerconish thinks somebody inside the Capitol told rioters where to find Clyburne’s office.
The attitude those people expressed is “if we can’t have America anymore then nobody can have it.” Such behavior is an example of the irrational entitlement some white Americans feel. The Trump mob proved the contention of critics such as Isabel Wilkerson that Trumpism is a reaction to the looming nonwhite majority in America.
In her excellent book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents Wilkerson offers the theory that Trump’s election was a reaction to 2042. To explain, the US Census Bureau estimates that 2042 is the first year that nonwhite people will be a majority in the United States.
Wilkerson thinks some white Americans would rather face death or self-destruction than lose a white America. The Trump mob’s behavior shows there is some truth to Wilkerson’s assertion.
Trump Narcissism
January 6 also supports Wilkerson’s thesis that racism or caste (her word for racism) causes narcissism.
The Mayo Clinic describes Narcissistic Personality Disorder as: “a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of extreme confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.”
Similarly, one of the most telling images of January 6 was pictures of U.S. Representative Andy Kim (D-New Jersey) picking up garbage in the Capitol. The nonwhite Kim; a Korean-American and the son of immigrants, finds himself cleaning up the mess left by white Americans.
Kim’s behavior gives us back some of the faith in America that Trump and his thugs took away. Hopefully, American can grow out of this disorder.
Trump Nihilism Will Lead to More Police Violence and Brutality
Frighteningly, I think Trump’s nihilism will lead to more police violence and brutality.
Predictably, the internet and social media are full of claims law enforcement is racist and gave preferential treatment to the Trump thugs. Even President-Elect Joe Biden (D-Delaware) has echoed these claims, NBC News reports.
I predict those charges will lead to police brutality and violence. To explain, cops will try to prove they are not racist or right wing by savagely beating Trump supporters.
The next time there is a Trump protest, there will be an overwhelming police response with hundreds of armed and armored officers who will aggressively attack anybody in a MAGA hat. Consequently, social media will fill up with images of riot police beating on middle-aged white men in MAGA hats.
The law-enforcement industrial complex will turn all of its guns, batons, and water cannon on the Trump movement. The turnaround will occur because the law enforcement industrial complex wants the support of the Left, Biden, and the media.
Frighteningly, I predict the White House will endorse and promote the violence and oppression. Remember, the next President will be Joe “Mass Incarceration” Biden. The Vice President will be Kamala Harris (D-California) the woman who put parents in jail because their children played hooky. I predict Biden and Harris will preside over a wave of oppression of right-wing groups similar to the 1919 Red Scare.
Worst of all, many leftists with Black Lives Matter bumper stickers on their cars and “I can’t breathe masks” on their faces will cheer as police kill and injure Trump supporters. Similarly, the police violence will create a new class of martyrs for Qanon and the Trump movement.
The far right is already turning Ashli Babbitt a Trump follower killed by law enforcement at the Capitol riot into a martyr, Time reports. I predict Babbitt will be the first of many such martyrs.
As Black Lives Matter demonstrates, police violence only creates martyrs and empowers radicals. Consequently, oppression of the Trump followers will make them more radical, violent, and activist.
The New Censorship
Perhaps the most frightening result of the Trump Riot will be a fresh wave of censorship. For instance, Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR),and Snapchat (SNAP) banned Trump from their platforms.
Similarly, the Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL) removed the right-wing social media app Parler from their app stores. Hence, Parler; (a sort of far-right Twitter), was banished from Google Play and the App store.
Additionally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suspended Parler’s hosting account on 10 January 2021. Consequently, Parler could die without hosting.
The speed of this censorship and the lack of appeals frightens me. The Left will cheer when they should fear. If Big Tech can cancel Trump, it can cancel Michael Moore, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).
Leftists who are applauding Big Tech’s actions, will find themselves appalled when the same censors remove Noam Chomsky and Cornel West as “dangerous or inflammatory.” History shows that will take only a few weeks for the Big Tech Censors and their cheerleaders at MSNBC to label anybody who demands higher taxes on rich people as a dangerous demagogue who needs cancellation.
Therefore, we need some agency with the power to force Big Tech to obey and follow the First Amendment. Hopefully, the courts will reign in the Big Tech censors before they cancel free speech itself.
In the final analysis, I think the Trump Nihilism will get worse and lead to more death, destruction, and suffering.
Originally published at https://marketmadhouse.com on January 15, 2021.
