Deprogramming the Far Right

Published by PolisPandit on January 24, 2021January 24, 2021

Over 70 million people voted for Donald J. Trump in the 2020 election. Yet not all Trump and far right voters are the same. Some think he’s saving America from a cabal of liberal satanists and pedophiles, while others simply like lower taxes and are willing to sacrifice any semblance of morality and dignity to realize them. It is unfair to characterize all Trump voters as the same. They vary in degree, as they do in cultish fervor. The question remains – can America deprogram the far right extremist fringe of Trump supporters?

While I may question those willing to trade morality for a friendly business climate and tax breaks for the wealthy, I understand the rationality of their actions. People often vote their bottom line. Most of those voters do not view Trump as a threat to democracy, but as a colorful buffoon who would happily do their bidding. He proved it too. Trump nominated conservative justices at all levels of the federal bench, from the district courts to the Supreme Court; cut taxes for the wealthy; rolled back environmental regulations so more businesses could freely operate; and cracked down on China and allies that arguably expect too much of America. Had his ineptitude to lead not fully revealed itself during the Coronavirus pandemic, America may very well have sworn in this aspiring despot instead of Joe Biden on January 20th.

Instead, the world watched him reveal his true authoritarian colors on January 6th.  Anyone who still supports Trump after listening to his speech at the Ellipsis – his own words – and watching the immediate aftermath is simply unamerican.  You cannot rationalize yourself as a patriot while supporting a sitting President that encourages his supporters to “fight like hell” and violently challenge a fundamental democratic process to transfer executive power.  Many of his supporters have even used in their legal defense that they were simply following Trump’s orders.

Of course, not everyone listening at the Ellipsis in support of Trump that day participated in the insurrection.  There were peaceful protestors in the midst.  However, I doubt there would be the same number feeling emboldened enough to storm the U.S. Capitol had Trump not given the instruction or planted the idea.  Furthermore, when considered in the context of his hyping of the January 6th event in the days and weeks leading up to it, the only reasonable assessment is not that Trump encouraged a protest gone wrong, but incited an attempted coup that failed.  

Although I have previously said that the current Republican Party does not survive without Trump, far right America does.  Republicans do not have an immediate successor to him, making him a lock to lead their ticket in 2024 unless he’s impeached.  Far right America, on the other hand, will exist even after Trump disappears for good.  Millions of Americans distrust the government and think there are broader conspiracies – like mass voter fraud (only when it favors them of course) – at play.  Almost none of these conspiracies have grounding in fact or reality.  Despite Trump whaling about the election being stolen, over 60 court cases say otherwise (many written by judges he appointed) and state legislative processes that oversee elections have broadly denounced his claims (even in states run by Republicans like Georgia). 

Donald Trump tapped into a part of America that was already present on the far right – hate for the system.  As many punk rock bands have done for decades, Trump inspired Americans who hate both parties, think the system is rigged, and want a revolution or “draining of the swamp”, to put it in Trump terms.  Disregard for facts, evidence, and experts became central to his platform.  Everyone was out to get him and his band of supporters, whether from the media, the “left”, the “deep state”, or anyone else who disagreed (Dr. Anthony Fauci being a prime example). Some people converted completely to this religion of Trump, others had already been practicing the faith of distrust and conspiracy fear-mongering long before Trump arrived, and the remainder took advantage of the wave to pad their bank accounts.  How Trump convinced millions of people to vote against their interests while preying on their general distrust of the system will be studied by historians and political scientists for centuries.  

It begs the questions – how do we deprogram the far right true believers?  Is it possible for them to trust the American system of government ever again?  And if not, is the next generation of Americans being set up for failure as well, in a world of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fear-fueled politics?  

David French, the conservative Christian writer and Iraq war veteran, recommends borrowing a page from the counterinsurgency handbook.  Namely, we must separate the insurgents from the population.  Those who advocate, engage in, or incite violence to further political ends of far right extremism – whether it’s anti-immigration or attacks on democratic institutions – must be treated as who they are: terrorists.  Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to America, but is a worldwide crisis that is only growing and spreading as people construct their own realities online and create communities of like-minded believers.  Their racist ideology is anti-rational, anti-intellectual, but highly persuasive for anyone who feels their country is being overrun by people who do not look, act, or talk like them.  While it may be oxymoronic to think that these far right movements would want to support each other’s nationalistic movements, the online coordination has organized protests, in-person events, and tactical training sessions with, yes, weapons training.  

These far right extremists belong in a very different category than the Park Avenue billionaires who want lower tax rates.  As French says, they must be separated from the insurgents to the Republican Party.  That goes for the likes of Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley as well.  As I have said before, there is a big difference between Republicans having policy debates and those who take positions with a willful blindness to the facts, whether it’s disregarding the perpetrator of the Capitol insurrection or the fact there is no evidence of systemic voter fraud. 

Deprogramming the minds of millions does not happen overnight.  It must begin with preventing the spread of misinformation online.  Social media companies must be held responsible if they do not have adequate control environments to combat the publication and sharing of false information.  Of course, this must be done thoughtfully because there are inherent dangers to private companies wielding the power of truth arbiters.  There must be standards, however, that require the substantiation of information, but not to such an extreme that it unreasonably restricts freedom of speech.  How social media companies strike this balance and how the government enforces it is a topic for another article, but the point here is that any deprogramming of far right extremists must begin and end on misinformation being spread on the internet.  

The Democratic Party must change its rhetoric too.  Biden may have won the 2020 election, but Democrats will lose any national vote in the future (so long as the electoral college remains as is) unless it redirects its focus from woke liberal privileged elites with Instagram accounts to the heartland blue collar workers it used to consider key to its base.  So much of the system and government hatred that permeates the far right base stems from disrespect and disregard liberals have paid to these Americans.  Elements of an “America First” economic agenda that benefit American farmers, factory workers, and service industry jobs would go a long way.

Last, but certainly not least, is community.  From Robert Putnam to Michael Sandel, the loss of community in American life is nothing new.  I would argue though that it has been exacerbated in recent months with the pandemic driving people indoors and increasingly, into isolation.  More so than ever, people may be drawn to online groups or extremist organizations, as the Times recently depicted well in their expose on Valerie Gilbert, the “Meme Queen.”  Groups like QAnon encourage community activism with bands of “analysts” seeking to construct theories by connecting disjointed pieces of information.  What so many people are looking for is not truth necessarily, but a sense of belonging.  Which is why it is more important than ever not to disown anyone we might think is unhinged, extreme, or racist, even if all signs point to one conclusion.  We must continue to engage and hope that eventually, the truth will prevail. 

Whether America can stem the tide of radical far right extremism remains to be seen. The movements continue to expand around the world as economies globalize and immigrants move across borders. If America has learned anything from the Trump years, it should be that (i) all Americans must be considered in policy decisions, not an elitist few, and (ii) misinformation has become an existential threat to democracy. Until those issues are addressed, the far right segment of American culture will not only avoid deprogramming, but any hope of peacefully participating in a democracy altogether.