By Brigitte L. Nacos
Nearly 50 years ago, Hannah Arendt wrote in “On Violence” that “the practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is to a more violent world.”
Drawing on a historical perspective and applying the lessons of the past to post-WWII politics Arendt’s conclusions hold true for today’s chaotic and frightening state of political affairs at home and abroad.
Take this week’s infighting in one of our two major political parties caused by Jim Jordan’s candidacy for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
News reports, comments, and analyses focused on Jordan’s fellow GOP members who voted against him and why. Lost in this exercise was that only about 10 percent—a very thin minority—refused to fall in line with the massive majority of MAGA Republicans who cast their votes in favor of the most radical far-right member of the House.
200 in the first and 199 Republicans in the second round voted for the one member of the Republican conference who was the closest ally of Donald Trump in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. To this day, he has refused to admit that Joe Biden won the election. Instead, he was and is pushing for the impeachment of the sitting president without impeachable facts.
To put it differently, about 90 percent of House Republicans voted for a January 6 insurrectionist to become Speaker of the House. No wonder that Donald Trump, the architect of the violent insurrection of January 6, 2021, endorsed Jim Jordan enthusiastically as Speaker of the House.
Like Trump, Jordan is a rhetorical bully. And aggressive rhetoric leads to aggressive and often violent actions.
Before and during the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol, then Vice President Mike Pence received death threats. “Hang Mike Pence!” the insurrectionists screamed again and again.
This week, the pro-Jordan camp in the House and in the MAGA media made great efforts to steamroll their candidate into the speaker's office by publicly identifying and bullying Republicans who voted against Jordan. As a result, anti-Jordan Republicans became the targets of serious threats—including death threats.
As CNN reported
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa said in a statement that she has “received credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls” after flipping her speaker vote from Jordan on Tuesday to House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger on Wednesday. New York Rep. Nick LaLota, meanwhile, shared in a social media post a message he received that told him to “go f**k yourself and die.”
The plotted insurrection and coup of January 6 failed. But as Arendt concluded, “If goals [fought for violently] are not achieved rapidly, the results will not be merely defeat but the introduction of the practice of violence into the whole body politic.”
This week’s threats against anti-Jordan Republicans as well as Donald Trump’s regular attack rhetoric against anyone not loyal to him and his cult are disconcerting signs of the violent nature of MAGA/GOP politics.
All of this does not bode well for next year’s presidential and congressional campaigns and elections.
Comments