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Does extremism in Trump’s world have its limits after all?
Bizarre recent headlines around Donald Trump and other notable Republicans suggest US politics is spinning out of control, but there is reason to hope. House Speaker Mike Johnson getting aid for Ukraine passed suggests there are limits to the extremism in the Republican Party and sanity can still prevail. The general election is less than six months away. Stormy Daniels’ encounter with the once and possibly future president Donald Trump, revelations about animals shot in a gravel pit by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem – once a leading candidate to be Trump’s running mate – and a raucous slapdown of an attempt by one of Trump’s most steadfast allies in the House of Representatives to oust the chamber’s speaker.
Forget the “shining city on a hill”, US democracy is looking more like a co-production by Quentin Tarantino of Reservoir Dogs fame and Wes Craven, the master of cinematic horror. It is blood. Taken out of context, just like his “will be wild” call to supporters just ahead of the deadly insurrection of January 6, 2021. Not to be outdone, Arizona Republican US Senate candidate Kari Lake told her supporters to “strap on a Glock” to prepare for this year’s election. Attack the judicial systems in which they are both ensnared. For their most ardent supporters, the message is received and entrenched. Other Republicans, hoping to limit the extent to which these comments alienate independent voters, pretend there is nothing unusual about this. Everyone else is on a treadmill of outrage, too out of breath to unpack how damaging the comments are.
Then came the political memoir by Noem, who didn’t seem to understand how dear dogs are to American hearts or that journalists might fact check her false claim to have met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Her animal killing spree and her other falsehoods appear to have ended her hopes for a national political career. Trump-friendly media outlets have turned on Noem, her book tour ended early and Trump has reportedly lost interest in her as a running mate.
Are “patriots”, the FBI is part of a pernicious deep state and autocratic leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban are valorised. A second Trump presidency. It would be an administration that, according to the candidate’s own words, would turn the cross hairs of the American judiciary and all other bureaucratic tools at his disposal towards the enemy within.
Pass the bill that authorises some US$60 billion in aid for Ukraine. The move, which sparked an effort by a handful of far-right Republicans to force the speaker’s gavel out of his hands, provides some hope for those in his party who believe in the legacy of former president Ronald Reagan whose biggest foreign policy achievement was the hard line he took against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Speaking under a painting of Reagan in his office during an interview published by Politico last week, Johnson had this to say about the effort to oust him. “There are hot wars around the globe,” he said. “We have allies in jeopardy, our border’s wide open. The cost of living is through the roof. The crime rate’s through the roof. We’ve got antisemitism and angry mobs on college campuses. This is no time for frivolous palace intrigue and politics.”
Derail aid to Ukraine. This suggests that, for the moment, the most powerful Republican in Washington is behind an effort that Reagan would have championed. Such as Orban and pursing a “partnership without limits” with Putin. Perhaps Johnson is smart enough to see how damaging it will become for Republicans to support Beijing’s allies. For Ukraine and the rest of Washington’s allies, this matters little. They just hope Johnson won’t flip his list of priorities.
