Yes, recalling Joan Didion, captured here. I’m not the only one who suspects this is true.
Facebook, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, friends-only post, 16 Jul 2024: I have spent…
…a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what is inspiring the rabid hatreds of the MAGA right. I entertained the “justified resentment of the rural left-behinds” hypothesis. I entertained the “fear of racial and gender replacement” hypothesis. I entertained the “cult group hypnosis” hypothesis. And others. None of them seemed adequate. Now, after a decade of watching this bloodthirtsy, hypocritical political sadism I’ve come to believe that underlying it all is something I’ve never allowed myself to entertain before about any group. Here it is: the MAGA movement is driven by the need of a large population of Americans to hide their own actually-existing depravity — from others and themselves. Not the spiritual kind, but real crimes. How else explain that MAGATs attribute every crime, perversion, abuse of power, act of bad faith, lying, cheating, and sadistic violence to their “enemies,” while the police records, court filings, and neutral investigations show that the vast majority of the actual instances of those things is on right-wing “conservatives.” Pedophilia — compare the instances of sexual predation, sexual abuse of children, and child porn. Voter fraud – the vast majority of cases have been by Republicans. Sadistic misogyny. Persecution of gays by closeted preachers and politicians. Stigmatization of sexual freedom by swingers behind closed doors. Theft by churches, wage-thieving businesses, sweetheart deals and kickbacks. Violence against pro-choice people by killers. Hatred of laws and norms as conspiratorial oppression by the “deep” state, by people who have enjoyed breaking laws and getting away with it and by harming other people with impunity. Hostility to taxes by people who cheat others habitually, to social justice by people who enjoy seeing harm done. The old evangelicalism of Jonathan Edwards stressed the sin of the people, sinners in the hands of an angry God. The new evangelicalism sees sin only in others. So I can’t help an almost reflexive response when I hear someone spewing MAGA hatred: “you’ve got bodies in your basement and my fondest wish is for your crimes to come to light.” That’s not a healthy political attitude, but I don’t feel like I have a choice. And I guess that’s my answer to my old question about what’s the benefit of projection for the projectors. On the political level they’re not just deflecting bad thoughts, but actual, concrete, bona fide crimes.
