This essay by Melissa Ryan in the Progressive, is well worth reading. The right has been very successful for a long time in taking their politics to the and influenced curriculum for years to reflect their far right theocratic ideology. Ryan points out how they are doing the same thing now — in the name of Trumpism which, in many cases, is simply all about making it possible to cheat in elections:
Arizona and Michigan are battleground states, but they aren’t outliers. State Republican parties across the nation are feeling the increased influence of Trumpian/far-right extremists. At least fifty-seven Republican state and local officials from twenty-seven states were at the Capitol on January 6. Nearly all are facing calls to resign — but mostly from their political opposition, not other Republicans. As of mid-February, only two have stepped down.
State Republican parties in Wyoming, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oregon, and South Carolina and county Republican parties in Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Michigan, and Washington State have all voted to censure their fellow Republicans for various offenses that come down to not showing loyalty to Donald Trump.
The Texas Republican Party, currently chaired by former Tea Party Congressman Allen West, has endorsed legislation to allow a vote on secession from the United States, following news that Texas state Representative Kyle Biedermann planned to introduce the bill at the statehouse.
Shirlene Ostrov resigned as chair of the Hawaii GOP after the party’s official Twitter account was used to promote the QAnon conspiracy theory. The party’s vice chair of communications also resigned. In addition to QAnon tweets, the account also promoted a Holocaust denier.
In Oregon, the state Republican Party in February elected as its chairperson state Senator Dallas Heard, a known far-right extremist. Just a few weeks prior, the Oregon GOP claimed in an official statement that the attempted coup on January 6 was a “false flag” attack carried out by people on the left to discredit Trump.
The GOP’s transformation is part of an intentional strategy that Trump’s allies have been optimizing since his 2016 presidential campaign.
Ryan concludes:
Can U.S. democracy survive this current moment? It’s a question many of us have been asking since Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, and one that seems even more prescient as our country moves forward after a violent attempted coup where, so far, few of the elected officials who fanned the flames and incited the riot have been held accountable for their actions.
If Democrats want to reverse the nation’s current course, it’s clear that the next stages of the fight will be at the state and local level. As Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post told me, “These attacks on our democracy underscore the high stakes of state and local elections — we cannot afford to ignore the races down the ballot. Democrats are going to stand up and fight voter suppression with every available tool, and we need strong grassroots support to show the GOP that they cannot attack our freedom to vote without a fight.” …
The path to saving U.S. democracy might be rough and full of obstacles, but it does exist. Most Americans, regardless of their political views, don’t want to live in a nation with attempted coups, white supremacist violence, and the fear of a second civil war.
The Republican Party retains a lot of political power, but it has tied itself to a deeply unpopular former President whose continued presence will make it difficult for a new party leader to emerge. That gives pro-democracy Americans who are ready to fight back an opening.
She’s right. The administration and the congress are focused on repairing the carnage left behind from four years of Trump and passing sweeping legislation to prepare people for the challenges of the future. Activists and politicians at the state level need to focus on this particular threat. I’m not sure I see that happening yet in any systematic way. I suspect there’s a whole lot riding on the courts and that is very, very risky.