Stephan: John Alexander, in this essay, makes what I think is a very significant and not properly appreciated distinction concerning the MAGAt community. There are two groups, the smaller group are people knowingly and actively trying to turn America into a White supremacy christofascist autocracy; the ones spewing out the disinformation, and plotting systematically to destroy democracy. The larger group is made up of people who are either too willfully ignorant or just too stupid to understand what is going on.
What is particularly important here, as Alexander points out, is that the the power structure of the MAGAT Republican party in Congress and out is, with two notable exceptions, Cheney and Kinzinger, either actively or passively completely on board with what is being attempted. I used to say you cannot be an ethical person and a Republican; I will now amend that to say: You cannot be a Republican and an ethical person who supports democracy. We, as a country, are now staring into the abyss of White supremacy christofascism, and an end to the America created by the Founders, and it is time to quit pussy footing around this, and hold these people accountable.
Trump and his MAGAts
The vast majority of Trump supporters fall into one of two categories, Deceivers and the Deceived. There is a third, very tiny subset, some of the very wealthy, who support Trump for their own financial interests. Terminally greedy, they do so at the expense of our country and their fellow Americans, but such is to be expected of them.
The largest group of Trump supporters are the Deceived, and there are tens of millions of them. By far the worst group is comprised of the Deceivers. These are the people who understand just how corrupt Trump is, yet profess support for him anyway. GOP politicians are fearful of the ill-advised, but energized Trump base. For them such support is justified as self-preservation. These are politicians that place their reelection above the well-being of their constituents and their sworn duty to the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, these are most of the currently elected GOP officials.
The Deceivers
Of course, the senior leadership of the GOP in Congress constitutes the worst of the worst. That certainly includes House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, and Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell.
