Several years ago, during Trump’s first term I was talking to a friend about the Masterpiece Cake shop case (in which a baker was sued for refusing to provide services to same sex couples). This friend is not a Trump supporter, but also doesn’t follow politics that closely and wasn’t aware of the issues involved. I mentioned the Trump administration’s rhetoric about “restoring religious liberty”. He responded, “Oh, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” His reaction was understandable, and it illustrates something we will all need to be vigilant about going into the next four years.
Trump’s doublespeak and insincerity can be incredibly effective in its deception. Horrible assaults on our personal freedoms, our dignities, and our rights to self-governance will be sold to us with language about freedom and patriotism.
When they say religious liberty, they don’t mean the rights of all Americans to practice the religion of their choosing, or not to practice religion. They mean the right of a particular sect of right-wing evangelical Christian Nationalism to impose its will on everyone else, to legally discriminate against those deemed “immoral”, and be subsidized by public money and resources. This is why they can simultaneously insist on putting the Ten Commandments in public schools and banning all Muslims from entering the country, or why they can talk about a First Amendment right to deny services to LGBTQ people while arresting religious missionaries who provide food and water to asylum seekers or threatening to deport a bishop born in New Jersey because she dared to implore that Trump be merciful.
When they say free speech, they don’t mean the rights of all Americans to free expression, public discourse and dissent. They mean their own right to use bigoted slurs without consequence or accountability of any kind or to spread lies and misinformation without being fact-checked. This is why they can talk about “ending censorship” while they ban books, ban drag, ban pornography, sue journalists and threaten broadcast licenses, and threaten to deploy the military against peaceful protests.
When they talk about “parental rights in education”, they don’t mean the right of all families to safe, inclusive, high quality schools. They mean the rights of a specific subset of straight, white, evangelical conservative parents to use public education to reinforce their preferred social order. This is why they scream about the evils of “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” (which is really just accurate history and science), but also talk about eliminating the Department of Education altogether and shrug their shoulders about epidemic levels of school gun violence as inevitable.
When they talk about ending “DEI” in favor of “colorblind meritocracy”, they don’t mean fair and objective evaluation of each person’s qualifications. They mean a return to a corrupt, nepotistic insider system where subservience and political connection is the path to power instead of expertise and competence. This is why they can purge the entire federal government of nonpartisan career civil servants and replace them with unqualified cranks from the Fox News weekend lineup.
When they talk about “law and order” they don’t mean a fair and impartial justice system that treats everyone equally and results in safe communities. They mean draconian punishment and the suspension of civil liberties for a certain class of citizens, and a total absence of accountability for themselves and those whom they appoint the ruling class. This is why they can militarize police and crowd the prisons with low-level nonviolent offenders, while electing a convicted felon who goes on to pardon 1600 people convicted of assaulting police officers, seditious conspiracy, fraud and corruption.
And none of this is new. It’s the same playbook that autocrats and regressives have used throughout history. They will enact a radical, authoritarian agenda that leads the majority of Americans to poverty and oppression in favor of a privileged few, and call it freedom.
Don’t fall for it, and don’t take their hollow rhetoric at face value. And most importantly, don’t accept it. Use whatever rights, power and organizing ability you have to challenge and frustrate their agenda, to care for yourself and your community during these four years, and to vote them out at the first opportunity.
