Stoking racism and the Americans’ fear of immigrants diluting the traditional culture of America, MAGA has won political battles and in 2024 the cultural war. Paraphrasing the words of former House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, they have broken the Democratic Party.

After the debate between the two candidates, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, the Democrats were overjoyed because they believed he had lost the debate. Later, Mr. Trump seemed to be rambling in many political rallies. They were sure that they had a better chance of winning the election. Before they could get over their giddiness, Mr. Trump defeated the Vice President. Shocked and bewildered, they have since watched the Republicans hegemonize American politics without any meaningful resistance. Still, it was politically fair and square for the Republicans in a Democracy. But gradually something sinister emerges.

Racism is always an explosive emotional issue in any region of the Earth.  The U.S. has done a better job to keep a lid on it. But the energy has always been there and MAGA saw it and successfully maneuvered to exploit that energy, first to galvanize people who are avert to foreign culture to form a solid base against alien elements, then using the base to gain and solidify power. Using MAGA’s favorite terminology, it has weaponized that base to beat the Democrats and to control the Republican Party and its members including elected officials.

Absolute power is a nemesis of Democracy, and no American political party or citizen has sought absolute power, until now as it is clear that MAGA is seeking it. Why the Democrats, the Knight Templars of Democracy, did not see it? Their complacent belief that the American political climate and soil were not well-suited for an un-democratic regime such as dictatorship, aristocracy, or oligarchy is partially responsible for their being caught off guard. But credit must be given to MAGA for hatching a plan, a long-term plan of working from the ground up (an American version of Lenin’s workers and Mao’s and Ho’s peasants) that has been executed one step at a time until it gathers sufficient force for an all-out onslaught against Democracy. That time is now when it has all branches of government under its absolute control. It does not need professionals to be heads of departments or attorneys general to run a government. It only needs loyal and faithful cadres who don’t have to be experienced (the Signal Chat fiasco comes to mind) but pledge allegiance to MAGA, learn how to repeat MAGA’s lines, and take orders without question.

There is little doubt that MAGA wants to gut Democracy, or at least Democracy for all. There is currently no significant obstacle against it doing so openly and speedily: Republicans are uniformly in line and Democrats have been rendered impotent.

Only a few weeks after taking over Washington, MAGA adopted one of the most heinous schemes in the history of dictatorial regimes, Mao Zedong’s Communist Chinese Red Guards. Battalions of young Chinese Communists (not unlike DOGE cadres) were given power to roam the country, create chaos, terrorize Chinese of all ranks, and turn the Chinese society into a nightmare.

MAGA has copied that strategy to a certain extent to threaten judges with impeachment, terminating or reducing necessity services in departments and agencies, planning to lay off tens of thousands of employees (DHHS). Thousands of newly hired federal employees were let go at the whim of DOGE. That was hailed by MAGA as efficiency but think of those young new hired who were full of hope and dreams when they were hired, dreams of buying a new car, getting an apartment of their own, or even getting married. Those dreams evaporated because a twenty-something decided that they must be fired.

The President prides himself on being a consummate deal maker who plays big games. So, he does not get into a game and expects to win by just having one bargain chip, let’s call it A. He is also bringing to the game B, C, D and so on. Hey Putin, Xie, Democracy lovers, and ordinary Americans, I got NATO, Europe, Ukraine, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Taiwan, North Korea, the Houthis, exorbitant tariffs, immigrants (not just illegal), and something new, Third Presidential Term. You don’t know if I will play them all or what chip I will play with. You don’t know what I want. Truth be told, I don’t exactly know what I want. But with so many chips I have in my vest’s pockets, I am sure I will win at least something.

What is the goal after dismantling Democracy, doesn’t seem to be well-defined at this point. Why eliminate or weaken the Education Department? Does it, together with its opposition to student loan forgiveness and high tariffs thus higher costs of living, aim at not just making sure the ordinary Americans know and stay in their place but also making America less attractive to foreigners? So, the immigration problems would be solved, humanely MAGA would claim, and saving billions of dollars from being spent on building the wall?

Regardless, the road starts getting rougher and life will be more difficult for most ordinary Americans – for no legitimate reason except MAGA’s dark ambition. That the cost of getting a new car will increase by some accounts by $15,000 is just an example. For billionaires, losing a few billion dollars here and there is just a tiny wave in a teacup. But for the probationary federal workers and most Americans, losing a job or paying such a high price for a necessity is a tsunami.

Politicians are sometimes expected to be emotional, impetuous, or even irrational. They fight to get their point across sometimes without reason, only passion, such as exhorting us to work 80 hours – or more – a week.

Historical events have proved the immense practical wisdom of the Founding Fathers to split the government into three branches so they can keep an eye on each other. The Supreme Court was intended as the reservoir of wisdom and reason created by the Constitution to protect and defend the Constitution itself. In the 2024 Supreme Court case, Trump v. United States, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion giving the executive branch more power by granting absolute immunity to a sitting or former president, for official acts while in office.

Whether the Supreme Court, especially the Chief Justice, has abstained from their constitutional duties is a question for better legal minds to ponder and debate. But, the Chief Justice, who mildly scolded the President for his suggestion that a judge be impeached for ruling against one of his executive orders, and the Court must forgive the President for assuming that Justices and Judges are his subordinates and the U.S. Attorney General for making statements as if she has authority to reprimand and discipline judges.

JOHN P. LE PHONG                                                                                                                                                          (This article can be found on Facebook, X, and the blog thelephongjournal.com)