This is the fifth in a series in which we show how Trump’s MAGA movement is the new American fascism. We use a template laid out in an article published in 2003 by historian Lawrence Britt, which analyzed seven fascist regimes and the common threads linking them. You can read last week’s blog here.
Week V: Rampant Sexism
“The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation.”
Opposition to abortion has been a main driver behind the Republican Party’s lurch to the right. The reversal of Roe and the ensuing Dobbs opinion were the result of the GOP’s 50-year campaign to remake the judiciary, culminating in a takeover of the Supreme Court. The Federalist Society, founded in 1980, served as the incubator for the conservatives who came to dominate the Supreme Court. Senator MItch McConnell’s machinations—aided by the untimely death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg—resulted in the appointment of three Federalist Society-approved Justices during Trump’s presidency, who joined the three already on the Court. Together, the six judges form an “originalist” majority, tying their opinions to a strict (literal) reading of the Constitution.
And that’s a problem, because since the Constitution never mentions women, abortion or LGBTQ+ rights, this Court is primed to go after all three any which way they can. Case in point: remember that ruling allowing a Colorado baker to refuse a request by a gay couple to prepare a wedding cake? It didn’t seem to matter to the six Justices that it turned out that the alleged gay client in the case was actually a man who had been married to a woman for years, had never actually asked anyone to design a wedding website—and had no idea he had even been named in the case.
The unholy alliance between politics and religion that formed when Trump, MAGA and the evangelical movement combined forces has resulted in an ever-strengthening push to restrict women’s rights and dehumanize the LGBTQ+ community. What’s next? We can only guess.
Since the Dobbs decision, 43 states now have new abortion prohibitions on their books. Where just a year ago, this map was entirely blue, here’s what it looks like now (per Fortune magazine):
Approximately 22 million women and girls of reproductive age in the United States now live in states where abortion access is heavily restricted—and often totally inaccessible. There are already scores of stories of women who have had to deal with the consequences of those bans, and the appalling choices confronting them. You can read about some of the cases here. Currently, the country is following the struggle of Katie Cox, a pregnant Texas mother of two carrying a fetus with a fatal condition. Heeding her doctors’ advice, and fearing for her health—and her own life—Cox sued the state, seeking an emergency court order to allow her doctor to perform an abortion, despite Texas’ strict bans on the procedure. The court relented, only to have the Texas Supreme Court halt that lower court order on appeal by the State Attorney General, Ken Paxton—reversing the decision. Paxton had already executed an end run, warning three hospitals where Cox might seek treatment that they could be subject to prosecution and civil lawsuits.
Like thousands of Texas women before her, Cox left the state to have the procedure performed elsewhere. As Monica Hesse wrote, “What happened to Kate Cox was a travesty of justice and a tragedy of compassion. And is not going to be an exception.”
Indeed, it’s going to get worse. Want proof? Look no further than the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, a dream come true for the evangelical right: an originalist, a religious zealot and an avowed opponent of abortion. “There is no right to abortion in the Constitution,” Johnson crowed in an interview on Fox news following the overturning of Roe in 2022. “There never was; it’s not in its text, structure, or meaning and the court said that decisively. Many of us have been working towards this day our entire adult lives and it is a joyous occasion.” Not one to shy away from politicizing the issue, Johnson once blamed Roe vs Wade for depriving America of able-bodied workers. Will he use his new-found power to lead the charge on a national ban on abortion—or attach anti-abortion legislation to critical spending bills? It seems likely, given in early 2023, he co-sponsored (with 110 other Republicans), the Life at Conception Act, which declares “the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization.” In other words, they called for a national abortion ban.
But Johnson won’t stop there. It’s not just an abortion ban he’s after but likely a contraception ban, too. And as for LGBTQ+ rights? America’s new Speaker has promoted “conversion therapy” for gay teens, the criminalization of gay sex, and even blamed homosexuality for the downfall of the Roman Empire. While these may seem like fringe theories, Johnson was in good company at the convention of the National Association for Christian Lawyers, where he gave the keynote address on December 6. This is a conference that has featured a speaker who defended the idea of the death penalty for gay people. This year, Johnson claimed that weeks before he became House Speaker, God began preparing him to lead the nation through “a Red Sea moment”—with Johnson as Moses. The conference ended with anti-LGBTQ evangelist Andrew Wommack calling transgenderism and homosexuality “demonic.”
Given Johnson’s ties to a network of “charismatic” Christians, known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), which teaches that there is a theological imperative to bring America under "biblical governance," Johnson’s statements shouldn’t surprise us. Separation of Church and State, be damned! Outside his House office, Johnson flies three flags: the U.S. flag, the State of Louisiana flag and the “Appeal to Heaven'' flag, popular with the extreme Christian nationalists and election deniers who flew it during the January 6th assault on the Capitol.
In Trump and Johnson, the fanatical evangelical right have their “match made in heaven” when it comes to enacting an agenda that will reverse the rights that women and the LGBTQ+ community have fought for over the last 50 years.
Remember, too, that Johnson voted against certifying the 2020 election in the House—and authored the supporting brief on behalf of House Republicans asking the Supreme Court to block Electoral College certification. This is the man who will oversee the House in the interval between the November 2024 election and the Presidential inauguration in January 2025.
History teaches us that mixing Christianity with nationalism is a recipe for fascism. Johnson is showing us what he’s going to do. It’s going to take all of us to stop it.
Next week, Controlled Mass Media.
