Republicans are going to great lengths to whitewash history as part of their efforts to seize further power, conservative Washington Post columnist Max Boot wrote on Thursday.
"All authoritarian movements know the power of historical myths. That's why they go to such great lengths to rewrite the past to justify their rule — and the atrocities they carry out against the minorities that they scapegoat for their country's ills. The Republican Party, as it becomes increasingly anti-democratic, is no different. It is busy reshaping both the distant past and the more recent past to its liking," he wrote.
He noted Republicans apprehension at discussing slavery, noting Kayleigh McEnany's false claim that "most" of America's founders were opposed to slavery.
Fox's Kayleigh McEnany amazingly claims that "all of our main founding fathers were against slavery, recognized the evils of it."\n\nThe majority of signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves, 41 of 56 according to one study. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/03/july-4th-the-56-people-who-signed-the-declaration-of-independence/39636971/\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/hkz1xglcGn— John Whitehouse (@John Whitehouse) 1625588911
"This is America's original sin, and it can't be erased. That doesn't mean America is irredeemably evil; the Constitution was eventually amended to abolish slavery. But it does mean that America has some serious demons to grapple with — and they were not vanquished in either 1865 or 1965. By airing White grievances, the GOP simply highlights the continuing impact of racism in the United States," Boot wrote.
Boot explained Republicans are now deploying similar lies to cover up the crimes committed during the insurrection by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the 2020 election, which was won by Joe Biden.
"Most alarming of all, Trump deified Ashli Babbitt — the Air Force veteran and QAnon follower who was shot to death by a police officer while attempting to break through a barricaded door into the House Speaker's Lobby — as a Trumpist martyr. He called her 'an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman' and suggested there was some deep, dark conspiracy surrounding her death. 'Who shot Ashli Babbitt?' he demanded to know. 'Why are they keeping that secret? ... People want to know, and why.' If Trump wants to know who's responsible for her death, he should look in the mirror," Boot explained.
"What's concerning and telling is that Trump has claimed as a martyr a woman who believed in the 'big lie' and died trying to overturn a democratic election by force," he wrote. "There is a chilling reason why Trump and his followers are whitewashing a domestic terrorist — and the enslavers and segregationists of the distant past. It is the same reason all authoritarian movements rewrite history: They are creating myths to justify their seizure of power. Don't be surprised if the next attack on our democracy — and there will be a next time — is accompanied by a stirring rendition of the (as yet unwritten) 'Ballad of Ashli Babbitt.'"
The GOP is reshaping both the distant past and the more recent past to its liking.\n\nIt seeks to deny that the US has a history of racism to atone for\u2014and it seeks to deny that there was anything wrong with the Capitol riot. \n\nBoth lies serve its power grab.https://wapo.st/3hDyOGq— Max Boot (@Max Boot) 1626371602
