Understand | The Torments of the American Right

The painful election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives has exposed the tensions between elected Republicans. ” Gradually as [Donald] Trump is losing feathers, the competition between the different currents of the American right is resuming,” says Frédérick Gagnon, holder of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. The researcher proposes four sources to better understand these currents.

The rejection of the elites

To explain the torments of the Republicans, it is necessary to look at those of the United States as a whole, believes Frédérick Gagnon, who directs the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. Published posthumously in 1995, the essay The revolt of the elites and the betrayal of democracy, by historian and sociologist Christopher Lasch, on the relationship between the ruling and popular classes, is prescient to explain the polarization of American society, believes the researcher. “What Lasch is saying is that do-gooders have taken over institutions and lost touch with the rest of American society, especially farmers and workers, who have more conservative values. This split engendered frustration and spawned grassroots right-wing movements, such as the Tea Party. The election of Barack Obama galvanized these anti-establishment groups, which also jostled the Grand Old Party, where their influence grew rapidly, observes the researcher. The rejection of the elites has indeed pushed out the more moderate Republicans, the Republicans in Name Only (RINO), who are also considered too disconnected from the “real world”. Which did not harm the advent of a certain Donald Trump…

The revolt of the elites and the betrayal of democracy

Christopher Lasch

Flammarion Editions (reissued in 2020)

336 pages

Faith above all

The Christian right is another determining current within the Republican Party, which former President Trump was able to rally to win the White House in 2016. With his questionable morals, “Trump is not himself representative of the values ​​of the evangelists, but he gave them what they wanted, including three conservative judges on the Supreme Court,” explains Frédérick Gagnon. In his “superb book” The American Christian Right (updated in 2022), professor of American civilization Mokhtar Ben Barka dwells on the origins of this movement, its followers, its modus operandi and its relationship with the presidency for four decades. “It’s the best book in French on this trend,” says Mr. Gagnon. Those who earn the trust of evangelists enjoy strong support. “More religious voters have a greater appetite for authoritarianism,” observes the researcher. They are ready to follow the leader without questioning his speech too much. Especially if they see him as a savior. To seduce the Christian right, some Republican leaders are the apostles of a very conservative morality, on abortion in particular, even if it means displeasing the most moderate. Among them are former Vice President Mike Pence and current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The American Christian Right

Mokhtar Ben Barka

Crunchy Editions (2022)

410 pages

Right of right

“We have to talk about the far right when we talk about the Republicans, launches Frédérick Gagnon. She didn’t appear with Trump, but he flirted with her like no other president. When a neo-Nazi rolled over the crowd in Charlottesville in 2017, Donald Trump refused to condemn the far right, pointing out that there “were good people on both sides”. He thus “normalized” this current hitherto held on the margins of the Republican Party, advances the researcher. Donald Trump has also had controversial relationships with the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, two militias involved in the assault on the Capitol in January 2021. Many elected Republicans are now soft eyes on white supremacists, including Matt Gaetz, a Florida representative. Why this flirting? Republicans need the support of supporters of these groups to win elections, replies the researcher: “The situation is not rosy for them, they are desperate for votes. ” The documentary Extremism in America, broadcast online (in English), paints a portrait – “quite objective”, believes Frédérick Gagnon – of the American far right, its recent history and its motivations. All in less than 30 minutes.

Disappointed Trumpists

In 2016, Donald Trump not only succeeded in uniting the various segments of the Republican electorate, including populist movements, the Christian right and the extreme right, but his “spectacular politics”, with rallies worthy of shows rock, also attracted millions of voters who had shown themselves little politicized until then. A unifying feat that has been its strength. However, Donald Trump’s star has faded considerably since his defeat in 2020. The disappointing results of the candidates he supported in the midterm elections show this well. To understand the reasons for this disaffection, Frédérick Gagnon offers the documentary The Game Is Up, by Melissa Jo Peltier, also broadcast in English on the web. Trumpists tell why they turned their backs on the former president. Donald Trump is losing support, therefore, but the only declared candidate for the 2024 presidential election has probably not said his last word and many Republicans still refuse to criticize him, notes Frédérick Gagnon. Nevertheless, he believes, “the malaise that we saw among Republicans during the election of McCarthy illustrates the transition that the party is going through”. With the primaries, the next few months are likely to be rich in twists and turns. And in torment.