By Frank Joyce
Perhaps there will come a time when MAGA will be more widely seen for what it is—a contemporary version of White Citizens Councils, the Black Legion, the KKK and other white supremacy organizations associated with the past. For now, however, the KKK is stigmatized in a way that MAGA is not.
One reason is that white supremacy ideology propels itself forward by sometimes making it slightly easier to disavow earlier racism than that of the present. Each generation is told that the “race” problem has been fixed. We are supposed to believe that only fumes linger from structures and atrocities of the past. Which most whites want to believe, so it’s not a tough sell to them.
It’s true that at great cost, the racialized chattel slave system was abolished and later the legal system known as Jim Crow was significantly mitigated. Nevertheless, white supremacy survives as a living breathing system of the present—not an artifact of the past. It’s the single biggest reason that 77 million voters gave Donald Trump a popular vote victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Although the KKK and MAGA are both direct descendants of white supremacist ideology dating to the origins of European colonialism hundreds of years ago, the two movements are not currently portrayed or perceived in the same light. That’s significant because, MAGA’s policies and practices are as bad if not worse than those of the KKK.
How so? Language for starters. Here is an excerpt from the Klansman’s Manual published in 1924.
But the Republican Party Platform of 2024 is far more bellicose than the KLANSMAN’S MANUAL. Here’s an excerpt.
But now we are a Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE. Our future, our identity, and our very way of life are under threat like never before. Today we must once again call upon the same American Spirit that led us to prevail through every challenge of the past if we are going to lead our Nation to a brighter future.
For decades, our politicians sold our jobs and livelihoods to the highest bidders overseas with unfair Trade Deals and a blind faith in the siren song of globalism. They insulated themselves from criticism and the consequences of their own bad actions, allowing our Borders to be overrun, our cities to be overtaken by crime, our System of Justice to be weaponized, and our young people to develop a sense of hopelessness and despair. They rejected our History and our Values. Quite simply, they did everything in their power to destroy our Country.
In 2016, President Donald J. Trump was elected as an unapologetic Champion of the American People. He reignited the American Spirit and called on us to renew our National Pride. His Policies spurred Historic Economic Growth, Job Creation, and a Resurgence of American Manufacturing. President Trump and the Republican Party led America out of the pessimism induced by decades of failed leadership, showing us that the American People want Greatness for our Country again.
Yet after nearly four years of the Biden administration, America is now rocked by Raging Inflation, Open Borders, Rampant Crime, Attacks on our Children, and Global Conflict, Chaos, and Instability.
Like the Heroes who built and defended this Nation before us, we will never give up. We will restore our Nation of, by, and for the People. We will Make America Great Again.
Those are words. As to actions, consider this: on January 6, MAGA supporters invaded the US Capitol. Without sanitizing the KKK’s ugly history of lynchings, bombings and assassinations, they never did anything close to that. Nor did the Klan ever elect a President campaigning on its platform.
When the time comes that “everybody will have been against this,” we will see that MAGA represents an evolution toward politicized racist violence becoming more federalized.
Yet another reason to Begin Again.