The original idea behind the alt-right movement was to try to be the “friendly face” of Naziism. The idea was that putting forward people who were well dressed and looked like well-scrubbed and professional looking white kids from the suburbs would help to make extreme right ideology easier to market, thereby allowing right-wing extremists to move the “Overton window” of public discourse, with the result that conservative political leaders could openly make comments that would have been considered career ending in the pre-Trump era.

Quick site-note: In this essay, I’ll be referring to three “eras”: “pre-Trump” – meaning prior to his Presidential campaign announcement in 2015; the “Trump era” – referring to his period of collaboration with Russian intelligence agencies to aid his Presidential election campaign and his reign of error; and “post-Trump” – meaning after President Biden assumed office in January of 2021.

The greatest weakness of the “friendly face” approach is that no amount of scrubbing and nice suits can hide the fact that the far right in America is so overwhelmed by race-hatred and mental illness that there’s simply no way to contain all of the crazy. As the Trump era progressed, the crazy became over-whelming, ultimately resulting in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th, which is increasingly starting to look like a conspiracy to overthrow the Federal Government that originated with meetings between Trump and his campaign staff.

Now, we’re seeing signs that at least part of the right-wing in America wants to try to pull the curtain back again, and go back into hiding. FOX has reversed their stance on vaccinations and is now urging people to get their jabs rather than listen to disgraced physicians and herbal supplement sales-people. TheHill.com propagandist Little Joey Concha, an acolyte of FOX propagandist Sean Hannity recently published an editorial suggesting that media outlets need to stop paying attention to pillow salesman and Trump advisor Mike Lindell. Right-wing publication National Review recently countered the racist yammering from Trump minions by publishing an article praising Simone Biles for her mental toughness. Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who was Acting Attorney General for the Trump Administration after William Barr resigned has testified before Congressional Committees on Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 Presidential election, and some Senate Republicans are starting to gently criticize Republican state leaders who are aggressively trying to pander to the MAGA base by passing laws that bar private companies and local governments from imposing mask and vaccination mandates.

All of this suggests a Republican Party that’s in salvage mode. Trump’s attempts at public communication since leaving office show a man who is becoming increasingly senile and unhinged. It appears that just like his father, Trump is developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s as he approaches his mid-seventies and will soon need to be confined to some kind of adult care facility. As Trump’s sun-downing behaviors become progressively worse it appears that today’s GOP is intent on trying to abandon the overt racism and misogyny of the Trump era, and return to the more covert racism and misogyny of past decades.

My advice to America is “don’t let them do it”. The Republican Party welcomed Trump with open arms and did everything in their power to welcome Trump and enable him over the course of six years, including defending him throughout two impeachments. The sentences being meted out to the January 6th insurrectionists have demonstrated amply that America is still a country where a white man or woman will receive far less punishment for their crimes than someone with black or brown skin, but if we let the GOP get away with dropping a few fringe whackos and pretending to be the superficially polite covert racists they were in the 80s and 90s, instead of the radicalized right-wing extremists they have proven themselves to be, then we leave our nation un-protected when the next Trumpian fascist comes along.

We should never forgive the Republican Party, and we should never forget what they tried to do to our Democracy.