Photo credit: Benson Kua
It’s been another head-spinning week in the wacky reality show world that is our current American life. Nowadays, when trying to recap recent events, one finds oneself in a permanent “where to begin?” quandary. But here goes…
During the State of the Union address with a highly decorated, Tuskegee airman, Brigadier General Charles McGee, who fought in World War II, Korean and Vietnam, in the audience—and during Black History Month—an impeached racist sullied the Medal of Freedom by bestowing it upon a propagandist of race-based hatred. Days later, white supremacists marched in the nation’s capital. Meanwhile, the mock impeachment trial ended with a mock acquittal followed by a wave of retribution against witnesses and threats against regime opponents. Then came a moment of comic relief: That plucky gay band of intrepid fools, the Log Cabin Republicans, was again denied participation at the Texas GOP State Convention. Cue Doris Day’s “He’s got high hopes.”
But, in the midst of all this mayhem, gay presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg won the Iowa Democratic Caucus. The victory by a mere 0.1% margin marked an extraordinary moment in LGBTQ history. Buttigieg had already made history as the first LGBTQ person to run for president of the United States. Now, with his campaign having gained unexpected momentum and traction, his prospects for a similarly strong showing in the New Hampshire Primary on Feb. 11 appear likely. If nothing else, Buttigieg’s success will remain an inspirational achievement for LGBTQ folks, especially the youth.
Still, the scenario of a great gay hope in a future President Pete is unlikely. Yes, in a perfect world, he could probably return the country to an Obama-like era of positivity, dignity and intelligent governance. The nation could claw its way out of the current mire of cruelty, vulgarity and Cosa Nostra-like corruption and reset back to its traditional values and an honorable world standing. But it’s an imperfect world, one fraught with base human machinations.
Playing dirty is the GOP’s modus operandi, and in that it will remain intransient. We’ve already seen that ugliness in the earliest homophobic reactions to the Buttigieg candidacy. The 2020 Republican arsenal is already deployed and includes pinpoint targeted voter suppression (including here, in Wisconsin), attacks on the free press and intimidation by armed militias. To counter a Buttigieg candidacy, Republicans would play an anti-gay trump card focused on voters who might harbor reluctance to elect an LGBTQ president. Meanwhile, as much as I would hope American democracy is still intact enough to weather an all-out storm of Russian disinformation on behalf of Republicans, it could easily overwhelm access to the truth. In fact, I recently clicked on a Facebook fake news article, and the page’s “We use cookies” message appeared in Russian—by the way, “cookies” is spelled “кукис” in Cyrillic.
It is abundantly clear the current regime’s raison d’être is to undo everything Obama accomplished. That would necessarily mean to roll back LGBTQ rights, including marriage equality and the right to serve in the military, that were achieved under the previous administration. Buttigieg, or any other Democratic contender, will have to win despite all.
