Ross Douthat thinks that the fears of liberals that Trump and Hegseth want to use the military to create the Republic of Gilead are paranoid. Is he right?
Let’s look at the record. Hegseth is a member of a church which has extremely reactionary views about families and gender. He has openly identified the left as being an enemy of the real America. He has expressed skepticism about women serving in the military. He has already run off transgender military members. He has sacked the lawyers who could restrain his judgments about the use of force. He has returned some military bases to their previous Confederate names. He has supported attacking boats operated by noncombatants in violation of international law on the obviously spurious basis that the boat occupants are “narco-terrorists.” Are you reassured by any of that?
His boss, for his part, has advocated for shooting demonstrators, has identified the left as being an enemy of America, and has sent troops to blue cities to prove that he’s in charge. You may also recall that he tried to overthrow the government in January 2021, and that the Supreme Court has given immunity for practically everything he does while in office.
The bottom line here is that Trump and Hegseth have the resources to make America a fascist state, and there is nothing except public opinion to stop them if they try. In addition, there is nothing in their ideology that would prevent them from giving it a go. Only inertia, illusions about their popularity, and some lingering respect for liberal democracy could stop them. That doesn’t sound like paranoia to me.