Secularism in retreat – Trump’s poisoned legacy

In the once secular US, religious funda­men­talists are increas­ingly gaining influence, as most recently shown by the abortion ruling. Trump has appointed 120 conser­v­ative judges during his term in office and so the Supreme Court could also change the electoral law in favour of conservatives.

While it is becoming increas­ingly clear to the US and the world that Donald Trump has been preparing the coup on 6 January 2021 for a long time and should therefore be charged with treason, his Repub­lican Party is preparing for the next blow against US democracy. In perspective, the ultra-conser­v­a­tives actually no longer have a chance of winning the White House for themselves. The demographic trend in the state is shifting from the white, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon ideal voter that the  Grand Old Party intends to embody. The US is becoming more colourful, more diverse, and thanks to immigration– unlike all other indus­tri­alised nations – also younger.

In order to have any chance at all, the Repub­licans are therefore using a unfair trick, a new division of electoral districts that margin­alises ethnic minorities and favours white female voters. This gerry­man­dering violates the 14th Amendment to the US Consti­tution. But now that the Supreme Court is staffed by politi­cised individuals and three liberal justices face a phalanx of six Repub­licans, it is feared that the Consti­tution will be amended and a jurispru­dence prohibiting gerry­man­dering will be annulled. Donald Trump has appointed 120 conser­v­ative judges and justices during his tenure. Those of them who are on the Supreme Court are appointed for life.

Recently, conser­v­a­tives have shown which path they want to set the country on with an ideological substan­ti­ation, often accom­panied in the US by a funda­men­talist religiosity, which has become completely alien to many Europeans, thank Goddess. Women now no longer have the right to abortion. Now, the individual states decide whether to allow abortions or not. The Bible funda­men­talists are cheering and even call that women who have an abortion legally performed in another state are to be punished in the state where they live.

The US, which once started as the first secular project of the modern age, is thus turning into a kind of theocracy the high priests of which are the chief justices and acolytes are Repub­lican office­holders. US President Joe Biden should be stoned to death by the Repub­lican Inqui­sition because as a politician he supported legis­lation that gave women a choice to continue or terminate their pregnancies. Right-wing members in the Catholic Church, to which Joe Biden belongs, echoed the same message, and wanted Joseph barred from receiving the sacraments.

Hardliners on the Supreme Court have now tasted blood and want to continue the restruc­turing of society. Next, they could address marriage for all, which is anathema in the eyes of many extreme believers – 40 per cent of whom, by the way, believe that God created the world in six days, according to the text of the Book of Genesis.

In this respect, the appointment of the US Supreme Court is different from that of a country like Germany. If judge­ships are assigned there “polit­i­cally”, there is no doubt that – regardless of whether a judge hands in a CDU or an SPD party book upon taking office – the primacy of secular law applies. In the US, fanatical forces are promoting a Taliban­ization of society. This is accom­panied by the discrim­i­nation of whole groups of society, which is knowingly and willingly pushed by the Repub­licans for reasons of their own preser­vation of power.

2024 will become a watershed, because then Donald Trump, should he not be indicted for treason and other crimes by then, could once again become the Republican’s candidate of choice. This would deal the death blow to US democracy, which is a shadow of its best self simply because of the obscene inequality in society.