For Beauchamp, the key to the reactionary spirit in American politics is racism. Although he refers to the history of slavery to suggest the depth of the reactionary tradition in the United States, Beauchamp sees the rise of the Jim Crow South as a turning point in the development of a “competitive authoritarianism” (in the phrase of political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way) in America. Here, we see the preservation of the general framework of democratic institutions—regular elections, a state constitution, nominal equality before the law—along with the systematic disenfranchisement of Black Southerners (and many poor whites) in the name of protecting democracy from subversion. In the 1960s, the “Second Reconstruction” of the civil rights movement destroyed Southern segregation and made it impossible to openly embrace white supremacy in politics. But it fueled the reactionary spirit, especially after the election of Barack Obama: “A Black man in the Oval Office is undeniable evidence that things had changed in America, that certain elements of the old order no longer held.” The rise of MAGA and of Trump, Beauchamp suggests, represents a “primal scream” against a more diverse and inclusive future.
The American pattern—democratic upsurge followed by reaction—can be seen around the globe. As decolonization ended empire and as countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East adopted liberal democratic constitutions, citizens no longer could be persuaded by an open appeal to fascism. Instead, the European far right (especially Viktor Orbán in Hungary), the Likud party under Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, and India under the leadership of Narendra Modi have all adopted an anti-egalitarian politics in the name of preserving authentic democracy. In some cases, their inspiration can be traced back to the United States: Orbán’s 2013 campaign against George Soros as the enemy of “Christian democracy” and Hungarian tradition was apparently inspired by American political consultants Arthur Finkelstein and George Birnbaum, recommended to Orbán by Netanyahu. During Orbán’s rise (and before Finkelstein’s death in 2017), they helped Orbán develop a line of argument that blamed foreign media, “hired activists,” and outside troublemakers such as Soros himself for the influx of migrants to Hungary. The result was Orbán’s rejection of liberal democracy as “no longer able to protect people’s dignity, provide freedom, guarantee physical security, or maintain Christian culture.” In order to preserve democracy, the “Hungarian people” had to replace “the shipwreck of liberal democracy.”