Where Will The Hard Core MAGA Go?

 

November 4, 2020. Or December 15, 2020. Or January 21, 2021. The days after Election Day, or the Electoral College vote, or Inauguration Day. One of these dates will reveal who will lead the country for the next four years. 

Much has been said about Never Trumpers packing up and leaving the country if President Hot Mess is the victor. This would be very difficult. Most of the countries in the world are not accepting any U.S. citizens from entering for any reason because of our amazing, miraculous response to COVID-19. The ones that do accept Americans have significant caveats, including quarantines and advance testing proof. 

It's tough enough today to travel internationally as a tourist. To emigrate to another country is like leaping through a series of flaming hoops while being attacked by ravenous tigers and landing in a pit of quicksand. But if The Orange One wins, there would be those who'd be up for such a gauntlet.

But what happens if Biden wins? How will the hard-core Trumpanzees react? Will they be drawing up their own travel escape plans? Or simply use their vast stocks of guns and ammo to make their unhappiness well known? Exercise some Second Amendment solutions? Perhaps kidnap a few Democratic governors? 

Well, let's imagine where MAGA refugees might wish to flee from a USA governed by Democrats. Wherever could such a place be? Not just any old place! It would need to align with certain strong MAGA values. Not somewhere effete like Canada or France, for cry-yi. 

No, it would have to be somewhere that has no abortion rights. No public healthcare insurance either, uh-uh. A big Negatory to wearing anti-COVID masks. A solid Nope to regulations on Business. No Sir to Environmental Regulations. Noppity-noppity to Immigration seekers like themselves. 

Major Nuh-Uh to "Socialistic" government programs. Forget about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Federal agencies like Federal Housing Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Trade Administration, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection Agency, (so many to list), public works programs/infrastructure improvement, subsidies to businesses and farmers, unemployment insurance, these products of "Socialism" go on and on... And, naturally, No No NO to taxes (which is theft!).

Yep, the smaller the government, the better. As anti-tax heart-throb Grover Norquist once famously said, reduce government to the size where it can be fit into a bathtub, and then drown it.

Is all this too negative? OK, how about a resounding "yes" to EZ access to guns? Yes to tearing down the wall between Church and State. Affirmative to providing support to private and religious schools. Yepperoo to allowing Politically Incorrect Hate Speech terms back into the common vernacular.

And a Great Big Yes to having a gargantuan military that doesn't back down to anyone! Yes Sir!!

OK, that's enough of a MAGA wish-list to search the database of nations and create a reasonable array of potential destinations for far-right refugees. Let's see here...

No Abortion: A select few nations are represented here - El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Malta and Vatican City. There are plenty of countries that don't allow abortions on demand, but nearly all allow abortions for cases like "saving the life or health of the mother," "rape or incest," or "fetal impairment."

No Public Healthcare: Aside from the good ol' USA, countries that lack any sort of universal public or private health care system are Bangladesh, Burundi, the Congo, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Paraguay, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Uganda and Yemen. You know, "shithole countries."

No COVID masks: Most developed countries require or strongly urge wearing masks. One exception is Sweden, which had a real problem with COVID earlier in the summer. But they've stayed steadfast with their No Mask attitude while stabilizing their number of cases and deaths. It's because they've introduced massive amounts of testing! So MAGA folk can circle Sweden as a possible exit site, if they can get past the Cradle to Grave social policies in that hellhole there.

No Business Regulations: Maybe the best way to look at this is to list the World Bank's 2015 Top Ten Nations for Business Friendly Regulations - Singapore, New Zealand, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, UNITED STATES, Sweden, Norway, Finland. Maybe things aren't so bad in the USA?

No Environmental Regulations: Currently, the US is #7 for countries doing the most to protect the environment. Well, that won't do. So how about the bottom-seekers? Environmental regulations are a luxury for desperately poor nations like Guinea-Bissau, Uganda, Rwanda, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Eritrea, Lesotho, Haiti and Burundi. They'll roll out the red carpet for MAGA folk, I'm sure.

No Immigrants: It's a problem when you're seeking to enter and live in a country that doesn't welcome immigrants. Here are the Top Ten Nations that are Immigrant Unfriendly: Croatia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Israel (!!), Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Montenegro and Macedonia. Huh. Heavy on the Balkans and former Soviet-controlled states.

No Taxes: MAGA-heads have some no/low tax interesting choices here for their Top Ten Destinations - United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, Bermuda, Somalia, Bahamas, Monaco, Andorra, Belize, Brunei, Cayman Islands. Set up on a hot fancy beach with your oil or crime money, or live in a failed state.

Yes Guns: Understanding that to leave the US means leaving the Easiest Place On Earth To Get A Gun, here are the other runner-up nations for MAGAs: Honduras, Finland, Serbia, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Panama, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Of course, illegal guns are awash in plenty of poor and failed states. But these are the nations with the easiest gun ownership laws on the books.

No Church and State Separation: OK, this is problematic for our MAGA buddies. The countries that have no such separation may not make it to the top of their go-to list. That's because such nations are predominantly Muslim. There are three nations that have a Christian requirement for its leader - Andorra, Lebanon and Vatican City.

Mammoth Military: It kinda goes without saying that a country needs deep tax pockets to finance a large military. If a migrating MAGA seeks the security of a big army, concessions will need to be made. Most of the top militaries belong to nations with "socialistic" governance, such as China, India, Russia, France, Germany and other developed countries.

So what does all this tell us? When the GOP loses the Presidency and Congress, its fanatics won't be going anywhere, even if they could. They will be staying right here, working to create a campaign of governmental intransigence designed to bog down any progress sought by the Biden Administration. 

They will fight the Democrats with their media weapons. They will fight with their parliamentary maneuvers. They will fight them in the courts. They will fight them on the beaches, they will fight them in the fields, they will fight them on the streets. They will never surrender.

But they will still lose and become, by their appalling amoral behavior, a permanent minority party in search of lost power and meaning. Our children are witnesses to what is happening and will not allow this debacle to ever happen again. So it is written.