It's important to note how deeply rooted & completely canonical these kooky ideas are in the US far right, & how dangerous it is that a sitting president is giving legitimacy to them. It's like Father Coughlin, the John Birch Society, and Geo Lincoln Rockwell had an orange baby.
January 6th. See you in D.C. https://t.co/vynZTv9lHb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2021
Skousen's ludicrous historical work would likely be long forgotten if Glenn Beck had not so aggressively promoted it and put it at the center of the ideology of the Tea Party movement in 2010. Tell me again how the Tea Party was about fiscal responsibility? pic.twitter.com/PyWWV508qT
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) October 10, 2019
More from Seth Cotlar
Project Veritas assigned female undercover operatives to arrange dates with FBI employees and other officials and secretly record them, with the aim of capturing any disparaging comments made about Trump. The women had code names like \u201cBrazil\u201d and \u201cTiger.\u201d https://t.co/N7Yrjx5M5U
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 13, 2021
Oh hey.
Gosh, look at that.
It’s all just so absurd, and yet so potent.
Here’s Anna Khait speaking at a pro-Trump, pro-steal the election rally last December.
This is why the founders separated church and state. pic.twitter.com/xJj9kjHyz2
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) December 12, 2020
This statistic that 90 percent of Republicans presume Trump will win may prove far more important than any of the sort https://t.co/LXTkTYzNsA covers. It scares me shitless. https://t.co/9z3NmfIbmX
— Rick Perlstein (@rickperlstein) October 27, 2020
Full polling data here. I was asked to give a talk on campus about the Tea Party in 2010, and one of my main points was that it was a weakness of the movement that it had such a delusional perception of the American people. Oops.
Anyway...the dynamic described here has been a long time coming.
A GOP political culture that regards Americans who don't agree with them as existential enemies to the nation is the logical result of the GOP's longrunning culture war approach to politics. They've been telling conservatives they're "at war" w/ their fellow citizens for decades.
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) October 27, 2020
That's the weird, seemingly illogical, thing about the right's culture war. They simultaneously think of themselves as speaking for the majority of Americans, AND they think that they are the saving remnant protecting a decadent society from ruin.
What squares this circle is the assumption that "the real American people" consist of straight white, rural or suburban people, & anyone not in that category doesn't really count as an American. That's how right wing culture warriors can both be the "majority," and a minority.
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The allegations against RV are among the most horrifying I have read. It involves possessing and sharing images of rape of infants and plans to take action in the real world of that nature. I don't really recommend reading the details, but they are here.
These allegations were first brought to light by @jaredlholt who has an excellent thread. He warns people that they may want to avoid the end of the thread because it includes shots of the specific allegations. I make the same warning.
NEW: D.C. Police arrested Ruben Verastigui -- a former "senior digital strategist" for the Senate Republican Conference -- on charges of distribution of child pornography resulting from a time span that allegedly included his time at the SRC. How I confirmed ID in thread (1/?) pic.twitter.com/AcZ7c2sBKb
— Jared Holt (@jaredlholt) February 6, 2021
RV was a main stage speaker at the 2013 March For Life.
RV did a headshot for Ronna McDaniel, GOP Chairwoman
No, but you can\u2019t keep labeling half of the country Nazis just because their beliefs are different than yours. Trump has fucked this whole country up in a matter of a few years. No one can even have a constructive conversation without someone getting triggered
— Joshua Savoy (@JoshuaSavoy2) February 11, 2021
It's fine for people to hold different beliefs. But that doesn't mean all beliefs deserve equal treatment or tolerance and it doesn't mean intolerance of some beliefs makes a person intolerant of every belief which they don't share.
So if I said I don't think Trumpism deserves to be tolerated because it's just a fresh 21st century coat of cheap paint on a failed, dangerous 20th century ideology (fascism) that doesn't mean I'm intolerant of all beliefs with which I disagree. You'd think this would be obvious.
Another important facet. People who support fascist movements tend to give what they think are valid reasons for supporting them. That doesn't mean anyone is obliged to tolerate fascism or accept their proffered excuse.
Just because some of the politicians act that way doesn\u2019t mean the whole party are Nazis. Some Republicans just vote that way because of abortion. You can\u2019t keep calling all of them Nazis and expect them to just start listening to your points.
— Joshua Savoy (@JoshuaSavoy2) February 11, 2021
Say you joined a neighborhood group that sets up community gardens and does roadside beautification projects. All good, right? Say one day you're having a meeting and you notice the President and exec board of this group are saying some bizarre things about certain neighbors.