I, personally, think you are probably right. My point is that those are not my fears as such but a theory about why some people, who might feel those anxieties, might vote R even though it is not what they really want. There might be enough people who feel that way to make a difference.
Racism is core belief of the GQP at this point, maybe THE core belief. If they stop pushing away people of color, they lose their core. This is why they’ve been traveling the road deeper and deeper into the ugly politics that they have. They can’t afford to lose the racist vote. They’re long past the point of no return.
Well, really, their MO is craziness. They are pounding us relentlessly with insanity, apparently in an effort to make outlandish seem normal. The only proper response is to say “you are an idiot”, ask why these people are getting air, and walk away. Because birds are real.
IMO its the natural progression of that extreme political wing (which i guess is not really extreme anymore as its been adopted as the central platform of the GOP) once you step over the line from distorting and omitting facts to make your point, to simply abandoning facts completely and just stating what you want to be true.
Once you’ve adopted the big lie completely and the truth has no bearing, why stick to mundane lies like “The democrats are evil and trying to destroy America” when there’s all sorts of more exciting lies out there involving Satan worshiping cannibals and dead Kennedies coming back to life?
I heard they were forming a band.
If Icke isn’t an antisemite, he’s doing an excellent imitation of one.
“Antisemitic conspiracy theories circulated by former sports presenter David Icke - including a claim that Jewish cultists or “Sabbatian Frankists” are responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic - have been viewed over 30 million times on social media, a new report has revealed.”
“Millions have also watched Mr Icke explain how Bill Gates and “the Rothschilds” form part of that cult”…
“In addition to accusing Jews of helping to plan the coronavirus outbreak, he has previously accused them of secretly being behind antisemitic attacks on their own communities and suggested that Adolf Hitler was Jewish and an agent of Zionism – both in books sold on Amazon and most recently in a video uploaded to YouTube in March of this year.”
As for Lyndon Larouche, he was so far out there on the spectrum that it was hard to distinguish his far-far-right ravings from far-far-left spewings.
The key distinction to be drawn here is that, in saner times, both the Dems and the GOP could be reliably depended upon to denounce Larouche and his ilk routinely. Now the GOP doesn’t disavow his sort of support but actively seeks to gain it.
This place is great.
It’s bipartisan fringe craziness.
“(Larouche Youth Movement) members have been active in the Democratic Party at the state and local levels. In 2006, LaRouche Youth Movement activist and Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee member Cody Jones was honored as “Democrat of the Year” for the 43rd Assembly District of California, by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. At the April 2007, California State Democratic Convention, LYM activist Quincy O’Neal was elected vice-chairman of the California State Democratic Black Caucus and Wynneal Innocentes was elected corresponding secretary of the Filipino Caucus. O’Neal is also president of the LYM’s Democratic Party Club, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Legacy Club, which is affiliated with the [California Democratic Council. In March 2010, LaRouche Youth leader Kesha Rogers won the Democratic congressional primary in Houston, Texas’ 22nd District.”
On the other hand, Larouche PAC members called for Obama’s impeachment and reportedly showed up at Tea Party events.
It’s hard to wrap your head around the idea of young enthusiasts signing on to that crazy old turd’s legacy. But cults are hard to figure.
Well, over on Twitter, many a re saying Biden is having a medical procedure and Harris will be acting president during, and it’s all planned that something will go wrong and that’s the way to get her as president. Someone called catturd is vocal about such things
It’s the unfounded, delusional optimism combined with ironclad knowledge that if it didn’t go down like they predicted and expected, that it’s the result of some kind of conspiracy, nefarious doings, foreign influence, etc…
Like when Trump lost, it seemed to be accepted at face value that a win was a foregone conclusion, and that the only thing which might have caused that would be some sort of electoral malfeasance, not that the people of the country voted him out.
It’s one thing to believe that Trump could have carried California, but it’s another to assume that he will, and when he doesn’t, that it HAS to be the result of some sort of nefarious and shady doings by the Democrats.
It’s like this on everything- less than ideal outcomes = Democratic malfeasance, and there’s no other explanation.
As far as I can tell, it’s because they’ve created this straw house of how things “should be”, and anything/anyone who doesn’t buy in is therefore the enemy and against them, and because this vision is so pure in their eyes, anyone opposing it must be evil and crooked by default.
There’s no compromise. None whatsoever. It’s basically what Barry Goldwater said back in the day come true:
Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.
The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are NOT using their religious clout with WISDOM. I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ and ‘D.’ Just who do they think they are?.. I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”
Worth noting that in his time, Goldwater was slammed for being an extremist.
“In your heart, you know he’s right. FAR right.”
He looks a lot better these days.
“In your guts, you know he’s nuts.”
LBJ
I came in here to mention this. I’m sure come tomorrow when Biden’s fine, they’ll say that for some magical reason, Harris retained her presidential powers and remains in power behind the scenes.
I know- that’s why I think his quotes on this stuff hit as hard as they do. It’s not like it was Hubert Humphrey saying that, it was Barry Goldwater, a noted far-right conservative.
The usual dodge is, “They had to change the plan because we outed them!”
Perfectly explains why the predictions always fail, while simultaneously making the conspiracy theorists look all-powerful. Self-delusion is a hell of a drug.
I remember back in the 80s and 90s, Larouche and the John Birchers were spoken of as loons and crackpots in the same breath by mainstream Republicans/conservatives.
Now, like you say, they’re both being courted by today’s GOP, or the GOP has mainstreamed their ideas.
More like: Today, they ARE the GOP.
I forget which of the Trump books featured this tidbit (Stephanie Grisham’s maybe) but when Trump had his colonoscopy- the reason behind (hehe) his mystery trip to Walter Reed- he was so intent on not giving Pence any power, ever - that he had the procedure done without anesthesia.
It’s true, @Sam_Stone, that I don’t know anyone who claims Trump is the messiah.
As I’ve said repeatedly, the claim is that he is a prophet. That was what I saw on the Facebook page of my former Christian mentor. This message by many modern so-called prophets was that Trump was ordained by God to lead the US. And, when he lost, they either said he’s secretly still president, or they started to make up stuff about “Trump the mantle” to say that what they said would apply to his ideological successor.
That said, they do put Trump into the position they previously held for Jesus. They just need to have faith in Trump. My cousin (the country lay preacher) has called so many people out for that aspect since Trump’s loss. Same as he called out people supporting Trump after the golden statue at CPAC. It really was a Golden Calf moment.
That said, remember that Trump is not the thread. A slicker Trump is the threat. And there are a lot of people vying for that role, trying to thread the needle between the Trumpists and the Republicans who see the conspiracy stuff as insane.
Assuming they’re all crazy will be out downfall. We need to make sure we point out when any of the “sane” politicians pander to the crazies.