#gopracism — Public Fediverse posts

The GOP and their base are not coming to their senses. If anything they are becoming more extreme, more illiberal, more fascistic, more racist and more reactionary. The GOP and its base no longer care about truth and democracy. They are angry, aggrieved, longing for power and in their delusional models of reality, certain they are victimized and justified in hating and hurting their "enemies." They have been weaponized by the obscenely wealthy, the power hungry and their religious and cultural demagogues, to destroy democracy and create an oligarchic, Christian nationalist government. The base only knows they are angry, economically hurting and victims and they are primed to destroy whatever their demagogues tell them is to blame for their woes. It's not the wealthy who have impoverished them and it's not the religious leaders who have misguided and used them, it's the minorities who have stolen their jobs, their privileges and their cultural dominance. There are no economic, industrial, educational or political policies they are being offered by their leaders that will help them. Instead they are being directed to hate and destroy real education, economic opportunities, health care, political and voting reform and progressive policies that could actually benefit them and their children. They are being primed to destroy our democracy, our progress and our society. We must not lose sight of this or we are all doomed.

Opinion | Has the GOP Lost Its Brain? Hardly. | Common Dreams https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/has-the-gop-lost-its-brain-hardly

#GOPFascism
#GOPRacism
#GOPHatesDemocracy
#GOPLovesPower
#GOPAreTheToolOfTheRich
#TheRichHateDemocracy
#GOPAuthoritarianism
#GOPTheocracy

"The GOP might be confused about what it is for. But it is crystal clear about what it is against.

And while the nasty skirmish about Kevin McCarthy’s House Speakership might have centered on “egos and power rivalries,” it is a fact that McCarthy, Elise Stefaniak, Steve Scalise and their attack dog Marjorie Taylor Greene in short order came together with Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar—all of whom voted to undo Joe Biden’s election as president—to commit themselves to a culture war against the left and indeed against cultural modernity itself.

Today’s GOP contains idiots and nihilists and pathological liars like George Santos. It contains sheer opportunists such as Mitch McConnell and even McCarthy himself. And since 2016, it has been dominated by a group of right-wing ideologues, inside and outside of government, who have fueled and been fueled by Trump and who are emphatically committed to a reactionary nationalist, racist, and authoritarian vision of “American Greatness.” Whether this vision is carried forward by Trump, or DeSantis, is for them quite beside the point. For that is the GOP vision.
...
They surely inhabit a strange intellectual and moral universe of their own deluded contrivance. But they are not without ideas. They are fanatics, in possession of and possessed by very dangerous ideas. These ideas helped to promote an insurrection. They continue to sustain lies about the legitimacy of the Biden administration and to justify efforts to undermine democratic procedures, voting rights, and racial and gender equality. And they are currently being instrumentalized to reshape K-12 education and higher education in the U.S.

These ideas are very dangerous. And in order to defeat them we need to treat them with the seriousness they deserve."

Racism/white supremacy was behind J6 and continues to be alive and well in the GOP!

White Supremacy and January 6: What’s Missing from the Congressional Report https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/30/white-supremacy-and-january-6-whats-missing-from-the-congressional-report/

#Racism
#MAGARacism
#GOPRacism
#WhiteSupremacists

"...The J6 insurrectionists were driven to a large extent by “Great Replacement Theory” – a neofascist-white supremacist belief that white Americans are in danger of “white genocide” and becoming a minority in their own country because of demographic change and an intentional effort by liberal and Democratic leaders to “replace” the “real” white America with immigrants of color.
...
Despite the denialism, national surveys reveal that much of the public is inclined to embrace white supremacy – at least when questions are gently worded to gauge susceptibility to white nationalist sentiments. A 2018 University of Virginia poll revealed that nearly a third of Americans felt that “America must protect and preserve its white European heritage,” while a 2019 Associated Press poll reported that more than one in five Democrats and more than half of Republicans (51 percent) agreed that “a culture established by the country’s early European immigrants” is “important” to “the United States identity as a nation.” At a time when less than one in ten Americans openly identify with “white nationalism” in surveys, these findings reveal that tens of millions are inclined toward white supremacist politics when such questions are worded so as to gauge support for elevating, preserving and protecting “white European heritage” and “culture.”
...
The Harris and IPSOS data reveal that there are tens of millions of Americans who are susceptible to white supremacy. In the IPSOS survey, just over one-in-five Americans (21 percent) agreed that being white posed problems for people in terms of freely exercising themselves and expressing their “free speech.” In the Harris survey, 66 percent of Americans agreed “somewhat” or “strongly” that the U.S. should “protect” the “culture established by America’s early European immigrants” from attack. These figures, although varying widely, suggest that a large segment of the population – between a fifth to two-thirds – are potentially susceptible to white supremacist politics.

On J6, we see alarming results concerning the large number of people willing to normalize the insurrection. In the IPSOS survey, more than one in five (22 percent) express potential sympathy with the participants by saying that entering the capitol to disrupt the election results was either “somewhat” or “very” legitimate as a means of expressing oneself politically. Nearly half – 49 percent – agree that J6 participants held “legitimate concerns” about “election fraud” and “democracy being stolen from them.”
...
I find that susceptibility to white supremacy is significantly linked to defenses of J6. Sixty-two percent of those agreeing the U.S. should protect the culture created by early European immigrants from those who would diminish it agree that the J6 participants held legitimate concerns about election fraud and their democracy being stolen them, compared to just 24 percent of those who are not susceptible to white supremacy. This difference between both groups is large – 38 percentage points. Similarly, 43 percent of those who agree that whites are under attack, via the claim that white Americans are not free to express themselves in this culture, agree that the J6 participants were within their rights to assault the Capitol and shut down the election certification, compared to just 13 percent of those who disagreed that whites are under assault. Again, this is a large difference between groups, of 30 percentage points.

Both of my findings above reveal that J6, as a mass phenomenon, should be understood as fundamentally linked to white supremacy. J6 was not simply about a small group of racist fanatics who assaulted the Capitol. It was a symbol for the Republican base and rightwing Americans in mass; and it speaks to the mainstreaming of Great Replacement Theory in the era of Trump and under the contemporary Republican Party (Republican Party ID was also a significant predictor of sympathy with J6).
...
The January 6 insurrection occurred two years ago, and in the time since, journalists, academics, and political leaders have almost entirely ignored how the attempt to overturn the 2020 election is linked to the mainstreaming of white supremacy and Great Replacement Theory. This willful ignorance can (and must) be challenged, but anti-racist and progressive activists and intellectuals need to put white supremacy at the forefront of our discussions of J6 and Trumpism. Without this transformation in how we understand our political culture, there’s little chance of fighting back against white supremacy in America."