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
Rush Limbaugh was given the Medal of Freedom at the State of the Union last night. Here's a bit on who he is.
— Media Matters (@mmfa) February 5, 2020
Viewer discretion is advised. pic.twitter.com/rWYbfnDThl
Limbaugh is also a good example of how the distinction between “respectable” conservatism and “the more radical fringe” can easily be overstated.
This Bill Buckley/Rush Limbaugh joint effort was published in 1993, just in case anyone thought being anti-PC was a new Trumpian dimension of American conservatism, or that National Review was above Rush's crass anti-intellectual populism. pic.twitter.com/XtnoW1yF4S
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) January 2, 2021
In 1992 George HW Bush had Rush Limbaugh open his final campaign event before Election Day.
At 1:30 on this video GHB *opens* with these words. "And may I start by thanking Rush Limbaugh. Last night, you know, Governor Clinton was at the Meadowlands with Richard Gere and other Hollywood liberals." https://t.co/La3Bcb6I8K
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) November 16, 2019
Rush descended from a well-off and well-connected family in Missouri, but he played the role of “pissed off Joe Six Pack” really well. He’s a perfect example of “plutocratic populism.”
Limbaugh’s cruel bigotry and aura of aggrieved entitlement was a feature, not a bug. In an era of shifting social mores, Limbaugh gave his listeners permission to be a-holes and be proud about it. He perfected the schtick that would get Trump elected.
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.