Fascism Watch for 10 July 2023: The Holy War Edition

No good news today, I’m afraid. I could include a huge section on Threads, but it would be huge so I’m going to separate it off in another post. Some previous good news even got reversed: Federal appeals court allows Republican Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors to take effect. That’s really bad, of course.

From Republicans and the “part of small government” and – long ago – the “party of reality,” we now have “Queers are literally Satan.” The story being covered is 7 GOP attorneys general threaten Target over Pride display, saying it’s illegal – what they want is Russia’s laws wherein any mention, any hint of LGBT existence is a serious crime – but take a second look at that link.

In particular, take a look at the Fox News chyron in the screenshot that heads up the piece. It’s the chyron that’s important: it states that Target is selling satanic merchandise. Talking about Pride merch, putting satanism up in words, conflating the two.

This conflation is entirely intentional, and is showing the hand of the Republican 2024 campaign, which is going to be “everyone but us is literally the incarnation of evil and actively in league with Satan.”

It’s just one example; see also right-wing media figures prepare for “spiritual war” in 2024 by claiming their opponents are demonic entities.

If you think I’m joking or that they won’t do this, don’t. There are no rules and there are no limits.

Hell, it’s not even the first time, it’s just the first time in a while it’s been so high profile. “Spiritual Warfare” goes back to at least the 1990s and was brought up in part directly to fight LGBT rights. They really revive it when they want every one of their rank-and-file to go all in, to go for the throat.

Remember all those times I’ve written about the fundamentalist movement’s infatuation with Revelations 3:15-16 and how they’ve turned that into a self-radicalising ratchet? Well here we are, back in the endgame. If you aren’t already ready for it, get ready, because it’s already here.

Today’s Republican Party is brutal; deliberately stupid; fundamentalist and cultish – murderously so; censorious; and authoritarian.

Brutality? It’s not even that cruelty is the point, though it is. It’s that Cruelty is no longer enough: as he seeks a return to power in 2024, Trump has already pivoted to brutality, and there is nothing subtle about it. I mean, fash will find any reason to hate you, including breastfeeding your own children, but it’s all in service of the brutality.

Deliberately stupid? QAnon and anti-vaccincation just for starters, but here’s the latest: Oklahoma superintendent of schools says Tulsa Race Massacre wasn’t due to color of anyone’s skin, because reality denial is core to literally every Republican position at this point. See also: DeSantis’ AP course crusade, and the right’s fight to remain stupid.

Fundamentalist/Cultist: Here, have a fleet of articles about the Moms for Liberty cult: Read up on six reasons why Moms for Liberty is an extremist organization. I mean, that is the whole point of them, after all. More: Inside Moms for Liberty’s Close Relationship With the Proud Boys. Have some comparisons between Moms for Liberty and previous far-right women’s organisations, including the Women’s Auxiliary to the Klan. And another take: Conservative women are embracing extremism under the guise of motherhood.

Plus, you know, the whole 2024 campaign is centred around “our enemies are literally the actual, literal devil and this is an end-times battle for your souls.”

Murderous: Everything they’ve done to try to kill all of us for the last few years – including becoming the Party of Plague – but also enjoy (?): US Intel executive Greg Slater is ‘actively responsible’ for driving anti-LGBTQ+ agenda in Africa, according to campaigners. Also, as I have documented for decades, the US religious right at is at the center of anti-LGBTQ+ messages pushed around the world.

Be it death-penalty-for-gays bills, or Thousands of far-right protesters storm LGBTQ+ festival in Tbilisi, the American fundamentalist movement and its direct allies – like Putin – are involved.

Censorious? The biggest threat to free speech in the United States is the Republican Party. That Republicans are persecuting researchers and journalists who track disinformation online should be more widely reported. You know who’s saying that? Science. As in, the world’s single most respected scientific journal.

Authoritarian? GOP rank-and-file deeply “pessimistic” about democracy (WaPo, but gift link, anyone can read it). See also: Member of Supreme Court Bar resigns, announces in letter to the New York Times: “It is clear that the majority is not acting as a court, but as an unelected political body ignoring every rule of law it was sworn to uphold.”

What else do you need to see? And please, understand that there are no “moderate Republicans,” not once they take power.

That’s what we’re dealing with. Don’t let people not understand this. So very many people are so very low-information when it comes to this, but we have to get them up to date one way or another. There’s literally no other choice.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.