Provocative and informative NYT account which traces the roots of today's "stop the steal" movement to it's John Birch Society roots, thru the Tea Party- MAGA nexus into a widespread ideological movement that goes beyond mere claims that the 2020 election "was stolen"...
You could almost argue that the Birchers hated and feared the idea of "Democracy" as much as they detested and feared Communism. That insistence of a "republic" over a "democracy" which the Birchers firmly advocated is evident in the first gathering of what became the Stop the Steal movement. Look at what the current GOP nominee for PA Governor (Mastriano) told a crowd full of eventual Jan 6 attendees- Proud Boys, 3%ers, Oath boys (many of them armed) at a gathering in Harrisburg on Nov 7 when it was obvious Biden would carry the state...
“This is a republic,” Mastriano declared from atop the Capitol’s terrace over a public-address system. “I know the Democrats want to play a game with our republic. They keep calling it a democracy. ‘And to the democracy for which it stands,’” he recited mockingly. “Come on, really? Come on, man!” Behind him, someone waved a large America First flag. Another rallygoer held up a sign with Mastriano’s own slogan: WALK AS FREE PEOPLE.
“It seems like it’s in their nature to lie,” he said. “Every time I turn around, there’s another lie, another excuse, another cheating.” He went on: “We’re appealing to God. We’re speaking life over the state; we’re speaking truth. Those who lied and cheated and stealed will be exposed and thrown in jail.” The crowd roared its approval."
HOW THE MOVEMENT TO REINSTATE PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS GONE FAR BEYOND HIM —AND NOW THREATENS THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS. The Pennsylvania State Capitol, in Harrisburg, is a Beaux-Arts landmark that on its eastern side echoes the west terrace of the U.S. Capitol, and the scene there on Nov. 7...
www.yahoo.com
There weren't any concrete examples of actual cheating. Just the overwhelming belief that WE are in control, it's our birthright, and we are not going to surrender our republic and our power to a ragged majority because that was not the way GOD intended things to be...
A little earlier example of the same level of arrogance and entitlement? How about one of the original founders of the Tea Party (Amy Kremer) and her pre Obama Inauguration blog post from Jan 2009...Remember Obama won by close to 10 Million votes in an electoral landslide. But she ignored that reality...
"Shortly before Inauguration Day in 2009, Amy Kremer, a flight attendant turned blogger in the Atlanta suburbs, published an
anguished post with the headline “Congress Certifies the Electoral College Vote.”
“Several months ago, I had hope that this would all come to light and someone would have the balls to object to certifying the vote,” Kremer wrote. Congress, she insisted, was “aware of the lawsuits” challenging the legitimacy of the incoming president. “All of our Senators and Representatives,” she wrote, “are more concerned with their own agendas and political careers than they are with doing the job of representing the constituents that sent them to Washington in the first place!”
Again the entitlement and sense of righteous power for the minority supporting the losing candidate is palpable. Strange how "representing the constituents that sent them to Washington in the first place"- singularly translates into only the minority who didn't vote for Obama? I wonder why THAT was? For all of us (myself included) who labored that the Tea Party was a bunch of old folks upset with Obamacare and taxes. this exposes the type of motivation that inspired Kremer who was an early leader of the T baggers. In more interesting coincidences she was also an early organizer of a Super Pac allied with Trump. And like Mastriano she happened to not only be in DC on Jan 6 but played a role in organizing the day's festivities...
"Leading a later group called Women for America First, she was a principal organizer of the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
“I come from the Tea Party movement, and I’m asked all the time: What happened to the Tea Party?” Kremer told the crowd. “Well, we’re still here. We just grew and morphed into something bigger and better — the MAGA movement.”
There's tons more, including the army of like minded political neophytes they are recruiting to run for office and install as single minded arbitrators of how elections are conducted. These people only want fair elections in the sense that if they win the election was fair and if they lose it was not fair and likely stolen.
They don't believe in democracy, if it entails them becoming the minority and losing power.
Republican voters have been told not to trust democracy or epistemology. Several new polls make clear the campaign is working painfully well.
www.msnbc.com
And increasingly they express a willingness to resort to violence to preserve (their) perception of what "the American way of life" entails... This Nov 2021 poll from Public Religion Research Institute found that belief extremely pronounced among self-described Pro-Trump respondents at upwards of 39%...
A poll from the Public Religion Research Institute shows how divided the United States is following Trump's presidency.
www.rollingstone.com
So will democracy (which the MAGA crowd hates) be able to survive? it's far from certain, but 2024 will be a definite test. And in more than a few races, 2022 results will figure huge into the equation...
thehill.com
