Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
Dec 28, 2020 8 tweets 6 min read Read on X
What's known as American conservatism is mostly rural white cultural sensibilities that have been marketed as a political philosophy. This is nowhere more evident than the many children's books that have been published to fulfill a supposed need for "godly" kid-lit. ImageImageImageImage
A few more. Please note that these are all real and that I've provided only a small sampling here. ImageImageImageImage
More: ImageImageImageImage
Still more. You'll notice that Rush Limbaugh has an entire series of kids' books. ImageImageImageImage
The content of some of the books is terrible as well. The "Pepe and Pede" book is anti-Muslim propaganda and promotes white nationalist themes. It was written by a (since-fired) junior high assistant principal vice.com/en/article/vbb…
And then there's the author of the Donald the Caveman series, Trumpvangelical radio host Eric Metaxas.

He hosted Alex Jones and other crazies to call for a coup against the election and has said he'd be "happy to die" for Trump religionnews.com/2020/11/30/eri…
This is cultic politics, something you dedicate your entire life to, & the lives of your children, whether they want it or not.

Adults listen to Rush at work, the kids homeschool and read My Parents Open Carry, & everyone gathers round at night for Carlson, Ingraham, and OAN.
Via @tina_nguyen, here's another addition to this thread. Mike Huckabee has decided to get into the kiddie Trump worship business. ImageImageImage

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More from @mattsheffield

Jun 11
🧵 Six years ago, Bari Weiss published her intro to the "Intellectual Dark Web," and in the interim it's become crystal-clear that the IDW was just one of many rebranding efforts done by the right.

I took an extended look at why & how the right rebrands plus.flux.community/p/the-intellec…
The American right is very different from conservative parties in other countries in that it never changes or adapts its policies to the public will.

The policies have been unchanged since they raged against the New Deal. Even now, they love hating on it plus.flux.community/p/the-intellec…
The ideas never work when they are put into practice. And almost everyone besides wealthy white Christians dislikes them.

Instead of adapting to the public, American reactionaries simply rebrand their ideas by playing up some concepts while deemphasizing others.
Read 18 tweets
May 31
🧵 Republicans constantly claim that Donald Trump has been unfairly singled out and that somehow prosecuting ex-presidents destabilizes politics.

This is totally and completely false. Bill Clinton was the first president convicted of crimes, not Trump plus.flux.community/p/donald-trump…
Right-wing propagandists are desperate for you to forget that Bill Clinton was found guilty of committing perjury and faced several penalties for his crime.

Instead of constantly whining and lying like Trump, Clinton confessed and submitted to justice. plus.flux.community/p/donald-trump…
Although it wasn't that long ago, many people have forgotten that Bill Clinton:
-Paid $850,000 to Paula Jones
-Had his Arkansas law license suspended
-Paid a $90,000 federal fine
-Paid a $25,000 AK fine
-Surrendered his Supreme Court bar license plus.flux.community/p/donald-trump…
Read 7 tweets
Mar 29
🧵 Christian fascists have had a prominent place among Republicans since the rise of Barry Goldwater, but Donald Trump made them the senior partner in the party.

But instead of telling this truth, MSM execs elevated fictitious Republicans like Ronna McDaniel. This must stop.
This thread is a summary of my latest @DiscoverFlux essay. You can continue here or click through for the prose version. plus.flux.community/p/ronna-mcdani…
With the exception of ex-CNN president Jeff Zucker, America's largest news organizations didn't hire the congenital liars like Kellyanne Conway as commentators.

Instead, they hired fictitious Republicans, soulless shills like Hugh Hewitt w no constituency and nothing to say.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 11
🧵 Everyone's still talking about how weird Katie Britt sounded last week. It's even more interesting once you realize that she doesn't normally talk in that breathy and melodramatic voice.

That she chose to speak that way is an interesting story...
This thread is a summary of my latest @TheoryChange episode. I left the link out in the previous post since the doofus authoritarian who owns this site downranks posts with links to external sites.

You can continue here or click through: plus.flux.community/p/katie-britt-…
From the outside, the American right seems very unified, but as a former right-wing political activist, I can tell you that it really isn't.

Among other things, there is a huge divide between the highly educated operatives who run things in DC and the rabid fundamentalist voters
Read 15 tweets
Mar 5
🧵 Talking to Trump super fans about politics is often a surreal experience. And that's because they literally do not understand what you are talking about.

Why is that? Because Trump devotees actually believe that truth derives from authority rather than reality...
This thread is a summary of my latest @DiscoverFlux piece, which you can find here. I am not including the link because a certain authoritarian billionaire deliberately downranks links in posts.

You can continue here or click through: plus.flux.community/p/trump-suppor…
People generally use the word "authoritarian" as a synonym for jerk, but it has actual philosophical and historical meaning.

Authoritarian thinking is as old as humanity itself and was manifested in ancient societies in which politics and religion were unified.
Read 21 tweets
Feb 5
🧵 Disinformation is everywhere, especially because of right-wing politicians.

But all of the tactics at use in the internet age have a history, one that begins with Big Tobacco and continues straight through to climate change.

Can learning the history provide hope?
This thread is a summary of the latest @TheoryChange episode, a discussion with Salon climate change writer @MatthewRozsa.

You can get the full episode on YouTube:

Apple Podcasts:

Spotify:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tod…
open.spotify.com/episode/06pqah…
Our story begins during the JFK administration when the new surgeon general worked w/Congress to force tobacco companies to disclose that their products caused cancer and birth defects.

Needless to say, Big Tobacco didn't like this, so they started to manufacture doubt.
Read 16 tweets

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