Reading “Inside the NRA,” and the author — formerly the No. 2-ish person at the NRA — talks a lot about how fear and anger were primary fundraising mechanisms for them and other conservative causes. And he notes how Trump was a master at it.
Who could’ve predicted January 6th??
Who could’ve predicted January 6th??
“Selling the fear — real or imagined — never gets old.”
There are a ton of fascinating anecdotes in this book — a Trump lunch with LaPierre and Cox at the WH where Trump obsesses over the menu, a meeting with Bannon where he asks how the WH can repay the NRA — but the overall theme is grift, mismanagement, and the politics of fear.
I do have to note that the author’s final straw wasn’t, like, Sandy Hook. (The book starts with him reliving his version of Sandy Hook, before joining the NRA.) His final straw was LaPierre trying to buy a mansion with NRA money—and Wayne’s wife drafting a memo about the closets.
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