Thread by @juliettekayyem

THREAD: Robert Pape's @washingtonpost essay about his study (that provides more details than a comment in a @nytimes story) is actually INTERESTING. The racism propelling the "protect the vote" insurrection and subsequent GOP voter suppression strategy are known to Pape. 1/

It would be too bad to lose this data based on a strong research agenda, then condensed to a column, that was written about by a reporter, only for Pape's quote to be criticized on twitter b/c he decided to have some fancy rollout only tomorrow so no one has seen the report! 2/

For me, though, some data from what Pape has released is interesting: "Those involved are, by and large, older and more professional than right-wing protesters we have surveyed in the past. They typically have no ties to existing right-wing groups." "In the past" is operative.3/

I suspect the latter "no ties" point is because Trump became their de facto terror leader (my essay here), bypassing existing racist groups or the need for any affiliation with them to organize. Trump, WH, GOP operatives did it for them. 4/

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

The point about income isn't that they had money, it is that they had more money than others at right-wing rallies or violent events. Now I'd love to learn more here, but that could be because the GOP -- a well-funded organization -- so embraced the movement that 5/

it became appealing to a larger swath of the GOP, including the wealthy.

Anyway, an unfortunate turn but I hope you all can review the study because it might be helpful. And this provides another reason why academics shouldn't do fancy "rollouts." 6/6

Should add his column! +1
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…