Thread by @Teri_Kanefield

The Republican leadership is literally cultivating a lawless, rule-breaking base bent on undermining the government.

Here⤵️I rely on scholarship from sociology and an analysis of the groups that make up the Republican coalition to explain why.


1/

Here's a transcript if you prefer to read: terikanefield.com/why-they-are-a…

Also, the video itself contains a transcript.

After I refill my ☕️ I'll come back and attempt a concise Twitter summary.

2/

It should be obvious that the Republican leadership is deliberately cultivating a lawless, rule-breaking base bent on undermining the government, but I'll attach some evidence . . .

3/

Eric Metaxas (religious right commentator) says people shouldn’t get the vaccine because it’s not the “American way” for the government to tell us what to do, and the proper response, if only to be a “rebel” is to say, “I’m not going to do that.”

https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1420381367532232708

4/

Here’s Phil Berger, a Republican in North Carolina telling people that the new mask mandate isn’t about science, it’s about “Left-Wing bureaucrats playing political games and trying to control American lives.”
(This obviously means: don't comply)

H/t @EveryVoiceNC

5/

The extent to which Republicans are going to protect and shield the insurrectionists is quite stunning.

Here’s ⤵️ Elise Stefanik blaming the January 6th attack on Nancy Pelosi 🙄

Also, they are making Ashli Babbitt out to be a martyr and hero:
washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/…

6/

Wayne @wayneLance, obviously feeling exasperated, wrote:

https://twitter.com/WayneLance/status/1420528279040241665

You see, ”normal" is intolerable to them.

Since 1954, "normal" is a nation moving steadily toward a multi-racial secular democracy.

7/

Sociologists @ohahl, Minjae Kim* and @ewzucker explain what’s happening in an article entitled, “The Authentic Appeal of the Lying Demagogue: Proclaiming the Deeper Truth about Political Illegitimacy.”
asanet.org/authentic-appe…

*I didn't find this person on Twitter.

8/

A crisis of legitimacy happens when ⤵️

That's fancy language for "they don't like the fact that women, Blacks, and other minorities are moving into positions of power."

Richard Hofstadter says something similar. They think "others" are taking what is theirs.

9/

(Here is author #2: @minjaekim22)

Here you go. Jesse Kelly, host of the nationally syndicated ‘I’m Right,” came right out and said it ⤵️
H/t @VinkemesMom (also others showed me this since)

(Quite stunning. Sometimes I think it's simpler: they're just mean.)

10/

The anti-government stuff makes sense given the key groups that form the Republican coalition.

White Evangelicals, for example, believe the US is (or should be) a Christian nation. They reject the authority of the government insofar as it takes power from the church.

11/

They call it Christian nationalism:

Notice the part about the need to preserve Ango-Protestant heritage. Anglo, of course, means White.  

So you can see that White evangelicals have much in common with White supremacists and Confederate sympathizers.

12/

Both believe that if White heritage isn't preserved, and they'll lose their “freedom.”

Confederates obviously reject the authority of the federal government. They fought a long and bloody war over it.

@HC_Richardson explains that the Confederate ideas weren't extinguished.

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"Corporate conservatives" also reject the authority of the federal government, particularly the regulatory agencies and regulations put in place since the New Deal because they don’t think--for example--that they should have to pay taxes to support public services.

14/

They don’t think the government should regulate them.

"Anti-regulation" is a way of saying “anti-government."

The backlash against the federal government gained momentum when SCOTUS declared racial segregation illegal and federal legislation gave rights to minorities.

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As the Republican Party hardens into an anti-government coalition, we can expect the messages spouted by the leaders to become more outlandish because rejecting the Biden administration means rejecting science and rejecting regulations that protect people.

16/

Here @rgoodlaw cites evidence to suggest that Jim Jordan is more than a witness to the events of January 6; he's an accomplice.

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1421849694171537416

So: How does the government protect itself when a significant portion of the government is trying to undermine the government?

I picked up the wrong tweet! (apologies)

Here is where @rgoodlaw talks about the evidence indicating that Jim Jordan is more than a witness to the events of January 6th; he's an accomplice.

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1421827202581159943

(Thanks, @TulliusCicero43)