Tucker Carlson is actually a late-comer to the American right's love affair with Viktor Orban. A thread (1/n):
As I reported in @newrepublic@typeinvestigate in 2019, Orban hired a Republican strategize to plot his return to power--and his later consolidation of power--in 2010. (2/n)
At the time, supporting Orban was considered a fringe position in the DC foreign policy establishment, and even in the Republican party. Dana Rohrabacher was the standard-bearer of this position. (4/n)
But thanks to the work of DC strategists and lobbyists--and the growing affection for Orban's "illiberal democracy" within the right *and* the religious right (more on that later in the thread), embracing Orban was increasingly becoming the mainstream position in GOP. (5/n)
Meanwhile, as I reported in @VICE@typeinvestigate in 2019, the religious right was also developing an admiration for Orban and other European autocrats. (7/n)
On the surface, it looked simply like shared ideology against LGBTQ and reproductive rights, broadly disparaged as "gender ideology." And yes, this shared oppo is anti-democratic, as in opposed to democratic values like equal rights. But... 8/n)
It was more than that. They actually also admired Orban's very successful efforts to dismantle democratic institutions--which helps us understand why they support same in U.S. (9/n)
Is it terrifying that Carlson is embracing Orban as TV spectacle? Absolutely. But to understand the effect this is going to have on his audience, it's also important to understand the groundwork has been laid for quite some time--making it ever more terrifying. (11/11-fin)
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Behind it all: big right-wing money versus democracy ⤵️
"Pillars of the conservative establishment, faced with a changing U.S. voter population that threatens their agenda, are exploiting Trump’s contempt for norms to devise ways to hold on to power, a "a massive covert operation run by a small group of billionaire élites."
Since Jan. 6, I haven't stopped thinking about these chilling claims that I wrote about in Unholy, by early forerunners of MAGA, that violence would be necessary to avenge their racist grievances.
I wrote the afterword for the paperback of Unholy after the insurrection. You should buy it from your local independent bookstore if you want to understand how Christian and white nationalism came together in Trumpism.
"the administration still believes that vaccinated people play a 'very small' role in transmission, with the unvaccinated accounting for the vast majority of it."
@BostonDukeman@AntheaButler In all my reporting on Gothard over the years, that was the thing that astounded me the most: that people took advice on marriage and relationships and childrearing from a guy who had never been married or even, as far as I could tell, never had any kind of romantic relationship.
@BostonDukeman@AntheaButler But, as I reported in that piece, he was seen by followers as a "modern-day Apostle Paul."
@BostonDukeman@AntheaButler But let's not forget that TLC whitewashed this history with Gothard and the Duggars in the quest for ratings, portraying the Duggars as a pious but cute family rather than followers of a religious extremist who abused people.
Two Christian right organizers of rallies and marches promoting "stolen election" and "election fraud" lies worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.