This is utter nonsense, of course, if you read it as an empirical claim about America’s past or present.
But as an ideological statement of Christian nationalism and white supremacy, it is perfect. And absolutely terrifying.
But as an ideological statement of Christian nationalism and white supremacy, it is perfect. And absolutely terrifying.
Just ignoring this won’t work, because it’s not coming from some rightwing troll, but a Republican elected official - and it’s impossible to adequately understand American politics without grappling in earnest with why her radicalism is widely seen as justified on the Right.
No use making fun of it either. This should be read as a statement of intent: “America belongs to us white Christians, we have a right to dominate this country, and we are determined to keep it that way by whatever means necessary.” Nothing funny about that.
It is crucial to understand that she’s not expressing some fringe sentiment, but a clear - albeit bizarre - distillation of the white Christian nationalism that animates the American Right and defines the Republican Party’s political project.
This ideology is incompatible with both religious freedom and multiracial, pluralistic democracy. And she’s not elevated to a position of political power despite holding such beliefs, but precisely because she does and because she is aggressively championing them.
I’m sure the exact language Rogers uses might be slightly crasser than what some conservatives are comfortable with, and some Republicans might disagree with some aspects of the public image she projects. But these differences don’t matter to the Right.
https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1439595869783867399
The Right isn’t getting distracted by debates over whether Wendy Rogers’ militant extremism or Mitch McConnell’s extreme cynicism are the right approach to preventing multiracial pluralistic democracy. They are united in the quest to entrench white reactionary rule.
How do we know Rogers isn’t just a crazy outlier? Because Republicans don’t treat her like one. Neither her extremist views nor her embrace of this kind of white supremacist, Christian nationalist symbolism get her in trouble within the GOP. On the contrary, she is elevated.
Her statements are well in line with the GOP’s central political project. And conservatives see her radicalism as justified - necessary even! - because they believe themselves to be in a noble war to defend “real” (read: white Christian) America against an insidious enemy.
The Republican Party has made its choice long ago: If democracy starts interfering with white Christian domination, then democracy has got to go. Donald Trump, Wendy Rogers, Marjorie Taylor Greene: They’re not the cause, but the logical result of that fundamental decision.
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