Thread by @SethCotlar

Citing wicked Republicans who are using “Communist psychological warfare tactics” against him, Oregon GOP chair Dallas Heard resigns, but vows to continue his fight against “the godless Left.” IOW, Republicans in disarray.

A former county GOP chair and close associate of former state Rep. Mike Nearman posted the news with an “I told you so” about the unnamed Communists who have apparently been working to take over the Oregon GOP for a while now.

This is the entirety of the “evidence” provided to substantiate the claim of Communist takeover.

Things are pretty normal at the county level.

The far right conspiracy theory malware was installed long ago.

https://twitter.com/sethcotlar/status/1487320881261015042

I swear it is just a complete coincidence that we’re discussing this book tomorrow in my History of American Conservatism class.

FWIW, the Oregon GOP’s rightward drift was happening long before Trump came on the scene.

https://twitter.com/sethcotlar/status/1437081838304985089

I’m currently working on a research project about the long history of the far right’s efforts to take over the Oregon GOP. It goes way back.

https://twitter.com/sethcotlar/status/1494790371318054912

This is why it’s important to keep an eye on the far right extremists in our midst. They are not even close to a national majority, but they are using the GOP to mainstream their extremism and encoded it into state law.

https://twitter.com/cassiepmiller/status/1501606670643998722

I know some people follow this stuff for the lulz, and sure, there’s something clownishly sad about it at times, but the human stakes of rising far right extremism are very real, both for the groups they target and for our democracy more broadly.

Some important context in this article. This appears to be part of a struggle inside the party over who will be the candidate for Governor. Heard, a Bundy-affiliated far right figure, wanted to get the nod. Others in the party said no.
opb.org/article/2022/0…