As predicted, the President of the opaquely-funded & extremely influential ultra-right free-market US 'think tank' Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, has delivered arguably the most unhinged speech so far at the deeply disturbing National Conservatism #NatC conference.
Founded in 1973, the opaquely funded Heritage Foundation's stated mission is to formulate & promote policies based on the principles of "free enterprise, limited Govt, individual freedom, traditional American values, & a strong national defense."
It is widely considered one of the world's most influential public policy research institutes, maintaining strong ties with #Tuftonstreet's IEA, the Mont Pelerin Society (the organisation coining 'neoliberalism'), &, significantly, the UK Government.
In keeping with the dangerously irresponsible reality-denying draconian antidemocratic policies of the Heritage Foundation, Roberts has blamed “globalists” for the world’s political problems, repeatedly using a term associated with the far-right & antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Roberts mentioned Globalists - condemned by UK MPs & Jewish groups as an antisemitic trope - more than a dozen times in his address to the #NatC event in London, also making the absurd claim that left-wingers 'want to end all democracy to impose their opinions on the world'. 📽️
While “globalist” can be a neutral term, its use as a term for elites supposedly seeking global domination is used by the far right & conspiracy theorists about Jewish power - ironic, as Heritage is funded by & represents the interests of powerful elites.
Tory MP Miriam Cates, who spoke on Monday, used the idea of “cultural Marxism” in her speech, another concept linked with the antisemitic conspiracy theory which inspired far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, & which the UK Board of Deputies has chastised Braverman for using.
Dangerously delusional ideological extremist Roberts repeatedly condemned what he called “the leftist control of globalist corporations & entities”, seemingly indicating this was part of a conspiracy to end democracy, calling this “the gathering storm”.
Alarm bells ringing yet?
Like every billionaire-owned UK newspaper & right-wing conspiracy nut on earth, he makes the bizarre claim that “The new left, greedy, elitist, woke & globalist, has foresworn every principle their ideological predecessors once espoused: democracy, equality, diversity, justice.”
The Left “abhors religion, & Christianity especially, as well as the nation state, political accountability & even objective truth. Their goal is not to win political contests but to end them altogether – to sweep away dissent & any subversive institution that dares facilitate.”
“This new left is not in competition. It is at war with the west, with the moral, intellectual & social foundations on which our entire civilisation rests. Which is why it reserves a singular hatred for the kind of conservatism represented by Trump & DeSantis, Brexit, Orbán...”
Roberts explicitly praised the dangerous Nationalist Populism of DeSantis & Orbán, saying UK politicians could follow their lead.
The US & UK have already joined Hungary in 'economic backsliding' (significant erosion of their democratic institutions).
Roberts argued: “The emergence of nationalism & populism on the right is a re-emergence. It’s a rebirth of the principles western conservatives de-emphasised over the last three decades, to their nations’ peril.”
It was "de-emphasised" in the aftermath of the Nazis & WWII. 🤬
Imagine hearing Roberts' words spoken by Nazi #propaganda Chief Joseph Goebbels, in an angry 1930s German accent:
“The great awokening & normalisation of anti-western, anti-Christian, anti-democratic, cultural totalitarianism in western newsrooms, classrooms, & bureaucracies...”
“These are not distinct, discrete phenomenon, but myriad symptoms of one ruling class’s contempt for everyday working families and the institutions that prioritise their rights and interests over elite privilege.”
Absolutely fucking crazy - imho.
To end, here's a link to a single document encapsulating the policy agenda of the Gobal "Christian"Libertarian Nationalist Populist Right, which includes Brextremists, the billionaire-owned press, & the UK Govt - Heritage Foundation's "Solutions Journal":
The Global Christian National Conservatism project grew out of the US-based Edmund Burke Foundation 'think tank', founded in 2000, which now has the aim of "strengthening the principles of national conservatism in Western & other democratic countries". 😬
Some MPs who have been in parliament for many years NEVER appear on any of the @BBC's "flagship" politics shows - but Reform's privately educated shit-stirring 'anti-elite' former Tory Sarah Pochin - an MP for FIVE WEEKS - gets her own special introduction on #PoliticsLive.
Politicians using dangerously irresponsible anti-Muslim rhetoric know their comments are normalising Islamophobia and endanger British Muslim women. Islamophobic incidents rose by 375% in the week after Boris Johnson called veiled Muslim women “letterboxes” in 2018.
#PolitcsLive
Britain prides itself in NOT being the sort of country that tells women how to dress. States that do dictate women’s clothing (eg Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) are vilified as misogynistic & ultra-controlling: the antithesis of the enlightened, liberal west. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
"Foreigners" DO NOT claim £1BILLION/month in benefits.
This disgusting anti-migrant dogwhistle by shameless liar and former Head of Policy Exchange, Neil O'Brien MP, is just one of several recent dispicable divisive Telegraph front page lies.
WTAF @IpsoNews? @HoCStandards?
The claims that the UK spends £1bn/month "on UC benefits for overseas nationals" (O'Brien) and "Foreigners claim £1bn a month in benefits" (Telegraph) are revealed to be lies in the article: the£1bn relates to "Benefits claims by HOUSEHOLDS with AT LEAST ONE FOREIGN NATIONAL."
The Telegraph claims that (unnamed) "experts suggested the increase reflected a SURGE in the number of asylum seekers being granted refugee status and in net migration."
To evaluate/make sense of this sensational unsourced claim, additional context is needed (but not provided).
Chase Herro, co-founder of Trump’s main crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, on crypto:
“You can literally sell shit in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story’s right, because people will buy it.”
Despite crypto being bullshit, & memecoins being consciously bullshit, many – especially angry young gullible men – still invest: 42% of men & 17% of women aged 18-29 have invested in, traded or used crypto (2024 Pew Research), compared to only 11% of men & 5% of women over 50.
“It’s no accident that memecoins are such a phenomenon among young people who have grown immensely frustrated with a financial system that, I think it’s fair to say, has failed them” - Sander Lutz, the first crypto-focused White House correspondent.
🧵In January, Farage said Musk was justified in calling Starmer complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs: “In 2008 Keir Starmer had just been appointed as DPP & there was a case brought before them of alleged mass rape of young girls that did not lead to a prosecution.”
The allegation that Starmer was complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs is often repeated. But how true is it?
Two Facebook posts, originally appearing in April/May 2020, claimed Starmer told police when he was working for the CPS not to pursue cases against Muslim men accused of rape due to fears it would stir up anti-Islamic sentiment.
In 2022 the posts and allegations saw a resurgence online with hundreds of new shares. They said: “From 2004 onwards the director of public prosecutions told the police not to prosecute Muslim rape gangs to prevent ‘Islamophobia’.
Decades of research shows that parroting or appeasing the far-right simply legitimises their framing, and further normalises illiberal exclusionary discourse and politics.
Starmer's speech is more evidence that the far-right has been mainstreamed.
Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who focuses on political extremism and populism in Europe and the US, is, imho, one of the most important voices on the Left today.
Allow me to briefly summarise some of his work.
In a 2023 lecture, Mudde emphasizes the importance of precise terminology in discussing the far-right, distinguishing between extreme right (anti-democracy) and radical right (accepts elections but rejects liberal democratic principles like minority rights and rule of law).
He argues we're in a "fourth wave" of postwar far-right politics, characterized by the mainstreaming & normalization of the far-right - what Linguist Prof Ruth Wodak in a related concept refers to as the 'shameless normalization of far-right discourse'.