Violence & Racism is now the GOP brand
From their embrace of Kyle Rittenhouse to Lauren Boebert, Republicans have now branded themselves as the party of racism and violence. And it doesn't bode well for any of our futures.
Rittenhouse & Boebert
Republicans have always had a problem with violence and racism. But now it’s finally — or again — broken out into the mainstream, much more (IMHO) than it has in years.
First, there’s the GOP embrace of Kyle Rittenhouse, after he was found not guilty of murdering two people and injuring a third. Republican members of the House tripped over themselves in order to offer Rittenhouse internships in their offices.
(As an aside, Seb Gorka accusing someone else of being gay is pretty ripe.)
At the same time, Donald Trump wasted no time getting Rittenhouse to Mar-a-Lago, where he showed up not two days after his acquittal, to be photographed with Trump. Trump is politically savvy enough to know that his supporters love violence and vigilante justice, especially when Black people are involved. What’s sad, and disturbing, is how much violence, and in particular gun violence, has now become a core tenet of the MAGA GOP, and really the entire Republican party.
Then there’s there racism. And I realize this is nothing new, but it amazes me how increasingly blatant it’s become. To wit, GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, one of the most vocal new stars of the MAGA right, accusing Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar — and seemingly all Muslim-Americans — of being a suicide bomber because she’s Muslim.
Now, what’s interesting is the breaking news that Boebert just issued an apology to “the Muslim community,” and she says she reached out to Omar’s office. This means US House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy flipped out at her behind the scenes. There’s no other explanation. McCarthy is likely worried that any of these high-profile mistakes could jeopardize Republican chances of taking back the House in the 2022 elections, which currently looks likely to happen.
This also is a signal to Democrats to grab this issue and RUN WITH IT. But will they?
The Media-Created Inflation Scare
Inflation is a legitimate concern, but the media has been running non-stop over-the-top stories, many based on lies, in order to scare the American people into believing that inflation is out of control, when it’s not — and, more generally, that the economy is in trouble when it’s actually doing really well.
One prominent example of late: Turkey. The media has been non-stop in its claims that Turkey prices have exploded this Thanksgiving, and families are paying $1.50/pound and up! Except it’s not true. See this image from the local CBS affiliate in Chicago:
In fact, I’m in Chicago right now, and we paid 50 cents/pound for our Turkey. Then I posted this on Twitter, and got a lot of replies as to what people ACTUALLY paid for their Turkey this year — it wasn’t even close to $1.50/pound:
The media love a good story, even a fake one. Inflation is real, but it’s not nearly as a bad as the media is claiming. And doing hysterical pieces about Turkeys being too expensive is exactly the kind of thing that scares people, needlessly. I suspect the media is continuing to “make up” for being “so mean” to Trump while he was president. In their effort to be fair, they’re trying to find as many controversies for Biden as they did for Trump. And if that means stoking some fake ones, so be it.
Another Example from the NYT
Not to be outdone, the NYT has been playing the “oh my God, inflation!” game as well. To wit:
Let’s put a finer point on it: Guy with nearly 60-year-old car, and 20-year-old car, both of which get terrible gas mileage, claims to care about how expensive it is to fill up his tank:
And another example from MarketWatch
A few points:
Concert tickets have cost that for years.
If you’re paying $90 for a bottle of wine, you’re not only a moron, you’re not an “average American.”
The average price of gas is $3.397/gallon — not $5:
In other news:
71% of Republicans think American democracy is facing a major threat
Except they don’t realize that they’re the threat.
Some really funny chyrons
Seven doctors at a Covid-denying conference catch Covid
I am not immune from bad dad jokes
That’s it for today. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends. I’m in Chicago visiting mom, with dog in tow. It’s cold as hell out, but nice to be with the fam.
JOHN