There is an enduring pattern in American conservatism in which the right first develops a paranoid interpretation of the liberal Establishment, and then reverse engineers its own version of the monster it has imagined. Conservatives convinced themselves that the mainstream media and universities were mere propaganda organs, then created institutions like the Heritage Foundation and Fox News, warped reflections of their own overheated critique. The January 6 insurrection was, of course, in the mind of its participants, a āresponseā to the imagined vote-fraud conspiracy and its antifa/BLM shock troops. John Durhamās investigation is a classic episode in this tradition. The American right first convinced itself that Robert Mueller and the deep state, using the cover of dispassionate professionalism, had launched a partisan witch hunt to smear Donald Trump. In response, it created a right-wing mirror image, as fervently partisan and unhinged as they believed their enemies to be.
Hell, yeah! I wish we would see more of this. She wasnāt mean or grandstanding or anything, just putting the question back to him of, āwhat do you even think socialism is?ā
She couldnāt possibly answer the question as he posed it to her without clarifying the definitions they were each operating under. And it became clear in the back and forth that he has no effing idea what socialism is other than a dog whistle term for the right wing right now.
(excerpt) āI think the fact that this isnāt passing on suspension just says everything about my friends across the aisle, that you canāt condemn socialism?ā [Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA)] said. āI mean, in your opening remarks, you were talking about Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Xi. You know what they all have in common, right?ā
āConsidering the ability of Members of Congress to carry firearms in the capitol complex outside the House Floor, removal of magnetometers from the entrances to the House Floor, and with record threats against the lives of Members of Congress, the security of the House complex is today precarious,ā
This is insane. In every other democracy MPs would resign or be thrown out of the party for pulling a stunt like handing out dummy explosives. The public outcry would be huge.
