SUMMARY--My takeaways from Will.. P=Pressler, S=Straka, C=Cook
1) AMISH-- P claimed he convinced 6000 Penn. Amish to vote Repub (Will says over 100,000 in Penn are Amish, so 6000 not many)
2) CLEAVAGE...in the gay-end of MAGA, fight between P and S. P was in DC for Jan 6, but did not support Straka's active in the Jan 6 sinning, not sure if S involved in DC cops beaten.
3) WISCONSIN JUDGE-- P then failed (later) when he tried to push turnout for the Repub, but the vote went solidly for the Dem
4) IT GETS WEIRD? There's "anti-voter fraud activist Mark Cook". (QUESTION--Is he MAGA too? never heard of these three people until now.)
"... May 28" "....live chat with Straka on X, ..anti-voter fraud activist Mark Cook claimed that in a heated moment after he accused Presler of ignoring election fraud, Presler confronted him with a “very, very crazy deep accent that was not his normal voice.” "...Straka even took to Rumble in May to post a video denouncing Presler, ...sometimes an exaggerated Midwest accent straight out of Fargo."
The geographer in my family says: Conservatives, Moderates and Liberals are everywhere, BUT they have groups inside. Some have a geography. As poster esmense says below, MAGA is strongest in the "Jim Crow South". The poster's middle paragraphs say "why".
If you hear 10 voices scream, but they scream 100 times, you can easily think you've heard more than 10 people screaming. Some fringe 10 percent (are two fringes if think of some bell curve having a tail to each side) can get more than their fair share of what's "by and for the people".
They do this by being extra loud, so getting more media coverage (both Pressler and Straka Jan. 6).
They get it by being bad (Straka on Jan. 6, not sure what he did, but freed by T's bad blanket pardon). Was Straka involved in cop beatings on Jan 6, a property destroyer, or merely an invader?
They do a lot of bullying, more in some places than others.
Self and wife have lived varied places, Jim Crow South, one. It has plenty of moderates and more than a few liberals, but they are drowned out by the screamers, by gerrymandering, by bullying, by the ex-slave-owning extreme who never apologized for what their elders did, who think God loves them and nobody else, God's extra love for them, "after all", PROVEN by their being born rich.
This piece is everything. I was so happy when The Bulwark Brought Will on. I'd followed his reporting and listened to his podcast. The insights this reporting brings is important, and let's face it, who among us would be able to go there 🙄 I appreciate these updates.
Thanks, Will Sommer, regarding debate inside MAGA. Pressler vs Straka vs Cook
Wondered where the claims about buggy-driving Amish came from. When they come in to a local restaurant where my wife still has family, the Amish (non-Penn.) always pleasant, but they have told locals, they do not vote, Maybe it's as they don't teach US history in their schools,? only the 3 R's, and only go through Gr 8?
Will says Pressler apparently got $1M donation from Mus k, and used part to try to get Penn. Amish to vote for T. (My reaction--Amish have agreed to forbid TV, would imagine they never saw his TV show, do not like casinos, gambling, or trophy wives either. So, ifPressler succeeded in getting them to vote for T, it was by being sure they knew too little about T.)
When you support giving power to people who are committed to denying legal rights to some other people you have just taken away everyone's rights. Your own included. Because you've defeated the rule of law and given bad actors the power to treat basic legal rights as mere privileges that they can control and choose to bestow or not. They'll deny what you've thought were your rights whenever they are inconvenient for them. And provide you with the special privileges that remain only when and because it serves their interests.
I spent a significant part of my childhood in the Jim Crow South because of my father's work on major post-war energy projects that, along with expansion of the federal highway system, were intended to provide the then desperately poor region with the resources needed to participate in our national, industrial economy.
The political systems of the Southern states at that time had many things in common with what MAGA is trying to do across the country with federal power: One party rule dominated by elite economic interests and inherited wealth and supported by vote suppression and manipulation, open political corruption, suppression of labor rights, minimal public services, divisive fear and hatred based demagoguery, strict social class hierarchy, and a culture of threat, violence and uncertain rights.
Jim Crow laws were specifically aimed at black citizens.
But they were a cornerstone of a political system that had bad consequences for everyone outside the economic elite. A system that denied opportunity, limited justice, perpetuated extreme poverty among, and denied educational and other public resources to, all but the economic elites.
And, if those who had power, even petty power, chose to, the rules that denied the public rights of black citizens could be used against anyone or any group, at any time.
Exactly right and why I can't understand why supposedly smart people can't see this and stand up against Trump instead of placating him and hoping it will all blow over. Maybe it's because I grew up in the South. It's why I chose to live overseas long ago.
With every Will Sommer piece I increasingly wonder if these characters he writes about have always been a part of America and I was just clueless . . . or when and where did that spaceship land? And why did it have to land in the US?
The expansion across the continent east to west wouldn't have happened without genocide and theft of land, condoned by the government. These people have always been here. The are the same people that tortured and murdered Matthew Shepard for being gay.
TACO Don Old believes that in order for him to win, somebody has to loose. And loose big. Which is why those who are riding his coattails want to demonstrate their fidelity to him need to find a looser. And so they cannibalize each other. Who else is available? Glad it is happening so quickly. Might wake up some people sooner.
Why not monetize self-loathing. If they were better groomed and less self-sabotaging, Peter Thiel might boost their status.
SUMMARY--My takeaways from Will.. P=Pressler, S=Straka, C=Cook
1) AMISH-- P claimed he convinced 6000 Penn. Amish to vote Repub (Will says over 100,000 in Penn are Amish, so 6000 not many)
2) CLEAVAGE...in the gay-end of MAGA, fight between P and S. P was in DC for Jan 6, but did not support Straka's active in the Jan 6 sinning, not sure if S involved in DC cops beaten.
3) WISCONSIN JUDGE-- P then failed (later) when he tried to push turnout for the Repub, but the vote went solidly for the Dem
4) IT GETS WEIRD? There's "anti-voter fraud activist Mark Cook". (QUESTION--Is he MAGA too? never heard of these three people until now.)
"... May 28" "....live chat with Straka on X, ..anti-voter fraud activist Mark Cook claimed that in a heated moment after he accused Presler of ignoring election fraud, Presler confronted him with a “very, very crazy deep accent that was not his normal voice.” "...Straka even took to Rumble in May to post a video denouncing Presler, ...sometimes an exaggerated Midwest accent straight out of Fargo."
The geographer in my family says: Conservatives, Moderates and Liberals are everywhere, BUT they have groups inside. Some have a geography. As poster esmense says below, MAGA is strongest in the "Jim Crow South". The poster's middle paragraphs say "why".
If you hear 10 voices scream, but they scream 100 times, you can easily think you've heard more than 10 people screaming. Some fringe 10 percent (are two fringes if think of some bell curve having a tail to each side) can get more than their fair share of what's "by and for the people".
They do this by being extra loud, so getting more media coverage (both Pressler and Straka Jan. 6).
They get it by being bad (Straka on Jan. 6, not sure what he did, but freed by T's bad blanket pardon). Was Straka involved in cop beatings on Jan 6, a property destroyer, or merely an invader?
They do a lot of bullying, more in some places than others.
Self and wife have lived varied places, Jim Crow South, one. It has plenty of moderates and more than a few liberals, but they are drowned out by the screamers, by gerrymandering, by bullying, by the ex-slave-owning extreme who never apologized for what their elders did, who think God loves them and nobody else, God's extra love for them, "after all", PROVEN by their being born rich.
This piece is everything. I was so happy when The Bulwark Brought Will on. I'd followed his reporting and listened to his podcast. The insights this reporting brings is important, and let's face it, who among us would be able to go there 🙄 I appreciate these updates.
Thanks, Will Sommer, regarding debate inside MAGA. Pressler vs Straka vs Cook
Wondered where the claims about buggy-driving Amish came from. When they come in to a local restaurant where my wife still has family, the Amish (non-Penn.) always pleasant, but they have told locals, they do not vote, Maybe it's as they don't teach US history in their schools,? only the 3 R's, and only go through Gr 8?
Will says Pressler apparently got $1M donation from Mus k, and used part to try to get Penn. Amish to vote for T. (My reaction--Amish have agreed to forbid TV, would imagine they never saw his TV show, do not like casinos, gambling, or trophy wives either. So, ifPressler succeeded in getting them to vote for T, it was by being sure they knew too little about T.)
Too late - WI turned on months ago. Blocked me on X 💕
I still don't understand how these people appear
"Straka said in an audio chat on X in May, adding, 'If [Presler] could do it, why did he lose in Wisconsin in the Supreme Court election'?”
Obvious guess is because the cult leader wasn't a candidate in that election.
"Presler, contacted through his Early Vote Action PAC, didn’t respond to a request for comment."
A salesman refuses an opportunity to talk to a big audience. That alone speaks volumes.
We gonna talk about the pants tucked into the boots or nah?
When you support giving power to people who are committed to denying legal rights to some other people you have just taken away everyone's rights. Your own included. Because you've defeated the rule of law and given bad actors the power to treat basic legal rights as mere privileges that they can control and choose to bestow or not. They'll deny what you've thought were your rights whenever they are inconvenient for them. And provide you with the special privileges that remain only when and because it serves their interests.
I spent a significant part of my childhood in the Jim Crow South because of my father's work on major post-war energy projects that, along with expansion of the federal highway system, were intended to provide the then desperately poor region with the resources needed to participate in our national, industrial economy.
The political systems of the Southern states at that time had many things in common with what MAGA is trying to do across the country with federal power: One party rule dominated by elite economic interests and inherited wealth and supported by vote suppression and manipulation, open political corruption, suppression of labor rights, minimal public services, divisive fear and hatred based demagoguery, strict social class hierarchy, and a culture of threat, violence and uncertain rights.
Jim Crow laws were specifically aimed at black citizens.
But they were a cornerstone of a political system that had bad consequences for everyone outside the economic elite. A system that denied opportunity, limited justice, perpetuated extreme poverty among, and denied educational and other public resources to, all but the economic elites.
And, if those who had power, even petty power, chose to, the rules that denied the public rights of black citizens could be used against anyone or any group, at any time.
Exactly right and why I can't understand why supposedly smart people can't see this and stand up against Trump instead of placating him and hoping it will all blow over. Maybe it's because I grew up in the South. It's why I chose to live overseas long ago.
Crabs in a bucket
He’s one of the Explore Talent players that the GOP seems to recruit from
I'm shocked that any gay man would support a party aiming to harm them.
With every Will Sommer piece I increasingly wonder if these characters he writes about have always been a part of America and I was just clueless . . . or when and where did that spaceship land? And why did it have to land in the US?
The expansion across the continent east to west wouldn't have happened without genocide and theft of land, condoned by the government. These people have always been here. The are the same people that tortured and murdered Matthew Shepard for being gay.
They were always here. You were just lucky enough not to see them until now.
TACO Don Old believes that in order for him to win, somebody has to loose. And loose big. Which is why those who are riding his coattails want to demonstrate their fidelity to him need to find a looser. And so they cannibalize each other. Who else is available? Glad it is happening so quickly. Might wake up some people sooner.