Perhaps the groypers are simply bing selected by, and filtered through, the messaging that has been part of the Republican storyline for decades. This is the party that had a post-mortem in 2012 to figure out why their “message” wasn’t “resonating” with minorities. They then pivoted to backing a racist bankrupt narcissist with a history of racist views who has led the party for over a decade now and has never seen a supporter too vile to kick out of his coalition. It’s like washing your floors in sugar water and then wondering why you have ants.
I'm an older Independent Boomer. So I was able to watch Tucker Carlson's interview of Nick Fuentes with an open mind. I don't have skin in the Republican party so to speak. This was my first exposure to Fuentes, and IN THAT INTERVIEW I heard no NAZI talk, no misogyny, no racism. I did hear mainstream religious views. I did hear denunciation of Israel but no "Jew hate". Now perhaps Fuentes realized this was his big shot, and so was on his best behavior. But if his politics was honestly conveyed to Carlson, who seemed to think it was, the Republican AND Democratic establishments risk becoming dinosaurs quickly. As far as young men are concerned, Fuentes is the future. America First is here to stay. Israel First is ALREADY on the trashheap....right where it should be imo.
How much of this is due to American political parties being uniquely vulnerable to infiltration because of the way that they are structured?
My understanding is that in the US anyone can register as a Democrat or a Republican and then vote in primary elections. By contrast Australian political parties operate as private clubs, you have to apply for membership and pay a membership fee. Candidate selection is overseen by party State Committees, a less democratic system but one that makes it harder for nutcases to get onto the ballot paper.
Antisemitism in the right? In the government? In elected officials? In those who write the script, fund the campaigns, run the counter attacks? How surprising, how shocking.
The clutching-their-pearls reaction of those in conservative organizations and behind the thrones – gee, I have never heard this – until now – and would never, ever traffic in it, or utter it or even think it, is all the more galling. It is outrageous in its pretense, dishonesty and assumption of acceptance. Who me? Some of my best friends are….
You state that “Dreher is undeniably directionally correct: The problem is not a future problem… Some of this stuff really is just now dawning on older conservative thinkers and politicians…” This is either shockingly naïve or a purposeful avoidance of an embarrassing truth.
The big difference I see, is that “older” politicians knew enough to keep their antisemitism and bigotry (a very big tent) to private conversations (or on a tape that was not supposed to see the light of day, or disappeared). And wasn’t Charlie Kirk, he of the “Great Replacement Theory”, and no run-of-the mill antisemite, recently lauded for bringing the younger crowd into the fold, to work, politic and to revel in the ability to state out loud that they at least have a “nazi streak” in them.
A politician’s support of Israel is always deemed to represent solid evidence of a respect for Jews (as an “ethnic” group). It that has provided the cover for the antisemitism that is the root of politics based on a fear of the “other” (pick your group du jour). I have always had to argue that automatic support of Israel does not come with being Jewish; Isreal is a political state, acting on an international stage and criticism does not mean treason against “my people”. So, it is with a politician’s support for Israel – conflated as it is with standing with the Jews -- that gives credibility a politician: one who is certainly not antisemitic, you can count on me.
I’d like to add that I don’t believe that all Republicans, Conservatives, are antisemitic. But voices have been, at best, muted.
Fading into the background, disappearing like ink on old documents are the T-shirts emblazoned (not only with) Camp Auschwitz but “6 million is not enough”, as well as the Confederate flags carried by those who desecrated the capitol and democracy on January 6th. Trump addressed Jewish donors with “we have a lot in common, we both like money”. And, “I thought shylock just meant a lender who charges a lot of interest”. Clarence Thomas strolling through his benefactor’s garden that is strewn with statues of Nazi officials its high command, as he wipes away crumbs with linen napkins emblazoned with swastikas – not concerning. The list goes on, and on, on. It is endemic in our society, and now is rewarded in public discourse.
After the assassination of Martin Luther King a journalist wrote an article asking the question “Who killed MLK”.
The answer was all of us – who didn’t speak up, challenge, refute. In a world where journalists no longer “speak truth to power”, where media has been coopted by the need for profits and we hear no challenge to the intolerant world we are living in, and instead are meant to live in the bleached and fictional fantasy that is presented to us.
It is not enough to condemn. Let none of us rewrite the history of our country, or the history of our politics. The ugly truth must be spoken out loud, just as bigotry and antisemitism are unashamedly expressed in word and deed today. And the shock of recognition, perhaps exposure, must lead to action.
Andrew points to an example of Mikale Olson’a self-reflection. It leads with “yes — the democrat party is vile, godless, and in open rebellion against both our american experiment and the constitutional order that upholds it.”
Can someone explain to me why he considers the Democratic Party to be in an open rebellion against the country’s founding principles? I left the Republican Party longer ago than the authors of this newsletter, so I’m hoping someone here can explain to me the argument that makes Democratic Party members seem too opposed to the American experiment.
I fail to see why anybody is surprised by this - anti-semitism is "the Precious" that inevitably draws the right into its orbit - not just deranged conspiracists who believe that lizard people from Mars are invading Earth. (Lots of symbolism there). So-called "conservatives" are never reluctant to come along for the ride; not, at least, until they find themselves in the concentration camps. Wait and see: I bet that Ted Cruz will submit to the zeitgeist eventually.
This train took on speed when Regan went to Bitburg. It's always been there but they tried to shade it with DEI and woke rhetoric. When you have to have an enemy to gain power you always end up with the few classic choices. Demagogues are all the same. Too bad History and Philosophy are being squeezed out for STEM.
I can't help but think back to the Kansas "experiment" where Republicans got total control of the government and immediately initiated massive changes from the conservative wish list. As they fell in place, the state effectively fell apart. Now we're seeing the Nation as a whole adopting Project 2025, and the suffering is beginning to engulf the country. We can't keep picking at the edges as the collapse is picking up speed. Throw away your preconceived ideas of conservatism. Those almost destroyed Kansas. Republicans seem to have treated that State's conservative fail as an anomaly. It wasn't. It was the failings of modern day conservatism. We need to quit picking at those edges, and grasp for the middle!
Well, I’m an older conservative and have to admit I had never heard of Nick Fuentes whoever he is and haven’t heard anything out of Tucker Carlson since he was on CNN.
Can we start a boycott of Pulte Homes if he’s gonna green light all these mortgage fraud investigations of Trumps enemies? Also I’ve heard the product Pulte builds sucks so take your American dream dollars elsewhere.
Andrew, Bill and Jim, Thanks for the reporting on this ever alarming problem. Andrew's out of the bottle piece put me to thinking, are we this stupid? In WWII, we sent are father's, grandfather's and great grandfather's plus many mother's, grandma's and great grandma's to fight against Hitller's Nazis and defend the world. Many of the those, did not come back and are buried in cemeteries across Europe. And now what? We are just going forget them? We're just going to trash their ultimate sacrifice? All because we have some coddled, little mama's boy with a swastika obsession preaching Aryan race horseshit to ignorant, immature and spoiled white boys? WTF, there needs to be universal commendation of these clowns and anyone who gives them a platform. These are the people we should be deporting to place they can understand, like say, Russia or North Korea. While we're at it, let's send Steven Miller and his buddies too.
I have always wondered how Jewish people and gay people could be Republicans when 60 percent or more of the party would cheerfully exterminate them. I guess they are professional class and there are all those yummy tax cuts.
It is the show of support for Israel, that has duped many -- mostly my Orthodox brethren ---to be Republicans. The Democrats (used to be) the home of "liberals", which implied liberal social values and customs to the religious conservative. And especially frightening to those brought up in a religious community and education: fear reigns. For eventually, wherever, whenever in history, no matter how accepted the Jewish population was, and how well integrated into a society, in the end, we would be the scapegoats and get kicked out/exterminated/forced to convert, or abandon religion.
One of my young (orthodox) nieces expressed surprise when she heard that we were democrats...she thought that all Jews were republicans!
So young Republicans are embracing anti semitism and far right nationalism. Wow, so the Republicans are becoming even more extreme than thry have been since Trump showed up? Just wow.
Perhaps the groypers are simply bing selected by, and filtered through, the messaging that has been part of the Republican storyline for decades. This is the party that had a post-mortem in 2012 to figure out why their “message” wasn’t “resonating” with minorities. They then pivoted to backing a racist bankrupt narcissist with a history of racist views who has led the party for over a decade now and has never seen a supporter too vile to kick out of his coalition. It’s like washing your floors in sugar water and then wondering why you have ants.
I'm an older Independent Boomer. So I was able to watch Tucker Carlson's interview of Nick Fuentes with an open mind. I don't have skin in the Republican party so to speak. This was my first exposure to Fuentes, and IN THAT INTERVIEW I heard no NAZI talk, no misogyny, no racism. I did hear mainstream religious views. I did hear denunciation of Israel but no "Jew hate". Now perhaps Fuentes realized this was his big shot, and so was on his best behavior. But if his politics was honestly conveyed to Carlson, who seemed to think it was, the Republican AND Democratic establishments risk becoming dinosaurs quickly. As far as young men are concerned, Fuentes is the future. America First is here to stay. Israel First is ALREADY on the trashheap....right where it should be imo.
How much of this is due to American political parties being uniquely vulnerable to infiltration because of the way that they are structured?
My understanding is that in the US anyone can register as a Democrat or a Republican and then vote in primary elections. By contrast Australian political parties operate as private clubs, you have to apply for membership and pay a membership fee. Candidate selection is overseen by party State Committees, a less democratic system but one that makes it harder for nutcases to get onto the ballot paper.
Antisemitism in the right? In the government? In elected officials? In those who write the script, fund the campaigns, run the counter attacks? How surprising, how shocking.
The clutching-their-pearls reaction of those in conservative organizations and behind the thrones – gee, I have never heard this – until now – and would never, ever traffic in it, or utter it or even think it, is all the more galling. It is outrageous in its pretense, dishonesty and assumption of acceptance. Who me? Some of my best friends are….
You state that “Dreher is undeniably directionally correct: The problem is not a future problem… Some of this stuff really is just now dawning on older conservative thinkers and politicians…” This is either shockingly naïve or a purposeful avoidance of an embarrassing truth.
The big difference I see, is that “older” politicians knew enough to keep their antisemitism and bigotry (a very big tent) to private conversations (or on a tape that was not supposed to see the light of day, or disappeared). And wasn’t Charlie Kirk, he of the “Great Replacement Theory”, and no run-of-the mill antisemite, recently lauded for bringing the younger crowd into the fold, to work, politic and to revel in the ability to state out loud that they at least have a “nazi streak” in them.
A politician’s support of Israel is always deemed to represent solid evidence of a respect for Jews (as an “ethnic” group). It that has provided the cover for the antisemitism that is the root of politics based on a fear of the “other” (pick your group du jour). I have always had to argue that automatic support of Israel does not come with being Jewish; Isreal is a political state, acting on an international stage and criticism does not mean treason against “my people”. So, it is with a politician’s support for Israel – conflated as it is with standing with the Jews -- that gives credibility a politician: one who is certainly not antisemitic, you can count on me.
I’d like to add that I don’t believe that all Republicans, Conservatives, are antisemitic. But voices have been, at best, muted.
Fading into the background, disappearing like ink on old documents are the T-shirts emblazoned (not only with) Camp Auschwitz but “6 million is not enough”, as well as the Confederate flags carried by those who desecrated the capitol and democracy on January 6th. Trump addressed Jewish donors with “we have a lot in common, we both like money”. And, “I thought shylock just meant a lender who charges a lot of interest”. Clarence Thomas strolling through his benefactor’s garden that is strewn with statues of Nazi officials its high command, as he wipes away crumbs with linen napkins emblazoned with swastikas – not concerning. The list goes on, and on, on. It is endemic in our society, and now is rewarded in public discourse.
After the assassination of Martin Luther King a journalist wrote an article asking the question “Who killed MLK”.
The answer was all of us – who didn’t speak up, challenge, refute. In a world where journalists no longer “speak truth to power”, where media has been coopted by the need for profits and we hear no challenge to the intolerant world we are living in, and instead are meant to live in the bleached and fictional fantasy that is presented to us.
It is not enough to condemn. Let none of us rewrite the history of our country, or the history of our politics. The ugly truth must be spoken out loud, just as bigotry and antisemitism are unashamedly expressed in word and deed today. And the shock of recognition, perhaps exposure, must lead to action.
Andrew points to an example of Mikale Olson’a self-reflection. It leads with “yes — the democrat party is vile, godless, and in open rebellion against both our american experiment and the constitutional order that upholds it.”
Can someone explain to me why he considers the Democratic Party to be in an open rebellion against the country’s founding principles? I left the Republican Party longer ago than the authors of this newsletter, so I’m hoping someone here can explain to me the argument that makes Democratic Party members seem too opposed to the American experiment.
I fail to see why anybody is surprised by this - anti-semitism is "the Precious" that inevitably draws the right into its orbit - not just deranged conspiracists who believe that lizard people from Mars are invading Earth. (Lots of symbolism there). So-called "conservatives" are never reluctant to come along for the ride; not, at least, until they find themselves in the concentration camps. Wait and see: I bet that Ted Cruz will submit to the zeitgeist eventually.
What took them so long?
This train took on speed when Regan went to Bitburg. It's always been there but they tried to shade it with DEI and woke rhetoric. When you have to have an enemy to gain power you always end up with the few classic choices. Demagogues are all the same. Too bad History and Philosophy are being squeezed out for STEM.
Well, they don’t believe in science, either, so I’m not sure what’s being taught at this point.
Woke Republicrats - who would have thunk it?
The conservative media machine will just call them RINOS and roll right on.
I can't help but think back to the Kansas "experiment" where Republicans got total control of the government and immediately initiated massive changes from the conservative wish list. As they fell in place, the state effectively fell apart. Now we're seeing the Nation as a whole adopting Project 2025, and the suffering is beginning to engulf the country. We can't keep picking at the edges as the collapse is picking up speed. Throw away your preconceived ideas of conservatism. Those almost destroyed Kansas. Republicans seem to have treated that State's conservative fail as an anomaly. It wasn't. It was the failings of modern day conservatism. We need to quit picking at those edges, and grasp for the middle!
Well, I’m an older conservative and have to admit I had never heard of Nick Fuentes whoever he is and haven’t heard anything out of Tucker Carlson since he was on CNN.
Can we start a boycott of Pulte Homes if he’s gonna green light all these mortgage fraud investigations of Trumps enemies? Also I’ve heard the product Pulte builds sucks so take your American dream dollars elsewhere.
Andrew, Bill and Jim, Thanks for the reporting on this ever alarming problem. Andrew's out of the bottle piece put me to thinking, are we this stupid? In WWII, we sent are father's, grandfather's and great grandfather's plus many mother's, grandma's and great grandma's to fight against Hitller's Nazis and defend the world. Many of the those, did not come back and are buried in cemeteries across Europe. And now what? We are just going forget them? We're just going to trash their ultimate sacrifice? All because we have some coddled, little mama's boy with a swastika obsession preaching Aryan race horseshit to ignorant, immature and spoiled white boys? WTF, there needs to be universal commendation of these clowns and anyone who gives them a platform. These are the people we should be deporting to place they can understand, like say, Russia or North Korea. While we're at it, let's send Steven Miller and his buddies too.
I have always wondered how Jewish people and gay people could be Republicans when 60 percent or more of the party would cheerfully exterminate them. I guess they are professional class and there are all those yummy tax cuts.
It is the show of support for Israel, that has duped many -- mostly my Orthodox brethren ---to be Republicans. The Democrats (used to be) the home of "liberals", which implied liberal social values and customs to the religious conservative. And especially frightening to those brought up in a religious community and education: fear reigns. For eventually, wherever, whenever in history, no matter how accepted the Jewish population was, and how well integrated into a society, in the end, we would be the scapegoats and get kicked out/exterminated/forced to convert, or abandon religion.
One of my young (orthodox) nieces expressed surprise when she heard that we were democrats...she thought that all Jews were republicans!
Just replace all the Republican staff Groypers with AI. Problem solved.
So young Republicans are embracing anti semitism and far right nationalism. Wow, so the Republicans are becoming even more extreme than thry have been since Trump showed up? Just wow.