Hiding in Plain Sight: The Sources of MAGA Madness and Congressional Kakistocracy

[Swede]

Thus, we can see that a group that represents less than 15% of the US population commands 70% of the districts comprising the majority party in the House of Representatives.


The Republican majority in the House continues to scale new heights of dysfunction and disregard for democratic norms. Unfortunately, that dumpster fire continues to distract most observers from recognizing or wholly acknowledging the consequences of another step forward for the MAGA movement. While “only” two-thirds of the Republican Caucus voted against the electoral votes on January 6th, 2021, the entire Caucus has just installed Mike Johnson – who played a pivotal role in legitimizing Trump’s election-denying crimes – as Speaker of the House, just two heartbeats away from the presidency.

As this post will make clear, we should not be surprised to see an election-denying Evangelical Christian who favors a national abortion ban, Bible courses in public schools, and “covenant marriage,” and who believes that LGBTQ people are living an “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyle,” elevated to the Speakership.1 That’s because the primary driver for both the GOP Caucus’s dysfunction and its incipient fascism has been building in plain sight for at least the last dozen years: the political might of organized right-wing Christianity, successfully redeployed against establishment Republicans (“RINOs”).

https://www.weekendreading.net/p/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-sources?r=f9j4c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

[not fooled]

1. Yep. They've been plotting for decades to turn this country into a theocracy

Now their efforts are coming to fruition, big time. And it's only going to get worse and worse as they seize even more power.

This country ain't seen nothin' yet.

A fascist theocracy.

[JoseBalow]

5. Frank Zappa tried to warn us in 1986

[appalachiablue]

2. Thanks for postig K/R

[Hekate]

3. KnR

[Wild blueberry]

4. Excellent article--well worth reading in full

Important points throughout, especially about media's failure to link donors/lobbyists behind the scenes to what gets done (or not) as well as not calling out the pretend-religious grifters who wield great influence with their rubes (I mean, flocks).

His last paragraph:
"Most Americans don’t think our democracy represents them and have rapidly dwindling faith in our institutions. This is because they are paying attention to their daily lives, and how little the government is visibly doing to make their lives better in a meaningful way. For all the justified distress over weaponized disinformation, perhaps the more damaging lie is to maintain the pretense that we are a functioning democracy, or that the Republican Party is a legitimate democratic actor and not the political arm of an increasingly successful fascist movement."

Thank you for posting this.