As the polls in the Virginia gubernatorial race continue to tighten (ed.: WTF, Virginia?!), it bears repeating what the Republican strategy is and who is funding it and carrying it out. Trumpist weasel Glenn Youngkin has made how schools are run and what is taught the closing argument in his demagogic campaign (we won't link to any of his race- baiting/ transphobic/ divisive videos). The strategy follows the successful approach taken by far- right organizations and plutocrats (e.g., the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity) after Barack Obama's election to create "astroturf" protests against his health care reform ("Obamacare"):
Here are some of the groups providing resources and support to school board protesters around the country. None have endorsed violence, threats or incitement. Nor are they all formally connected. What they do is offer help to parents who have questions or objections about what their children are learning in school or how schools are run. They issue press releases, sell T-shirts and lawn signs, produce flyers and publicize events on social media, supply information and legal advice, offer template letters, scripts for public testimony, and model legislation. They put out webinars and trainings to give practical assistance to those who want to target or disrupt school boards.
--The Manhattan Institute, one of the most established conservative think tanks, published "Woke Schooling: A Toolkit For Concerned Parents" in June.
-- Citizens Renewing America, founded by President Trump's former budget director Russell Vought, published a 34-page guide for activists also in June, dedicated to "combating critical race theory in your community." The toolkit states the following: "CRT holds that racism is not just a belief held by individuals; rather, it is a system of oppression that has been built into the very structure of our society."
Of course, CRT (or transphobia, etc.) is just a buzz phrase intended as a stand-in for another agenda:
The toolkit further says activists don't need any evidence that "critical race theory" is currently being taught in their local schools in order to mount a campaign against it: "It's important to note that whether CRT is currently in your school system is mostly irrelevant to the purpose of this document."
What is relevant to these far- right provocateurs is that, especially in the lead- up to an election, they manufacture issues that produce an angry reaction (and threats of violence), which produces a frenzy of uncritical wall- to- wall media coverage, which promotes turnout at the polls for the candidate (in this case, the weasel), which produces a far- right, reactionary Trumpist government.
In Virginia, purple exurb Loudoun County has become ground zero for weasel Youngkin's campaign to drive his voters to the polls and convince low- information voters that all hell is breaking loose thanks to Democrats, and particularly Terry McAuliffe (who hasn't been governor since 2018). All hell is breaking loose, but it's the Youngkin supporters and their astroturfing organizers who are responsible. Will Virginians get it?
BONUS: The Lincoln Project shows how it's done --
(Photo: AP/Patrick Semansky)
5 comments:
Loudoun County has become ground zero.....All hell is breaking loose, but it's the Youngkin supporters and their astroturfing organizers who are responsible
Pardon my bluntness, but Youngkin didn't cause that boy to rape those two girls. It wasn't he that caused the county to cover up the attacks. It wasn't he that caused the MSM and the left-wing internet to ignore or downplay this scandal, creating a strong impression of complicity with the cover-up. It's not astroturfing that led hundreds of students all over the county to hold walk-outs to protest the authorities hiding sex crimes and effectively protecting a rapist in order to avoid embarrassment to their pro-trans policies.
This is a genuine scandal, and a major one. If Youngkin wins, or even if McAuliffe wins but by a frighteningly small margin in what is now a blue state, the Loudoun county sex assaults and cover-up will probably have been a substantial part of the reason. When things go wrong, Democrats have got to be able to look honestly and fearlessly at the reasons why.
Infidel -- This is NOT an issue on which the race should or will be won or lost in Virginia. I guarantee you, it will be a scandal that will, rightly or not, fade very soon after the election is over, just as the "immigrant caravans" did. The Youngkin ads we see playing constantly here in the DC area push the CRT bullshit heavily (the Toni Morrison ad), not the transgender issue (which is being raised by, yes,the astroturfers at school board meetings, many of whom have been shown not to be residents of the school district). NONE OF THIS is to say the particular crime that occurred was not horrific, and the school officials involved are not culpable. But this and other hot button stories are being cynically milked by the Youngkin crowd.
We kind of buried the lede on our response to Infidel. Michelle Goldberg explains why this is a more complex story than right- wing media would have you believe:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/opinion/loudoun-county-trans.html
That link is paywalled, but I've seen plenty of the obfuscation and minimization that's out there about this scandal.
By the way, nothing I've read about the scandal came from right-wing sites. I'm sure they're exploiting it, but the facts remain what they are.
I am not, by the way, taking the position that Youngkin deserves to win because of this. The left-wing internet definitely needs a massive wake-up call, though. If losing Virginia gets that job done, it might be worth it.
Never mind, it turns out that a post I already had bookmarked for tomorrow's link round-up includes the full text of the NYT piece. I'd like to comment on the level of warped gaslighting and spinning being displayed, but cannot. My language ability is just not up to the task, and it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure. Others have done the necessary work of ripping it to shreds, however.
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