Dan Crenshaw was purportedly a rising star in the Reasonable Right, primarily because he went on SNL and made some jokes with Pete Davidson. He's a war hero, he's reasonably telegenic...and he's a fucking moron.
For all the corruption and self-dealing of the Trump years, it will be the rank dishonesty and warping of the very meaning of agreed-upon words that might be its longest legacy. The GOP has now equated corporations speaking out against policies they don't like as...fascism? Meanwhile, a new phrase they are using is "Corporate Communism." Presumably, they don't mean the use of corporatist structures to reinforce state power.
Basically, Republican rhetoric is "Communism and Fascism: BAD. Freedom: GOOD." Therefore compare public health measures to communism and fascism, even though they have NOTHING to do with two distinct political ideologies. It's like a computer bot that uses predictive text to churn out word salad that sounds a little like English but doesn't make a lick of sense when subjected to the slightest scrutiny.
And here's the thing: It will work. Not on everyone and not on most people. But I have a cousin - a lovely woman in most ways - who is exposed to this Death of Freedom bullshit. You see it enough on your Facebook feeds and it starts to feel like the truth. Licensing and background checks for gun purchases? FASCISM!!!!11!! People criticizing Republican vote suppression? COMMUNISM!!!!!
The sad truth about the 2020 election is that Republicans lost just enough so that they can return to the non-stop carping about minor parts of major legislation without being responsible for actually legislating. They retained control of gerrymandered state houses, so they can gerrymander House districts this year. As the lose the urban and suburban areas, the unique structures of American democracy allow them to sink into their rural strongholds.
UPDATE: Hoooboy. This is really good.
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