Call your Senator
Call your Representative
Then come back to DK. I spent two hours on the phone with Washington today, with mixed results. Apparently Washington offices are being flooded with calls. The only two offices I was able to reach were Representative Barbara Lee’ Oakland office, my district, and Representative Keith Ellison’s Minneapolis office. Only Senator Bernie Sanders had room in his mailbox to leave a message.
Mitch McConnell doesn’t have a way to leave a voicemail message. The mailbox for Paul Ryan is full.
And now, a look at some seriously scary Alt Right, Neo Fascist, bullshit happening in our nation right now.
Let that one sit with you for a while.
Do not let any Republican tell you that this election was about anything other than racism, sexism, and homo and trans phobia. Whether or not anyone wants to talk about it, the alt right is taking credit for President Trump. They can’t wait to live in TrumpLandia™. It is the world they have been working towards creating.
And they think they have won!
Which leads me to this, from the SPLC. White Nationalists Rejoice at Trump's Appointment of Breitbart's Stephen Bannon. I will give just enough to induce you to read the article.
The move to appoint Bannon to such an important role goes directly against Trump’s pledge to be a president to “all Americans.” Bannon has a long history of bigotry.
He has insinuated that African-Americans are “naturally aggressive and violent” and under his leadership, Breitbart’s publishing strategy turned to one that has made it the media arm of the racist Alternative-Right movement, publishing articles promoting popular white nationalist tropes such as “black on white crime” and that "rape culture" is inherent in Islam.
Some of the key players in the Alt-Right movement, along with other well-established platforms for white nationalists have rejoiced in Trump’s appointment of Bannon to a key role.
Any questions?
There is this piece from The Daily Beast. How Pepe the Frog Became a Nazi Trump Supporter and Alt-Right Symbol. Again, just enough to induce further reading.
“We basically mixed Pepe in with Nazi propaganda, etc. We built that association,” @JaredTSwift said.
Who is @JaredTSwift?
@JaredTSwift is an anonymous white nationalist who claims to be 19 years old and in school someplace on the West Coast. He told me there is “an actual campaign to reclaim Pepe from normies.”
Finally, from knowyourmeme. Pepe the Frog
I need to make absolutely sure that I tell you that the creator of Pepe the Frog, Matt Furie, has denounced the alt-right, Neo Fascist, turn that his character has been subjected to.
Artist’s Response
On September 29th, 2016, Matt Furie expressed his disappointment with the alt-right’s use of the meme, along with the Anti-Defamation League’s citation, in an interview with CBC Radio[40], during which he said that he was the character’s creator but did not specify that he had no part in making “this weird racist version of it.”
On October 7th, 2016, Fantagraphics, the publisher of Matt Furie’s comic book collection Boy’s Club, issued a statement[39] on behalf of Matt Furie in which they refuted Pepe’s association with the alt-right, while criticizing Donald Trump and his alt-right supporters for “myriad copyright violations” of the artist’s character.
Fantagraphics Books wants to state for the record that the one, true Pepe the frog, as created by the human being and artist Matt Furie, is a peaceful cartoon amphibian who represents love, acceptance, and fun. (And getting stoned.) Both creator and creation reject the nihilism fueling Pepe’s alt-right appropriators, and all of us at Fantagraphics encourage you to help us reclaim Pepe as a symbol of positivity and togetherness.[39]
On October 14th, the Anti-Defamation League[42] announced that it would join forces with Matt Furie on the #SavePepe hashtag campaign in an effort to reclaim Pepe the Frog from racists by creating and sharing positive images of the frog.
Am I giving this meme any credibility by sharing it here? Yes. I want people to talk about Trump’s Neo Fascist support until he denounces it in a meaningful way. That starts with sending Bannon and his ilk packing in a very public fashion.
I’m not expecting that anytime soon.