Just Security:
Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda
Scholars on the Nazis and anti-Semitism have seen this before
On January 6, Trump supporters gathered at a rally at Washington DC’s Ellipse Park, regaled by various figures from Trump world, including Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani. Directly following Giuliani’s speech, the organizers played a video. To a scholar of fascist propaganda, well-versed in the history of the National Socialist’s pioneering use of videos in political propaganda, it was clear, watching it, what dangers it portended. In it, we see themes and tactics that history warns pose a violent threat to liberal democracy. Given the aims of fascist propaganda – to incite and mobilize – the events that followed were predictable.
Before decoding what the video presents, it is important to take a step back and discuss the structure of fascist ideology and how it can mobilize its most strident supporters to take violent actions.
So Marjorie Taylor Greene is off the committees, and Democrats have firm grounds to link the GOP with the seditionists based on the way the Republicans voted. And the 1.9 trillion package budget resolution passes (51-50 with Harris casting the tie breaker) with room to focus and target. This WH and Congress will get stuff done.
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
An ugly truth links Marjorie Taylor Greene to Trump — one the GOP won’t confront
Republicans are facing two big decisions. They must determine whether they will strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of committee assignments in response to her all-around crackpottery. They must also decide whether to convict former president Donald Trump for inciting violent insurrection.
These dilemmas are often interpreted as separate from one another. In this telling, the GOP’s House and Senate leaders — Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California and Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — are mostly sticking with Trump, while moving away to varying degrees from Greene.
But these decisions also share a common thread. That common thread concerns political violence.
AJC:
Militia alliance in Georgia signals new phase for extremist paramilitaries
The leader of a private paramilitary group that provided security for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said he has formed alliances with other far-right groups to advocate for Georgia’s secession from the union, following the arrests of participants in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“The way patriots are now being hunted down and arrested by fellow men and women who have taken the same oath has disheartened any faith I had in the redemption or reformation of the USA as one entity,” Justin Thayer, head of the Georgia III% Martyrs, said in a text exchange with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week.
Charlie Warzel/NY Times:
I Talked to the Cassandra of the Internet Age
The internet rewired our brains. He predicted it would.
To describe its scarcity, [Michael Goldhaber] latched onto what was then an obscure term, coined by a psychologist, Herbert A. Simon: “the attention economy.”
These days, the term is a catch-all for the internet and the broader landscape of information and entertainment. Advertising is part of the attention economy. So are journalism and politics and the streaming business and all the social media platforms. But for Mr. Goldhaber, the term was a bit less theoretical: Every single action we take — calling our grandparents, cleaning up the kitchen or, today, scrolling through our phones — is a transaction. We are taking what precious little attention we have and diverting it toward something. This is a zero-sum proposition, he realized. When you pay attention to one thing, you ignore something else.
NBC News:
QAnon fight, impeachment fallout expose Republicans' post-Trump rift
After having kept Liz Cheney in leadership, Republicans are faced with questions about Marjorie Taylor Greene's future in the caucus.
It's not just Democrats who say Greene is a problem.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued an unusual statement Monday condemning Greene for espousing "loony lies and conspiracy theories" that he said were a "cancer for the Republican Party and our country." At the same time, McConnell praised Cheney, a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, as a strong leader in the party.
A former Republican leadership aide said McConnell's commentary is "instructive for McCarthy" in terms of taking clear stands.
"Instead, [McCarthy is] letting the House Republicans bleed out right now every day that this continues," the former leadership aide said on condition of anonymity to avoid angering McCarthy.
Norman Eisen and Katherine Reisner/USA Today:
Whatever legal or constitutional test you apply, Trump incited the violent Capitol attack
Free speech is not imperiled in Trump's impeachment trial. What's at stake is a president's freedom to incite a violent attack on his own government.
Presidents are held to a “high crimes and misdemeanors” constitutional standard for wrongdoing, and the First Amendment does not protect speech that constitutes impeachable conduct. Every prior presidential impeachment, including Trump’s first one, was based in part upon words spoken by the president. The First Amendment did not come into play there, and neither is it relevant here.
Even if the Brandenburg test were applied, Trump would flunk.
First, Trump’s speech encouraged the use of violence or lawless action. Trump’s lawyers have absurdly argued that his Jan. 6 remarks did not have "anything to do with the action at the Capitol.” In fact, there can be no doubt that Trump was exhorting the crowd to engage in acts of lawlessness and violence. He ignited the supporters before him by repeating baseless claims, rejected by dozens of courts since Election Day, that he had “won” the election “in a landslide.” He insisted, “We won’t have a country” if we don’t “fight like hell,” adding that “we will not let them silence your voices. We’re not going to let it happen.”
CNBC:
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘abhorrent views present a serious problem for the GOP,’ Republican strategist says
Republican strategist Evan Siegfried told CNBC that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. and “her abhorrent views present a serious problem for the GOP,” as the House of Representatives gears up to vote Thursday on a resolution to strip Greene of her committee assignments.
“Not only do they force the [Republican] party to say whether or not they agree with them, but they are a gift to Biden and the Democrats because they don’t allow Republicans to effectively communicate their message opposing President Biden’s agenda,” said Siegfried, the author of “GOP GPS: How to Find the Millennials and Urban Voters the Republican Party Needs to Survive.”
Tim Miller/Bulwark:
Understanding the House Republican ClusterFrick
Most of them are either Full Kraken or scared of their own voters.
All of the Fear Caucus members are able to read polls like this one from Axios that shows Marjorie Taylor Greene having a +10 favorability rating with Republicans while Liz Cheney sits at -28. So the overwhelming majority of the Fear Caucus stuck with Greene. (With the exception of the handful who needed fodder for general-election ads because they represent the Miami or Philly or L.A. suburbs.)
These cowards are the ones who are driving the Republicans over the edge. They are trying to figure out which way the political winds are blowing and they are going to follow them, no matter how undemocratic or unmoored from what they once thought were their conservative principles.
They are trying to survive while the tectonic plates of our politics shift underneath them. And they are willing to go along with anything to keep from falling through the cracks.
Kevin McCarthy is the Fear Caucus leader. And his members’ fear has a hold on him.