I don’t read all, or even half, of Erick Erickson, nor listen to him at all. But yesterday’s article “Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” includes this passage:
The legislation uses an antisemitism standard developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that is globally accepted — including already in use by the United States government1. Kirk, Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others willfully misrepresented an example in the IHRA standard. The example read, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.”
That last part is italicized because the grifters went out of their way to downplay it. Saying the Jews killed Jesus is not antisemitism.2 Saying the Jews killed Jesus, therefore Israel or Israelis are bad, is antisemitism. Using the crucifixion to hate the modern nation-state of Israel and its citizens is absolutely antisemitism. That is the point of the example.
TPUSA, which keeps a list of antisemites on its roster, if not its payroll, is being too cute by half on this stuff. The organization has set up a website distancing itself from Candace Owens’ growing antisemitism. If you search the internet for TPUSA’s views on Israel and Owens, your search engine will helpfully direct you to a special website putting distance between Owens and TPUSA. If you aren’t interested, you’ll get directed to the main TPUSA website where their relationship with Owens is highlighted.
Yes, he’s not talking about Democrats. He’s talking about fellow conservatives and whoever else is trying to pass themselves off as traditionalists, while extracting as much money as possible from the conservative base.
Perhaps Mr. Erickson would be outraged were he to read that, but, then again, maybe not.
So, yes, the Republicans are ripping themselves into pieces, separating along an ideological line at the urging of the Mosquitoes of the Right, predatory creatures who live to extract the base’s wealth, and, incidentally or not, injecting more and more ideological poison into their blood stream: anti-vax, prosperity theology, pick your poison.
Not that the Democrats are doing that much better. Between the Hamas kidnapping, rape, and murder of Israelis on 7 October 2023 and its consequent Israeli defensive or retaliative strike, the economic concerns of a coddled set of voters who find a trifling bit of inflation outrageous, and the external concern of the anti-vax Presidential candidacy of RFK, Jr., the Democrats may have some legitimate concerns of their own.
But, at least as an independent voter, I don’t generally see the grifting on the left that I see on the right.
Still, we may, over the next decade, see a remodeling of the American political landscape as the conservative base realizes that a significant portion of their leadership are grifters and begin drifting back to more traditional and reliable news sources than Fox News, and then the left as that side’s leadership dies of decrepitude, both ideological and physical.
And then the American youth will get to come to grips with problems which may be unresolvable, at least by Americans. Such as the conflict in the Middle East, ‘cuz I have to tell you that, despite the wailing of those protesters on campus, it’s not a simple problem to solve.
