The reason why Republican demagogues always claim to be victims is because fear and loathing is their stock in trade, and feelings of aggrievement and victimhood are the kindling accelerating the fear, the loathing, and the anger that justifies the unjustifiable. Of course you cannot have fear and loathing without having villains and enemies. Since the Republican Party's southern strategy already set the GOP in opposition to the civil rights movement it was all too easy for the Republican demagogues to create categories of villains based on racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and anti-socialism. As a consequence the Republican Party has become the party of insane conspiracy theories, delusional alternate realities, and epithets that could reasonably be described as self serving projections.
Critical race theory (CRT) – is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity.
CRT is a threat to an absurd Republican white-washing of our history -- such as claiming that the Civil War was not about slavery, or not mentioning Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan in our history books. The sin of teaching critical race theory, according Republican (fascist) leaders such as Ron DeSantis, is that it reveals an ugly past that might hurt the feelings of white people who still believe the dehumanizing characterizations that were and still are used to justify oppressing those “other” people. Furthermore, CRT reveals how much we need to change in order to eliminate the systemic racism that has plagued this country for centuries. In other words, this attack on racism is perceived to be an attack on Republicans who see themselves as defenders of the white race!
Woke – the past tense of wake. Also means “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)” To Republicans who want to bring back voter suppression and Jim Crow “woke” means replacing white culture, white privilege, and white superiority! The paranoid white nationalists think anyone who actually believes in liberty and justice for all should be labeled as “woke” or a socialist who embraces the evil woke culture! How dare those woke people ignore the great Replacement Theory!
Antifa – is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. As Wikipedia points out, most Antifa political activism is non violent, but members of Antifa will physically fight with Neo-Nazis and white supremacists at times. I guess if you are a fascist Republican this opposition to fascism makes Antifa an arch villain. How dare Antifa react to the violence of the Nazis, and white supremacists with violence. I do not condone the use of violence, but I have to say that the violence perpetrated by the oppressor seems particularly egregious to me.
Defund the police -- is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources.“ Unfortunately it is a slogan that is easily used by the MAGA R's to increase the fear of their paranoid base. “If you defund the police there won't be anyone to keep those dark skinned people in their place and protect you from crime,” the demagogues warn. Remarkably the people screeching this dire warning are the same people who are threatening our national security by calling for the defunding of the FBI and justice department. The tea bagging MAGA's think it was perfectly fine for William Barr to investigate the Bidens and for James Comey to investigate Hillary Clinton but investigating corrupt, anti-democratic Republicans is going too far!
Liberal/Socialism – According to Republicans, liberals are those pointy headed smart alecks who say right wing fears are not based on real threats or are based on threats that are greatly exaggerated. Republicans frequently use liberal and socialist interchangeably because they believe that socialism is the government doing anything for anyone who is not already a billionaire. Thanks to Ronald Reagan liberalism and socialism also have a racial connotation that adds to the denigrating stereotypes used to justify bigotry. “How dare those liberal socialists give our hard earned tax dollars to 'welfare queens' and other undeserving people,” the Republicans scream. I know it is useless to present facts that contradict what Republicans believe, but an article in Business Insider entitled “Welfare Policy Created White Wealth Largely Leaving Black Americans Behind” by Marguerite Ward is instructive. For instance, Ms Ward points out that:
“Today, white people still make up a plurality of those on welfare programs such as TANF or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A Department of Agriculture report from November estimated that 35.7% of SNAP recipients in the 2018 fiscal year were white, 25.1% were Black, 16.7% were Hispanic, 3% were Asian, and 1.5% were Native American (0.8% were listed as multiple races, while 17.4% were listed as "race unknown").”
Contrary to what Republican Saint Ronnie said the most frightening words are not, “I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.” The most frightening words are, “We are Republicans and we believe in state's rights (meaning to hell with the Fourteenth Amendment. The bill of rights only protects the people we want them to protect ).”
