There’s so much craziness in the right-wing blogosphere, it’s hard to know where to begin. But just for fun, here’s an assortment of the craziest Virginia blog posts of 2017. Enjoy?
Lets kick it off with Dr. Robert Warren, “Founder and Past President of the Colonial Area Republican Men’s Association (CARMA) in Williamsburg, VA,” who posts regularly at The Bull Elephant Teapublican Virginia political blog (note: there’s some good stuff – even if right wing – at The Bull Elephant, by folks like Dave Webster, Steven Brodie Tucker and Steve Albertson, but NOT by Warren or the other authors listed below). A few examples of Dr. Warren’s faaaaaaaaaar-right oeuvre include:
1) “The Globalists,” in which he rails against the “pariah” George Soros as an evil “globalist” who has “done great damage around the world because he is ruthless in his opposition to unique national cultures.” Warren adds “Merkel, Macron, Trudeau, Obama, the Clintons” to his list of evil “globalists,” praising Donald Trump as putting “a temporary stop to the ideas of world rule by Plato’s oligarchs.” Oh, and for good measure, he posits Hungary’s neo-fascist leader as some sort of hero. Yeah, don’t ask.
2) “Vampires,” in which he claims that “the inhumanity and soullessness of vampirism is found far too often in the beings of the left,” with “the most recent example” being “Frederica Wilson, Congresswoman from the Miami, Florida area,” who Warren writes “has sold her soul but still walks the earth.” Again, don’t ask.
3) “Pushing Psychopaths to Violence,” in which he argues that the “American Republican is under attack” by Black Lives Matter, “Antifa, a product of the European socialist and communist ideology,” “La Raza, and a wide variety of Democrat politicians.” Warren further argues that the deranged shooter of Rep. Steve Scalise was pushed by the “radical left” “to commit violence in the name of social justice.” Oh, and the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, is further evidence (don’t ask me how) “that the left is pushing psychopaths to violence – and if they do not stop there will be much more violence with ever escalating death and injury numbers.” Alrighty!
4) “Democrats and Violence,” in which he blames Democrats for the Steve Scalise shooting, as “the vitriol [against Donald Trump] is constantly reported in the biased news media and repeated in virtually every gathering of Democrat [sic] Party faithful.” He further ties this “crescendo of profanity and calls to violence on Hillary Clinton and her ‘Basket of Deplorable’ comments.” He concludes his tirade: “I do not see how Americans can be brought together when one group thinks that global socialism and the destruction of America is a good idea while the other favors pride in America and its borders, language, culture and Constitution. Add to this the Islamic terrorist situation and you have a very combustible future.”
Another frequent author at The Bull Elephant, John Massoud (“Magisterial District Chair in Shenandoah County, the head of the Freedom Caucus of the Shenandoah County GOP, and has dedicated his life to fighting the tyranny of big government at all levels, federal, state, and local”), writes stuff like:
- “The Most Consequential Presidency in our Lifetimes,” which apparently is not Onion-style satire, claiming with a straight face that “Trump has Made America Great Again in just 11 months,” that he has personally cranked up the economy (despite no economic legislation until the tax monstrosity a few days ago), that he “pulled out of that silly Paris Climate Accord,” that Trump is a “Blue Collar Billionaire,” etc.
- “Kaepernick is the Ultimate Race Pimp,” which writes that Kaepernick’s “Black Lives Matter squeeze, Nessa Diab… is ruining his football career to help her own flagging career of being a Muslim activist and a race pimp.” Ee gads.
Another author at The Bull Elephant, Woody Zimmerman, writes stuff like:
- “Son of Hitler” – Starts with a warped, sick image of Hillary Clinton wearing an Iron Cross and swastika, and then…sorry, I couldn’t get past that disgusting image. Done.
- “Gender Fright” – This one has an image of Hillary Clinton as a…bet you’ll never guess; yep, a WITCH! Ugh. Among other things, such as that the “gender-bias” is actually more of a problem for men than for women, this one writes: “Some schools are also letting homosexual activists ‘help’ boys find their true sexual orientation. Very educational, I’m sure. Not quite the 3 R’s that I grew up with. With the transgender movement gaining steam, the Nifty Fifties are clearly far behind us.”
- “Going Green – Where are we Heading?“: Gotta have a dollop of one of the far right’s favorite topics, climate science denialism (e.g., “Climate experts declare that warming does not cause ‘extreme weather,’ and that we are not in an era of more intense storms. It only seems that way because of 24/7 news-coverage and overbuilding in hurricane-prone coastal zones. Ice-cap melting seems like a new “warming” problem because we see it happening via satellite. But it happens every spring and summer, as it has for eons.”) and demonization of environmentalists (e.g., “Radical environmentalists envision a purified planet with 300 million people living in pristine simplicity – hunting, gathering, protecting the earth, and freezing their butts off in grass huts.”).
- “Climate-change Campaign’s Dark Side“: An even more bizarre, would-be-laughable-if-it-weren’t-so-serious example of climate science denial. This screed claims that “science is being prostituted by government-funding for climate-research which has a political agenda and a desired result,” that “the climate-crusade’s darkest aspect, by far, is its opposition to Third World industrial development,” that “electricity so generated [by solar panels and wind turbines] is unreliable and three times as expensive as electricity from coal-fired generating plants” that, “Basically, the Climate movement is anti-human,” and that — this is a classic passage right here – “If backward places like Africa are ever going to pull themselves out of their primitive past, they must be able to use all the resources at their disposal. They’ll never do that with windmills, solar panels, dirt-floor huts with rats running around, and smoky cook-fires burning buffalo shit.” You can’t make this [buffalo] shit up!
Haven’t gotten enough climate science denialism from The Bull Elephant yet? No worries, they’ve gotcha covered! Check out the writings of Michael Giere, which include gems like “This is Real Climate Change.” This one claims that climate change “is about politics,” that stories about are driven by “the corrupt corporate media-entertainment complex, the political class, and the agenda-driven science and academic community that are enriched by the money provided by government and institutional grants” (bolding by the author), and that “remedies promoted to “stop climate change” demand the total submission of individual rights and modern lifestyles to a vague international order that would diminish both, and the transfer of trillions of dollars of wealth or potential wealth from some people, primarily Americans, to largely unidentified other people.” Again, not making this [Bull Elephant] shit up.
Then of course there’s Dominion Energy’s sponsored blog, with crazy posts like:
- “Documenting Cville’s Left-Wing Radicalism“: Claims that “Charlottesville is a hotbed of left-wing radicalism without parallel anywhere else Virginia,” that Tom Perriello was “Virginia’s “radical chic” candidate – I know, WTF? – that was “funded by liberal billionaire George Soros, global activist organization Avaaz, and a coterie of wealthy Albemarle County gentry,” that “Charlottesville provides numerous foot soldiers of the Left,” blah blah blah.
- “Follow the Dark Money“: this one is completely bonkers, claiming that environmental groups like the Chesapeake Climate Action Network – CCAN – is not a “true grassroots environmental organization,” quoting a loony “study” which found that a supposed “‘Billionaire’s Club,’ an exclusive group of wealthy individuals, directs the far-left environmental movement,” that “Far-left environmental activists, while benefiting from nonprofit status, essentially sell a product to wealthy foundations who are seeking to drive policy and political outcomes,” that somehow Virginia Organizing is tied to “Russian energy interests through the Bermuda-based Klein Fund to the California-based Sea Change Foundation,” and that “ Much of the anti-pipeline money in Virginia comes from wealthy out-of-state environmentalists (with a few rubles mixed in).” As I said, totally bonkers.
- And then there’s the instant classic, “It Takes Two to Tango,” which claimed that “Both the far Right and far Left came to Charlottesville spoiling for a fight,” that what happened there “is part of a larger struggle between far Left and far Right” (the f***?), that “This time, the rightists committed the most heinous crime. Next time, it will be the leftists,” etc. In response, Peter Galuszka – a progressive who used to write at this blog, but begged off when it became an adjunct of Dominion – commented: “You have major hate groups coming in from other states and you have local residents like Heather Heyer standing up to them. Then I have to go through your false equivalence arguments. I am getting more disgusted. Think I’ll click off.” Well said, Peter…well said.
Finally, check out The Republican Standard (The “Virginia Republican Pravda,” as even The Bull Elephant calls it, writing: “As someone who enjoyed a friendly relationship with the senior editor of this website, it became increasingly painful to read their articles as they were not based on truth, but rather what they wanted the truth to be. As such, I began to hate seeing new articles posted on The Republican Standard because they consistently reminded me of propaganda.”) fine (ok, not really fine) journalism (ok, not really journalism) like “Is Green Antifa Taking Russian Money To Fight Dominion Energy?“; “Jeanine Lawson is 100% Right: Every Child Has The Right To Their Mother and Father” (in fact, the woman’s simply an anti-LGBT bigot who needs to lose her seat on the County Board in 2019); Virginia Far-Left Democrat [sic] Candidate In VA-10 Bankrolled by California Extremists (this one has a nice assortment of the usual right-wing bogeymen — George Soros! California! “extreme liberals!” Norman Lear! Gloria Steinem! Kamala Harris! the Democratic Socialists of America! contributions from, gasp, “outside of Virginia!”); plus almost every post about a poll showing Ralph Northam ahead claiming that the poll was “skewed” or “flawed” in some way (in fact, the polls showing Northam with a big lead, as he won by 9 points).
So…yeah, definitely check out the right-wing Virginia political blogosphere in 2018, if you enjoy a heaping helping of conspiracy theorizing, misogyny, science denial, false equivalency with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and of course Trump worship. Sounds like fun, eh?
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