It’s the fourth anniversary of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. We aren’t getting better.

benfell

Update, October 28, 2022: The sections on Ukraine and Twitter have been updated since this post was first published.

Illiberalism


Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Ishaan Tharoor, “Brazil’s election offers even more intense echo of U.S. culture war,” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2022/10/27/brazil-culture-war-election/

Ukraine


Fig. 2. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.

This section was updated on October 28, 2022.

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Russian tactics on eastern front ‘crazy’, says Zelensky,” October 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63408506

Catherine Belton, “Russia’s security service works to subvert Moldova’s pro-Western government,” Washington Post, October 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/28/russia-fsb-moldova-manipulation/

Gilead

White Christian nationalism (Trumpism)


Fig. 3. A Ku Klux Klan meeting in Gainesville, Florida, Dec. 31, 1922, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

When I arrived in Pittsburgh, in the year following the Tree of Life massacre,[2] Confederate flags were everywhere to be seen, flying proudly in people’s front yards. To say I was horrified understates it, as I rather rapidly pieced this together with the even more prominent support for Donald Trump, the guns meant to honor veterans but mostly found in and around conflict zones where working class white people fear their Black neighbors, the banners also honoring veterans but extraordinarily rarely veterans of color, an insanity in which you might as well ask Pennsylvania men to cut off their own penises as ask them to give up their guns, and a widespread support for police white supremacist gangsters that was an obvious reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, that all seemed inescapably to add up to one very ugly white supremacist picture.[3] My mother had warned me about racism in Pittsburgh but I was unprepared for its prominence and unprepared for how widely these views were manifest.

Even neglecting any knowledge of U.S. history, with my mother’s warning in mind—she had grown up in Dormont, a Pittsburgh suburb, in the 1940s and 1950s—it was incoherent to suggest that such racism was anything new. Rather, I came to understand, Trump had made white supremacists feel comfortable enough to openly display their bigotry.

I was thinking principally of Black people, who live with a wide intersection of race and class where Black people number disproportionately and visibly among the poor and white people number disproportionately and visibly among the well off, evidence of systemic racism. But there was also that Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.[4] (This synagogue remains closed.)

While at a generalized level, antisemitic attitudes have dropped, the incidents have risen because there is less shame. People feel they can say and do anything.[5]

I realized quickly that I was seeing more broadly and boldly than I had ever imagined, what I understood as authoritarian populism and paleoconservatism in my dissertation[6] and, quite unintentionally, my time in Pittsburgh has served to increase my understanding of these tendencies, now part of a wider phenomenon of a White Christian nationalist conservatism,[7] encompassing most of the tendencies I had earlier identified,[8] that Trump has made nearly monolithic.[9]

Whether intentionally or unwittingly, Trump tapped into a movement I had woefully underestimated, that dates back a millenium.[10] He was not even on the radar as a possible presidential contender, let alone president, in 2013 when Kim Messick wrote this:

[T]he Republican Party’s extremism can be traced to its increased dependence on an electorate that is largely rural, Southern and white. These voters, who figure prominently in the Tea Party, often decline to interpret political conflict as a struggle among interest groups or a good-faith clash of opinion. Instead, they tend to identify the country as a whole with an idealized version of themselves, and to equate any dissent from their values with disloyalty by alien, “un-American” forces. This paranoid vision of politics, I argued, makes them seek out opportunities for dramatic conflict and to shun negotiation and compromise.[11]

This “idealized version” is white, evangelical Protestant, and incoherently conservative, more against anything perceived to be “liberal,” let alone “socialist” or “communist,” than for any coherent program.[12] To be otherwise, in this view, is to be disloyal, alien, unAmerikkkan.[13] Trump has relentlessly exploited this[14] and now, look what’s happened:

We’re in an era when the MAGA movement’s boundaries of who is considered a real, good, authentic American are mutating and the future is very unpredictable.[15]

One thing we’re seeing here is a narrowing of who, under a white Christian nationalist construct, is Amerikkkan. But the hell of it is that this is really a twofer. Not only do white supremacists denigrate, threaten, and even commit acts of violence against Jews, but in doing so, they rationalize Zionist occupation, in which the existence—whether we admit it or not—of Israel is a reaction to the Holocaust and to a relentless series of pogroms dating back centuries,[16] aggravating the Palestinian problem.

When Kanye West pits Black people against Jews,[17] he thus in fact also betrays a legacy of Black support for the Palestinian cause.[18]

But the evil here is enormous, much, much wider than Jews and Palestinians, encompassing many issues that distinguish a civilized society from barbarity. We tolerate it at our own peril.

Michelle Boorstein and Isaac Arnsdorf, “Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Ye: ‘Something is different,’” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/27/antisemitism-kanye-trump-adidas-jews/

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 4. Department of Justice photograph of seized materials, reportedly partially redacted, via the Washington Post, August 31, 2022,[19] public domain.

Not that this will be a surprise to anyone, but reportedly, Donald Trump will run in 2024. The only things that have stopped him from announcing already are that to do so now would cost more money and would also raise regulatory obstacles.[20] Of course, if Trump does announce, that would give Merrick Garland what he so desperately wants: yet another excuse for not prosecuting him.[21]

Tara Palmeri, “Trump ’24 Foreplay,” Puck News, October 27, 2022, https://puck.news/trump-24-foreplay/

Self-driving cars


Fig. 5. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Ryan Deto, “Argo AI, a Pittsburgh driverless car pioneer, goes out of business,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 26, 2022, https://triblive.com/business/technology/ford-cuts-investment-in-autonomous-vehicle-unit-posts-loss/

Kirsten Korosec, “Ford, VW-backed Argo AI is shutting down,” TechCrunch, October 26, 2022, https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/26/ford-vw-backed-argo-ai-is-shutting-down/

Christiaan Hetzner, “Tesla may have hidden a federal criminal investigation into its self-driving tech from shareholders,” Fortune, October 27, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/10/27/tesla-autopilot-elon-musk-federal-criminal-investigation-justice-department/

Stephen Wilmot, “Ford Can’t Afford Other Bets Like Driverless Cars,” Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ford-cant-afford-other-bets-like-driverless-cars-11666861656

Twitter

This section was updated on October 28, 2022.

Elon Musk has now taken over Twitter. All of a sudden, things sound different:[22]

Chief executive officer Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, were all fired, according to the people. Sean Edgett , the company’s general counsel, was also pushed out, one of the people said. The top executives were hastily shuttled from the building, the people said. . . .

Musk has publicly criticized Twitter’s outgoing management over product decisions and content moderation, as well as saying he would restore former president Donald Trump‘s account.[23]

In a message to advertisers on Twitter on Thursday, Mr. [Elon] Musk said he was buying the company to “have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.” He said Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”[24]

And yet, somehow not so different: Musk now owes over $200 million to those executives[25] he was so ungracious with.[26]

Faiz Siddiqui and Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Top Twitter executives fired as Elon Musk takeover begins,” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/27/twitter-elon-musk/

Lauren Thomas and Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Twitter Deal Completed, CEO and CFO Immediately Fired,” Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-completes-twitter-takeover-11666918031

Jeremy C. Owens, “Elon Musk on the hook to pay more than $200 million to 3 fired Twitter execs,” MarketWatch, October 28, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-must-pay-more-than-200-million-to-3-fired-twitter-execs-11666927154

  1. [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
  2. [2]Campbell Robertson, Christopher Mele, and Sabrina Tavernise, “11 Killed in Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged With 29 Counts,” New York Times, October 27, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “The banners and the guns: Flagrant racism in Pittsburgh,” Not Housebroken, October 3, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/09/20/the-banners-and-the-guns-flagrant-racism-in-pittsburgh/↩
  4. [4]Campbell Robertson, Christopher Mele, and Sabrina Tavernise, “11 Killed in Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged With 29 Counts,” New York Times, October 27, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html↩
  5. [5]Jonathan Greenblatt, quoted in Michelle Boorstein and Isaac Arnsdorf, “Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Ye: ‘Something is different,’” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/27/antisemitism-kanye-trump-adidas-jews/↩
  6. [6]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, October 14, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/↩
  8. [8]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  9. [9]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, October 14, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/↩
  10. [10]David Benfell, “Barack Obama asks, ‘Why is it that the folks that won the last election are so mad all the time?’” Not Housebroken, November 4, 2018, https://disunitedstates.org/2018/11/04/barack-obama-asks-why-is-it-that-the-folks-that-won-the-last-election-are-so-mad-all-the-time/↩
  11. [11]Kim Messick, “Modern GOP is still the party of Dixie,” Salon, October 12, 2013, https://www.salon.com/2013/10/12/modern_gop_is_still_the_party_of_dixie/↩
  12. [12]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  13. [13]Kim Messick, “Modern GOP is still the party of Dixie,” Salon, October 12, 2013, https://www.salon.com/2013/10/12/modern_gop_is_still_the_party_of_dixie/↩
  14. [14]Jelani Cobb, “Donald Trump’s Idea of Selective Citizenship,” New Yorker, July 29, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/donald-trumps-idea-of-selective-citizenship↩
  15. [15]Benjamin Lorber, quoted in Michelle Boorstein and Isaac Arnsdorf, “Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Ye: ‘Something is different,’” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/27/antisemitism-kanye-trump-adidas-jews/↩
  16. [16]Avigail Abarbanel, “A change needs to come,” Electronic Intifada, May 25, 2008, http://electronicintifada.net/content/change-needs-come/7529; Albert Memmi, Portrait of a Jew (New York: Viking, 1971).↩
  17. [17]Michelle Boorstein and Isaac Arnsdorf, “Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Ye: ‘Something is different,’” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/27/antisemitism-kanye-trump-adidas-jews/; Philissa Cramer and Ron Kampeas, “Kanye West’s vow to ‘go death con 3’ on Jews and his antisemitism controversy, explained,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 12, 2022, https://www.jta.org/2022/10/12/united-states/kanye-wests-vow-to-go-death-con-3-on-jews-and-his-antisemitism-controversy-explained; Oren Segal, “Hate in America: Yesterday, the head of an antisemitic and white supremacist group (and his supporters) dropped banners over the 405 in Los Angeles. One banner read, ‘Kanye is right about the Jews,’ Twitter, October 23, 2022, https://twitter.com/orensegal/status/1584132843285794816; Times of Israel, “Antisemites hang banner over LA freeway declaring Kanye ‘right about the Jews,’” October 23, 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/antisemites-hang-banner-over-la-freeway-declaring-kanye-right-about-the-jews/; Grace Toohey and Salvador Hernandez, “Kanye West’s brazen antisemitism gives hate a celebrity mouthpiece. ‘There’s real harm,’” Los Angeles Times, October 25, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-25/response-to-antisemitic-acts-in-los-angeles↩
  18. [18]Jewish Women’s Archive, “Tensions in Black-Jewish Relations,” n.d., https://jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy/tensions-in-black-jewish-relations↩
  19. [19]Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. says Trump team may have hidden, moved classified papers,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/↩
  20. [20]Tara Palmeri, “Trump ’24 Foreplay,” Puck News, October 27, 2022, https://puck.news/trump-24-foreplay/↩
  21. [21]David Benfell, “It is now even more urgently orange jumpsuit time,” Not Housebroken, October 17, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/24/it-is-now-even-more-urgently-orange-jumpsuit-time/; Michelle Onibokun and Chuck Rosenberg, “The Justice Department’s Policy Against Election Interference is Open to Abuse,” Lawfare, September 11, 2020, https://www.lawfareblog.com/justice-departments-policy-against-election-interference-open-abuse↩
  22. [22]Faiz Siddiqui and Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Top Twitter executives fired as Elon Musk takeover begins,” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/27/twitter-elon-musk/; Lauren Thomas and Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Twitter Deal Completed, CEO and CFO Immediately Fired,” Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-completes-twitter-takeover-11666918031↩
  23. [23]Faiz Siddiqui and Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Top Twitter executives fired as Elon Musk takeover begins,” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/27/twitter-elon-musk/↩
  24. [24]Lauren Thomas and Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Twitter Deal Completed, CEO and CFO Immediately Fired,” Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-completes-twitter-takeover-11666918031↩
  25. [25]Jeremy C. Owens, “Elon Musk on the hook to pay more than $200 million to 3 fired Twitter execs,” MarketWatch, October 28, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-must-pay-more-than-200-million-to-3-fired-twitter-execs-11666927154↩
  26. [26]Faiz Siddiqui and Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Top Twitter executives fired as Elon Musk takeover begins,” Washington Post, October 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/27/twitter-elon-musk/↩

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