The juxtaposition of the Trump-endorsed January 6 insurrection with DJT’s complaints about the state of the District of Columbia may be galling on the surface. I see folks jumping on the “hypocritical!” bandwagon left and right.
There’s nothing hypocritical going on here.
Everything from this administration can be explained by how it answers one question: “Does this idea make life more comfortable for white, wealthy, supposedly Christian, allegedly straight white males?”
Don’t be afraid to bust out the #whitewealthysupposedlyChristianellegedlystraightwhitemales hashtag. Although yes, it’s a bit unwieldy, which is why the “bigoted, fragile, and pathetic” is silent.
Nevertheless, that single policy filter is the rug that ties the right-wing room together. What else can we point to over the last week, you might ask, beyond DC MAGA complaining about having to look at the poors on the way to work?
Welll, there’s that time when Pete Hegseth reposted the video arguing that women should not be allowed to vote. Which may remind you of JD Vance and the sentiment that each household should get one vote — assuming there are children in the household — and that (naturally) the man would cast the vote for the others.
The right’s pro-democracy posturing is a sham.
Or that time when the military started forcing out long-tenured trans service members and screwing them out of their retirement benefits.
The right’s pro-meritocracy and pro-military posturing is a sham.
And now, the right is banging on the Supreme Court’s door to finally take down the ruling that allowed marriage equality a decade ago. You’ll hear more about this soon from First Draft colleague Cassandra.
How many times will the suckers “moderate Republicans” say “but no, they’ll never try to do that” only to find out they were enabling the worst possible agenda?
The right’s pro-liberty-and-justice-for-all posturing is a, well, you get the picture.
What’s not a sham is #whitewealthysupposedlyChristianellegedlystraightwhitemales.
Everybody here still has those “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” Republican-voting acquaintances who’d tell you they have “gay friends.” As institutional bigotry gets boosted back up the judicial food chain, are they going to look their “gay friends” in the face and apologize for underestimating the hate and fundamental(ist) inhumanity that they’ve been supporting?
A lot of folks might have gay friends while remaining oblivious to the fact that they themselves are no friend at all.
The best a lot of us can do is put the facts about right-wing efforts in front of these enablers. Give them reality, give them context to put the picture together. They’ll have to either realize what they’ve been helping along or admit that they’re actually the ones being enabled — less the fool than simply cruel.
The last word goes to Ernest Hemingway, who predated hashtags but knew the type plenty well.
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