2
2
0
Posted 8 mo ago
Responses: 2
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."That stuck with me as I began work, a few months later, on a book about the state of the Republican Party. Haven, as it turned out, got his news from the conservative talk-radio-show hosts Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh—and, of course, from the president he so admired, Donald Trump. But as my reporting proceeded through the tumultuous end of Trump’s presidency and beyond the madness of January 6, 2021, I frequently encountered Republicans who, like Haven, could not conceive of Trump’s adversaries possessing human attributes. Instead, they viewed Democrats, government bureaucrats, and members of the media like me as any combination of Communists, traitors, swamp creatures, and human scum."
..."That stuck with me as I began work, a few months later, on a book about the state of the Republican Party. Haven, as it turned out, got his news from the conservative talk-radio-show hosts Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh—and, of course, from the president he so admired, Donald Trump. But as my reporting proceeded through the tumultuous end of Trump’s presidency and beyond the madness of January 6, 2021, I frequently encountered Republicans who, like Haven, could not conceive of Trump’s adversaries possessing human attributes. Instead, they viewed Democrats, government bureaucrats, and members of the media like me as any combination of Communists, traitors, swamp creatures, and human scum."
(2)
(0)
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Throughout her monologue, the woman sounded completely sure of herself, unswerving in her belief that the violence I had witnessed firsthand on January 6 was entirely made up but was in any event understandable, given her certainty that the 2020 election was stolen. That self-certitude is what has stayed with me, more than the rambling illogic. I wish I knew what it would take for her and millions of her MAGA compatriots to one day be disabused of their shared delusions—to look back in chagrined amazement and say, as Scott Haven did in the federal courtroom, “This wasn’t me. This wasn’t me.”
..."Throughout her monologue, the woman sounded completely sure of herself, unswerving in her belief that the violence I had witnessed firsthand on January 6 was entirely made up but was in any event understandable, given her certainty that the 2020 election was stolen. That self-certitude is what has stayed with me, more than the rambling illogic. I wish I knew what it would take for her and millions of her MAGA compatriots to one day be disabused of their shared delusions—to look back in chagrined amazement and say, as Scott Haven did in the federal courtroom, “This wasn’t me. This wasn’t me.”
(0)
(0)
Read This Next