This is an excellent primer on the roots of the last several decades of right-wing political strategy. Thanks for sharing this concise timeline! I sincerely wish I could share it with my college students—I'm a professor who has to teach about the media and understanding credible and trustworthy sources of information, if there even are any left these days thanks to billionaires controlling legacy media. But I fear it would come off as too partisan, even if the truth. These are the times we find ourselves in. *sigh*
I would also add that the "roots" go back even further to Nixon's blaming of the "liberal media" for its coverage of his handling of the Vietnam War and his response to student protests. (This is where the concept of the "biased liberal media" was born, which was doubled-down on by Regan and taken to an extreme by Trump.) Also, the ultra-wealthy, who were looking for a way out of the FDR-style politics beloved by the majority of Americans, took advantage of the necessity for calling in government troops to help integrate schools after Brown v. Board of Education (1954). They saw an opportunity to turn the tide in their favor and against the rest of us by pushing the false narrative that rather than stepping in to protect individual rights and liberties, this "proved" the government was taking away from "deserving" white males to give to "undeserving" POC, women, and (today) LGBTQ+ individuals. And, hence, that narrative was born.
Anyway, I appreciate your writing, which lays this history out so clearly and concisely. Thanks for sharing this!
Let's be clear it's Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism that bears most of the weight of causing our current situation. Reagan was a performer who gained power and while there are other similarities the actions (and especially the inactions) of McConnell explain plenty. True, Reagan did put the simgle biggest grifter in place in the form of RV -guru Clarence Thomas and his screwball wife into power in SCOTUS. But tRump put the other sychophants in place and this caused Thomas’s vote to carry more weight. Reagan, unlike tRump, loved this country and what it basically was founded on. tRump hates all that America is/was/has been since its founding.
This is an excellent primer on the roots of the last several decades of right-wing political strategy. Thanks for sharing this concise timeline! I sincerely wish I could share it with my college students—I'm a professor who has to teach about the media and understanding credible and trustworthy sources of information, if there even are any left these days thanks to billionaires controlling legacy media. But I fear it would come off as too partisan, even if the truth. These are the times we find ourselves in. *sigh*
I would also add that the "roots" go back even further to Nixon's blaming of the "liberal media" for its coverage of his handling of the Vietnam War and his response to student protests. (This is where the concept of the "biased liberal media" was born, which was doubled-down on by Regan and taken to an extreme by Trump.) Also, the ultra-wealthy, who were looking for a way out of the FDR-style politics beloved by the majority of Americans, took advantage of the necessity for calling in government troops to help integrate schools after Brown v. Board of Education (1954). They saw an opportunity to turn the tide in their favor and against the rest of us by pushing the false narrative that rather than stepping in to protect individual rights and liberties, this "proved" the government was taking away from "deserving" white males to give to "undeserving" POC, women, and (today) LGBTQ+ individuals. And, hence, that narrative was born.
Anyway, I appreciate your writing, which lays this history out so clearly and concisely. Thanks for sharing this!
Let's be clear it's Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism that bears most of the weight of causing our current situation. Reagan was a performer who gained power and while there are other similarities the actions (and especially the inactions) of McConnell explain plenty. True, Reagan did put the simgle biggest grifter in place in the form of RV -guru Clarence Thomas and his screwball wife into power in SCOTUS. But tRump put the other sychophants in place and this caused Thomas’s vote to carry more weight. Reagan, unlike tRump, loved this country and what it basically was founded on. tRump hates all that America is/was/has been since its founding.