The American political landscape one year after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol reflects the yawning divides highlighted on that violent day and reveals the extent to which extremist beliefs have become part of the mainstream. As the 2022 midterm election campaigns kick into high gear, ADL’s Center on Extremism is tracking more than 100 problematic political candidates who claim to be running for political office this year. This includes candidates who promote extreme views, associate with extremists, and/or promote potentially dangerous conspiracy theories. Support for such candidates demonstrates a continuing shift of the so-called Overton Window – the parameters of what is considered “normal” or “acceptable” in political and social discourse. This ever-shifting window signals an expanding mainstream acceptance of extreme beliefs and ideologies. https://www.adl.org/blog/extremism-on-the-ballot-in-2022 Before commenting please read the whole article. It furthers the evidence that as more moderate office holders on both sides become increasingly frustrated with division and gridlock retire, extremists are filling the void. People who espouse causes like the Big Lie, not issues to address our common problems.
The problem here is, Democrats label ANYONE that doesn't coincide with their political agenda, white supremacists, anti-government extremists and members of the far-right Proud Boys. Like, Kyle Rittenhouse, the Covington Catholic kids, Kavanaugh, Glenn Youngkin, New Gov of Virginia, DeSantis, to the point Democrats got caught faking these claims in Virginia with the Lincoln project idiots posing as white supreacist supporting Youngkin. Then when they did get caught they started to scramble for an excuse and now they were just trying to show who supported Youngkin, Just more fake Democrats with fake outrage and fake claims getting caught. Democrats have wasted so much time labeling everyone they don't like as white supremacists, anti-government extremists and members of the far-right Proud Boys, they forgot that after a while, nobody buys into it any more. Now its just crying wolf.
The claim's total crap. Americans aren't deeply divided, we are in broad agreement that the Democrat Majority in Congress and Biden have no interest in our priorities, therefore, we are losing interest in renewing their employment as our representatives. You pretend we are on the cusp of a catastrophe, when actually it's just a rather small number of extremists who do not listen to us.
The article reveals extremists like the Proud Boys and other white nationalists aren't just coming out from the shadows. They feel there is reason to believe enough support exists among conservative Repubs to make a run at public office. It's tantamount to a candidate running as a member of the KKK.
I got a question. How come people like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar aren’t on that list? Couldn’t be because it’s a WHOLLY biased hit piece could it?
You want me to scare you even more? Im currently elected to the district school board and I’m running for city council in the capitol of my state and I’m crushing my competition so far. Long ways to go but I’m fairly confident. In 2-4 years I’ll be running for the state house seat. Fingers crossed I’ll ride in on the coattails of Trumps reelection.
\ and "the right" labels anyone left of john bitch a "commie." the overton window now includes actual gold bugs, theocrats, anti vaxers, and neo nazis while lynn cheney, much less an establishment moderate like biden are "too far left."
Show me Thats not party specific Which are even more leftist claims to anyone they don't like Say it ain't so. Biden filling positions with LBTGQ just because they are LBTGQ is now moderate? Promoting a 4 trillion tax increase that would be one of the largest wealth transfers in American history is now moderate? Filling Cabinet members with progressives to mandate more regulation is now moderate? His culture war executive orders for transgender causes is now moderate? Pushing unconstitutional mandates for vaccines is now moderate? Bidens 3.5 trillion dollar social safety net (even some Democrats won't vote for) is now moderate? Even Democrats call him far left Far-left Dems plan to purge moderates from the party as payback for resisting Biden’s $3.5T bill https://www.washingtontimes.com/new...PWHAf58LrUpqvt8tqN_rQcbuTO2yzI-AaAjy7EALw_wcB You either have the wrong definition of moderate or you don't get out much
My takeaway is the emergence of these candidates provides more evidence that the POT is becoming an outlier party. QAnon is making inroads as are a variety of xenophobic, nationalist, anti-vax, anti-science kooks. It's a tremendously dangerous trend for democracy.
What's going to be great is when they get into office, and begin the duel of the crazies. A group of different political extremist attention addicts trying to outcrazy each other. I want to ban cats! Guns for the unborn! The new York times is made of people! Give dogs the vote! Free playstations! Oh and ssssoooooo much racist stuff. Like you thought the boebert lady was weird. It's going to be... well painful honestly. Hopefully enough so that people stop supporting these parties. We'll see.
I don't see it as being quite so comically innocuous. More along the lines of violent attacks on people they disagree with, more intimidation of election officials, the elevation of xenophobic rhetoric, adoration of personalities over attention to important issues, etc.
You are not wrong. Many of these folk have been radicalized to see fellow Americans as the enemy. You just have to look at the behavior, the vitriol and hatred being spewed. So many posts right here on this forum refer to "the other side" like everyone is not an American with the same rights and freedoms to exercise and protect. SAD! The extremist agenda is thriving but more so on the right currently.
Lee, I think this whole post is emblematic of why Democrats are so rapidly losing the confidence of so many Americans. Why? Because people don’t believe we’re in grave danger of extremists. If you want to get people’s attention, if you want to inspire confidence in your Party (while it still has a chance) here’s what you focus on: - Stopping inflation - Reducing energy costs - Getting people back to work instead of doling out money not to work - Attacking the supply chain slowdown - Ending all orders to fire people over vax status - Getting tough on crime - Stopping illegal immigration You guys run the show right now. You guys are being held responsible. Regular people don’t want you guys obsessing about politics. They want you to obsess about the problems that effect them right now in their daily lives. They don’t want dogmatic answers; they want practical, common sense answers, and you guys are not providing that. BY FAR, Americans are centrists who lean right and lean left. And I’m telling you ... Trying to gin up fear of extremism is a loser. It rings stale. It rings like propaganda. Fix our real problems. You should thank me for this free advice.
The list, which continues to grow on a near-daily basis, includes at least a dozen candidates with explicit connections to extremist groups or movements including white supremacists, anti-government extremists and members of the far-right Proud Boys. Self-described “lifetime member” of the anti-government Oath Keepers Wendy Rogers, a Republican member of the Arizona State Senate running for re-election, has appeared on the antisemitic TruNews streaming platform and tweeted support for Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist leader and organizer. She is also one of the loudest voices in the 2020 election-denial movement. In a December 9, 2021, Gab post she wrote, “Trump won and anyone who doesn’t see that the election was stolen is a FOOL!”
IMHO, Trump MAY have a chance at winning the Republican nomination if the convention was held today. It depends on who ran against him. But because a chunk of Republicans and a lot of Independents won’t vote for him, he has ZERO chance of winning the general election. The Trump era is going to pass into history in 2024 if not before. As far as some Arizona state legislature member goes, the general American public DOESN’T CARE. If you want to have any chance in elections this year or 2024, FIX OUR PROBLEMS that ordinary voters are concerned about. If you lose this year, it will be because of your failure to do it. Is that getting through? The Republicans on this board are probably going to tell to stop talking because I’m giving you good advice. You’re welcome.
Care to discuss life in extreme lefty-land? The only way to reduce political extremism is to reduce government power. Your party is doing the opposite. The power you support will eventually end up in the hands of someone you oppose.
The proud boys are nowhere near the KKK. Show me a burning cross the proud boys lit, show me a hanging they participated in, show me how they where hoods, show me a Cuban KKK leader. The proud boys are only racist because you say they are yet their leader is Cuban, not white at all.
House moderates aren’t extinct yet, but it’s time to put them on the endangered species list.Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) became the 29th House Democrat to announce he won’t seek reelection on Tuesday, one day after state lawmakers advanced a redistricting plan to turn his Nashville-based seat from solidly blue to red. “I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There’s no way, at least for me, in this election cycle,” Cooper said. Cooper is one of many Democrats to retire ahead of a tough midterm election, and he’s one of quite a few redistricting casualties this cycle. But he’s also part of another House retirement trend: Moderates leaving the chamber. It’s happening on both sides of the aisle. Three of the Republicans who voted for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment — Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) and John Katko (R-N.Y.) — have announced they won’t seek reelection. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/26/house-moderates-00002253
Right wing extremism is ascendant all over the world. One reason, growing economic inequality......not government power.
The Proud Boys’ actions belie their disavowals of bigotry: Rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric. Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings such as the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Former Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped organize that event, which brought together a broad coalition of extremists including Neo-Nazis, antisemites and militias. Kessler was expelled from the group after the violence and near-universal condemnation of Charlottesville rallygoers. Other hardcore members of the alt-right have argued that the “Western chauvinist” label is just a “PR cuck term” McInnes crafted to gain mainstream acceptance. “Let’s not bullshit,” Brian Brathovd, aka Caerulus Rex, told his co-hosts on “The Daily Shoah,” an antisemitic podcast popular with the alt-right. If the Proud Boys “were pressed on the issue, I guarantee you that like 90% of them would tell you something along the lines of ‘Hitler was right. Gas the Jews.’” https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys
All fringe groups have their own "signatures". They don't all do the same things to terrorize their targets so that's not a fair comparison. Further, a person can be prejudiced against their own race.
