Maybe this isn't news, but I'd like to put it out there: the #Trump campaign has really been doubling down on antisemitic and millenarian rhetoric.
I joined the Trump email list in the spring of 2020 because a) I hate myself, and/or b) I think a lot about populist rhetoric and how it motivates people. Over the past few years, I've mostly gotten a lot of emails from the RNC (often presented as though written by Trump or a member of his family) that are sleazy and manipulative, but frankly not so far off from what mainstream conservatives have been doing for decades.
Starting in late January, I started getting emails directly from the Trump campaign again. At first, they referenced George Soros and "globalists" every two or three days, sometimes describing Soros as a "puppeteer" and Biden as his "puppet." At this point, tho, that language is coming in twice a day. The frequency of emails hasn't changed, just the use of those tropes.
One email dated March 2 reads "I WILL NOT BE SILENCED for calling out the billionaire puppeteer who has wreaked havoc on our borders, our justice system, and our nation. ... Soros and his puppets in the media try to SILENCE us for exposing Soros’ election meddling and corruption".
In a video from late January, he pointed to the rioting in Georgia after cops murdered #Tortuguito, saying that "As always, it’s hard-working, law-abiding citizens of all backgrounds who pay the price for this violent radical left extremism, sponsored by George Soros, it seems”.
But perhaps the most unsettling thing about this is the way he is both personalizing his message -- not only with respect to Soros, but also his supporters -- and using millenarian language to do it.
A March 7 email reads, "But remember, it’s not really me who they’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try and destroy – it’s YOU. ... In 2016, I declared that 'I was your voice.'
Today, I add that I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for all the patriots who the radical Democrats and the Deep State have wronged, I am your RETRIBUTION."
One of yesterday's emails declares that "2024 is not just another election. This truly is the FINAL BATTLE to save America.
We have reached the crossroads where either the PEOPLE win, or they do. And if the Left wins, our Republic is LOST for good.
In this election, President Trump is not only your voice, he is YOUR RETRIBUTION."
He calls himself "YOUR RETRIBUTION" a lot these days.
So while there's a lot of talk about how much support Trump has lost and how even #Republicans want to get rid of him, but can't figure out how, he nonetheless presents a pretty explicit danger. For instance, the mass murderer who attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 explicitly said he wanted to attack a Jewish org doing support work for refugees, so there's dramatic, relatively recent evidence of how dangerous it can be to regularly link the "threat" of immigration with antisemitic tropes. This is the very definition of how stochastic terrorism works.
Part of the reason for this new focus on Soros seems to be Trump's desire to attack prosecutors who are going after him in Atlanta and New York. He has repeatedly linked prosecutors who are investigating him with campaign donations from Soros. So it largely seems to stem from his unbridled urge to viciously attack anyone he sees as a personal threat to him. But regardless of his motivation, the actions threaten to stoke antisemitic sentiment beyond his named targets.
At any rate, as I said, none of this is really new, but it's a matter of degree. Where "drain the swamp" can be written off as boilerplate anti-corruption sloganeering and even "deep state" conspiracy theories aren't that far off from the generic (if potentially also antisemitic) anti-government rhetoric that has been a hallmark of Republican talking points for years, "Soros the billionaire globalist puppeteer" is about as loud a dog whistle as you can get. And while we should all be cautious about giving this crackpot too much air time, he nonetheless retains a substantial base (albeit smaller than it used to be). So it warrants further monitoring.
#antisemitism #millenarianism #rhetoric #conspiracy #Soros
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