Mastodawn

Sep 19, 2024

It's telling that the GOP is rejecting Mark Robinson because he was attracted to transgender people, and not for hating them.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/19/politics/kfile-mark-robinson-black-nazi-pro-slavery-porn-forum/index.html

#uspol

‘I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum

Mark Robinson, the controversial and socially conservative Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI!” and expressed support for reinstating slavery, a CNN KFile investigation found.

CNN

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Dave Wilburn

There's a lot of disqualifying stuff going on here, but frankly little of it is brand new. A lot of it is just further details on views he has publicly and proudly admitted. Mark Robinson's rampant anti-semitism, transphobia, holocaust denial, and wide ranging bigotry were all well known for months or even years. Any and all of it should have been disqualifying long before today. I just think it's weird where the GOP chooses their red lines, where this kind of stuff is disqualifying in their eyes, and where this kind of stuff is OK or even desirable.

#uspol

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Elsie!Sep 20, 2024

@DaveMWilburn I totally get what you’re saying. It is bizarre how certain issues seem to get a pass while others become deal-breakers. It makes you wonder about the values at play and who really decides what’s acceptable. It feels like a selective morality, and it can be frustrating to watch. What do you think it would take for a real shift in those standards?

I wish I knew. They'd probably have to decisively lose power in multiple election cycles, probably for a decade or more. Otherwise they'll just retreat further into comfortable conspiracy theories like stolen elections.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that I don't think that they really care about any of this stuff actually being true. They push these culture war narratives for their symbolic value, not because of their belief in their literal truthfulness. It helps them reinforce their own personal identities, it gives them social credit within their in-groups, and it gives them a sense of superiority over their out-groups. For some, it also powers a grift to accumulate money and power.

Once those incentives fall apart, they'll likely try to make us forget the whole affair. I'll be glad to see the end of these harmful culture wars, but I won't be thrilled with the constant gaslighting they'll use to dodge responsibility for them.