Anyway, believing "derpy" things is not a crime, nor is it particularly uncommon. The problem isn't individual derpy-ness, the problem is when you build the political culture of an entire political party around it.
I recognize that the very online term "derp" may not track for everyone. But how could I NOT put that pun/joke in the title once it came to me?
New Substack post from me about the central role "derp state" conspiracies play in the political culture of today's GOP, and how that those absurdities mark both a continuity and a departure in the history of the US right.
https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/down-the-derp-state-rabbit-hole-with
Down the Derp State Rabbit Hole with the Chair of the Marion County (OR) GOP
Cleon Skousen's conspiracy theories, Chinese commandos invading from Mexico, and other oldies but goodies from the right wing playbook
And also, I think I've found the ex-Communist turned Christian Patriot who provided the one piece of evidence "proving" that fluoride was a Commie bioweapon. He produced an affidavit in 1957 that went viral...but it was all an attention seeking lie. His name was Kenneth Goff, a real sweetie.
New newsletter from me on the very unfunny role that pro-Nazi fascists played in stoking the anti-fluoride movement. Come for the Dr. Strangelove clip, stay for the anti-fluoride guy who thot Hitler was ackshually a Commie Jew who was helping the Soviets.
https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/those-funny-fluoride-fighters-were
Those "funny" fluoride fighters were, frankly, fanners of fascism's flames
Or, how I learned to stop laughing and love talking seriously about the anti-fluoridation movement
I tracked down one of those high school students from 1963 on Facebook and he graciously granted me a 90 minute interview. What he shared with me added so many surprising dimensions to the story that I could have never gleaned just from the newspaper accounts.
A happy-ish story from me (with a couple unexpected twists) in which we learn about a group of pro-democracy high school students in Albany, OR who pushed back against the racism and antisemitism of Walter Huss and his fascist friend Ken Goff in 1963.
https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/the-everyday-antifascists-who-pushed
The Everyday Antifascists who pushed back against Walter Huss, Episode 1
Or, that time in 1963 when four high school students from Albany, OR exposed Walter Huss and his pal Ken Goff for the violent bigots they were
Come for the song entitled “Porno Gravy,” stay for the song about Bill Clinton’s semen and the story about the Christian ventriloquists lady (and pal of Oliver Stone) who claims she’s the secret key that unlocks the mystery of JFK’s assassination.
https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/walter-husss-christian-ventriloquist
Walter Huss's Christian Ventriloquist friend Jim Bisel could have either written a song called "Porno Gravy" or gone to therapy. You'll never guess which one he chose!
Episode 3 of "Walter Huss and the best people"
A lot of people a weird about money and sometimes for very good reasons...but Christian Nationalist weirdness about money almost always goes back to some strange things they believe about the Jews and the Federal Reserve. Walter Huss's weirdness led him to squirrel away $7500 in cash that vanished until I found it buried in his archive, 15 years after he'd passed away.
New substack post from me about Mike Johnson and the far right's long history of having a, shall we say, idiosyncratic relationship to the institutions of modern finance.
https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/whats-up-with-these-christian-nationalists
What's up with these Christian Nationalists like Mike Johnson and their odd relationship to banks?
Or, did I ever tell you about that time I found $7500 in cash in Walter Huss's archive
