As Twitchy reported earlier, devout Catholic Joe Biden blasted Texas for its new heartbeat law which just went into effect, banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. That seems to be what set off author, podcaster, and associate professor Jared Yates Sexton, who in an 18-tweet thread blew the lid off the GOP’s long-term plan to get such “dark, dystopian” legislation passed. We usually feature conservative voices on here, but we think Sexton’s Twitter rant is an illuminating look into the Republican Party from the outside. (How soon until The Bulwark offers him a gig?)
The GOP is historically unpopular, but is continuing to grasp onto power by any means necessary, including subverting democracy and using violence and intimidation.
The Court allowing Texas to destroy a woman's right to choose was only the beginning.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
To understand how we've arrived here, how a party with dwindling support can now flagrantly subvert liberal democracy, we have to start with the project that has taken SCOTUS and the judiciary by any means necessary.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
This is Mitch McConnell's legacy: a judiciary that was stacked by hook and by crook to serve as a firewall against any reform or progress while continuing to dismantle past reforms and progress.
We now have a system in place that carries this out regardless of elections.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
What firewall? Biden just showed he can executive-order his way around the Supreme Court with his extension of the eviction moratorium.
Of course, the theft of Merrick Garland's seat on the Supreme Court is the most egregious example of this project, but it has been carried out for decades by groups of people determined to restore the domination of white, wealthy men over the rest of the population.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
We’ll never not laugh at the “theft” of “Merrick Garland’s seat.”
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The Federalist Society has held an oversized sway over the legal system, educating, preparing, and weaponizing jurists to carry out a Right Wing attack on our institutions to rewind the clock and undo necessary, vital reforms that ensured the people's rights and liberties.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
We agree The Federalist Society is a problem … it’s not conservative enough.
It's important to note that the Federalist Society is dedicated to restoring the original Founders' idea of the law, which was explicitly dedicated to the domination of the country by white, wealthy men at the expense of slaves, women, and the poor.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
This project has inspired a judicial counter-revolution that now determines the course of our country's laws and the trajectory of our progress.
It's a firewall, an affront to to the will of the people and the results of liberal democracy.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
It’s a pity there were no liberal judges out there to throw wrenches into President Trump’s policies.
But the capturing of the judiciary is only the beginning as the GOP, faced with a loss of popularity and support, is tirelessly pushing antidemocratic measures to rig elections and disenfranchise, as well as stoking fear and paranoia among its base.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
This paranoia and fearmongering is essential to the GOP's operation: it keeps its base constantly terrified that a massive conspiracy involving liberals, puppetmasters, and people of color, threatens their very lives and safety.
This inevitably prepares them for violence.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
The Right's continued chorus that its base is "under attack" hammers home the point that they must accept all anti-liberal democracy measures, including elections, and that violence is an option if America and the GOP's base is to survive.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
There’s no need to fear violence. Biden assured us patriots that we’d need F-15s and maybe a nuke to take on our own government, although the U.S. military’s retreat from its 20-year war with the Taliban says different.
While the GOP's political influence and viability wanes, its base is prepared for violence and radicalism, meaning public servants, experts, and reformers will be met with intimidation and possibly violence, discouraging people from speaking up or acting.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
We've seen this play out with the so-called "CRT" outrage, which has systematically been stoked by think-tanks and politicians to have the base intervene in education curriculum in order to secure power over history and educational institutions, thus shifting control.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
This, of course, has also been the case with anti-mask protests, which carry out the GOP's desires by attacking local and regional politicians and creating a movement to takeover those institutions like the judiciary has been coopted nationally.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
Not coincidentally, there have been growing calls for violence, including candidates pushing supporters to physically attack, intimidate, and remove politicians they do not agree with, again creating an environment rife with intimidation and violence.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
There's a direct link between this need for violence/intimidation and the gun culture the Right cultivates. New open-carry laws ensure there will be constant, blatant intimidation, curbing open society and reminding reformers the possibility of violence looms constantly.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
We've seen these same tactics play out with extremists and militias who flood legislatures with assault rifles to remind politicians they have a choice: violence or complicity.
In this way, intimidation begins to carry out a constant war on representative government.
16/ pic.twitter.com/bBaNnkTBqJ
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
Meanwhile, the message grows. In order to "save America," the GOP claims liberal democracy, individual rights, and elections must be tossed aside.
It's a "defense," a "necessary" action. The established intimidation and violence are necessities for this to happen.
17/ pic.twitter.com/MukYfBZRjM
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
We are quickly arriving at a point where the GOP won't have to win an election to hold power, but will create an environment where intimidation and potential violence could overturn or sway an election anyway.
This is what happens as power and control sway. It's a cycle.
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— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) September 1, 2021
It’s actually a 21-tweet thread, but the rest is just Sexton pimping his substack, podcast, and book, if you want to buy it.
— Dead End Radio ☠️🐻 (@deadradiousa) September 1, 2021
You really need to get out of your mom's basement. You're beginning to worry us.
— SRT298 (@SRT298) September 1, 2021
"Unpopular" yet in "power" because they won elections.
You don't really know what those words mean, do you.
— Stephen L. Hall (@StephenLHall) September 1, 2021
Bruh, your evil GOP right wingers marched into a government building armed to the teeth and didn't so a damn thing.
We can see the burnt cities. We can see the violence in our streets.
Could you imagine if the "GOP" was actually violent? Actually acted?
— Coast2Coast (@CoastTwoGhost) September 1, 2021
God, this is an epically stupid take.
SCOTUS was not 'stolen' by anyone.
You seem to think that it was up to Obama who was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Read the fucking Constitution
— Shay Patrick Cormac (@ShayCormac_1) September 1, 2021
Why is everything you post a projection of Democrat leftist ideals onto conservatives who are in reality doing nothing you say? It's absolutely amazing.
— pertater (@pertater1) September 1, 2021
We told you he’d uncovered the whole plot.
Related:
CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota warns that ‘the dark, dystopian undertones of [Texas’ heartbeat law] just cannot be overstated’ https://t.co/aSqrXZnwPZ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 1, 2021
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