These people do not remotely care about facts. All they care about is building political power on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in this country. And they have so little fear of accountability that they’re willing to admit it in plain sight. Irredeemable. pic.twitter.com/wQOoQ4v5io
— Ari Drennen ?????? (@AriDrennen) June 17, 2022
With 31 members of Patriot Front recently arrested on their way to attack a Pride event and other credible threats of anti-LGBT violence, it’s quite reasonable to worry that inflammatory false accusations from influential voices raise the risk of getting people killed. https://t.co/VqYCL2YURz
— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) June 17, 2022
But, look at it from Rufo’s viewpoint: It’s been very profitable for his personal marketing, and nobody he cares about is going to suffer from it!
Here’s my whole story on the wave of threats against Drag Queen Story Hours and trans rights events in the last week.
The “machine” for these threats is in heavy use right now, and it’s important people know how it works. I hope you read it.https://t.co/PXdHCUMDtK
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 17, 2022
Rufo is well paid to create moral panics influencing elections across local, state & federal elections. His owners want to destroy public education. He’s very good at flooding the zone with fear mongering . His funders are very pleased with his efforts. #Fascism is already here. pic.twitter.com/XWZ9xM2goi
— Stand for something (@newdaynewlife11) June 17, 2022
Nora
You know what’s really dangerous to children? High powered guns.
If anyone’s out to endanger our children, it’s the people who refuse to take any actions to regulate guns in any sensible way at all. Sounds like Republicans through and through.
WaterGirl
It’s time to pull out the old standby.
What the fuck is wrong with these people?
edit: Please consider this as an exasperated statement, not a question.
Cameron
It is wrong to say everybody on the right is a moron. Rufo isn’t; I think he’s actually quite intelligent – the problem is that he’s evil. Bannon is similar, but I don’t think he’s as smart as Rufo.
SpaceUnit
You know, I’ve got mixed feelings about Drag Queen Story Hour, but this perfectly illustrates how the “conservative” political dynamic is entirely dependent on hate and paranoia.
They need a whole list of people who they can denigrate and vilify. Without it they’ve got nothing. Absolute scum.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: I feel the same. WTF happened to these people that they became like this. People are not born hating.
kindness
Hatreds fuel far too much of the right. I wonder if their parents never hugged them as kids.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
That Karl Bode person is awfully confident that it’s going to work for the midterms. How does he know for sure? Isn’t that doom posting?
zhena gogolia
Tucker Carlson and this Rufo guy need to ship out to Ekaterinburg.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes, yes, it is doom posting.
The Thin Black Duke
As James Baldwin said, “If they come for them in the morning, they will come for us in the evening.”
The Thin Black Duke
@zhena gogolia: Marginalized people learn pretty early to tune out the white noise.
karen marie
Fucking Andrew Sullivan apparently can’t read all the “I’m doing this for the lolz” that Rufo states. Sullivan claims that he’s concerned about children being exposed to “trans strippers.”
My mind was blown. I mean, I know Sullivan is a dishonest asshole but this takes the cake.
Bill Arnold
@MagdaInBlack:
One might even say that they are groomed to hate by people like loathsome evil psychopathic propagandist Christopher Ferguson Rufo.
[Or maybe “groomed to a lifestyle of hatred”, or some such.]
Medicine Man
Andrew Sullivan is proof a person can be educated and also a bozo.
prostratedragon
@WaterGirl: I hoist that flag high several times a day lately. I don’t expect an answer, even though I often would really love to hear one.
zhena gogolia
I just feel like, dingdingding this is all coming from Putin. It’s all of a piece.
Baud
@karen marie:
Is that what they’re calling Southern Baptist ministers these days?
Chief Oshkosh
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): CRT and VA?
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke:
Bill Arnold
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Yes, it is doom posting. Christopher F. Rufo personally will be feeling increasing amounts of heat, and, if we are not collectively lazy, there will be a lot of strong pushback against the narratives that he and others have been spinning. It is in play, unless most people obey the doom posters and give up.
Maybe put some pressure on the Manhattan Institute as well.
prostratedragon
Old classic made beautifully new: “Carefully Taught,” India.Irie and Billy Porter (India’s full name corrected)
MagdaInBlack
@Bill Arnold: He’s telling them what they have already been “groomed” to want to believe…how did they get to that point?
I know that psychoanalyzing these haters isn’t fixing it now, I just do wonder about the childhood that got them here.
JanieM
Because it’s nice to have something cheerful in light of the subject of the post: at the Pride Parade and Festival in Portland, Maine, a good time was had by (almost) everyone.
This made me laugh:
Starfish
@Cameron: He is a very dumb Frank Luntz.
Bill Arnold
@zhena gogolia:
Rufo is (according to at least two wikipedia articles so beware) a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute[1], which has been around for many decades. I don’t know about their funding, probably some old (or middle-aged; i.e. not new) money but not sure.
However, it is very probable (without looking) that the Russians are boosting/amplifying this stuff since sticking wedges into societal fault lines is what they do.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Institute_for_Policy_Research
Ksmiami
@Bill Arnold: time to boomerang this crap Rt back on them. Remember bullies can’t take the counterpunch
Ksmiami
@MagdaInBlack: I don’t care about their childhoods or motives- just want them walled off from society
Sister Golden Bear
Ann, thank you for putting a spotlight on this. It’s blatantly inciting stochastic (and not-so-stochastic) terrorism that’s going to get LGBTQ+ people killed. Which to them is a feature, not a bug.
@karen marie: But not as long as it involves Christmas pantomime shows—which are sacred doncha know. Because it’s something that’s part of Sully’s life.
For the record, besides being a racist and an idiot, Sully is a long-time phobe of any of the LGBTQ+ letters not starting in G.
Baud
@JanieM:
️
Ksmiami
@WaterGirl: hmm nothing that we can’t fix by bringing the hurt back to them.
Baud
Where are all the young people? Weren’t the kids supposed to be alright?
japa21
@Chief Oshkosh:
All the post election polling shows CRT had nothing to do with the GOP’s wins in VA. CRT has, for the most part, been a dud.
Benw
We should start using the phrase “stupid goat-fucker” in lieu of “Christopher Rufo.” It has a more lurid set of connotations and shifts the debate to him fucking goats.
Bill Arnold
@Sister Golden Bear:
Technical point: the incitement is stochastic terrorism; a terrorist such as Rufo attempts to incite random lone-wolf violence such that the probability is close to 1 that there will be one or more incidents of such violence. They feel that there will not be accountability. The law makes it tough to prove, but their lives can be f-ed up, even without breaking the law, e.g. with e.g. widespread and visible shunning.
Sister Golden Bear
@JanieM: Rule 1A of going to Pride: don’t fuck with the Dykes on Bikes (Rule 1 being don’t fuck with drag queens).
FWIW, while two trans woman of color (and drag queens*), Silvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson (who threw the first brick), it was actually a Black butch dyke (and drag king) Stormé DeLarverie, threw the first punch at the cops.
Drag being one of few ways trans women of the era could make money.
Cameron
@Starfish: Not a Frank Luntz fan, but I don’t think he’s as evil as this guy.
Ladyraxterinok
@Baud:
One could argue that a child is physically and mentally and spiritually safer at a drag Queen show at a library then at a Southern Baptist Church
eclare
@prostratedragon:
Ooh, that is gorgeous! The link didn’t work so I googled
Such timeless lyrics too…
MagdaInBlack
@Ksmiami: I believe I addressed that. Thank you for your input
Still have to, at some point, after they’re all walled up, address the root cause.
Sister Golden Bear
@SpaceUnit: I know one of the people who started Drag Queen Story Hour, as well as several people who’ve done readings.
The queens (and drag kings) involved keep things extremely kid-friendly, and to the kids its more like having Spiderman or Cinderella (with fabulous make-up) read a book to them. The kids are stoked seeing grown-up played being dress-up. It’s really pretty innocent and wholesome. If for no other reason that we know haters are going to make up lurid stories about it.
And they’re definitely safer there than being left priest at a Catholic church or an evangelical youth minister.
Geminid
@japa21: It’s true that the issue of CRT did not change many votes in the Virginia election, if any. Youngkin made good tactical use of it, though, as a way to rally the conservative base. Republicans before him did this by centering the issues of abortion and gun rights, but pushing these issues creates backlash from Democrats and many independents. Youngkin needed to keep those issues in the background while still motivating right wing voters, and CRT did this for him.
SpaceUnit
@Sister Golden Bear:
Yeah, that last point is really spot-on.
Ksmiami
@MagdaInBlack: you did but I’m reiterating that thwarting evil is the only currency for now. Later, we must put in a widespread denazification program in the country ala education etc
Jackie
@Bill Arnold: Grooming is the perfect description. Children groomed to hate by parents and/or adults entrusted to their upbringing and influence.
James E Powell
FOX, Carlson, Rufo, and everyone else like them act like Pulse never happened.
Splitting Image
@Baud:
For the most part, they are. But “alright” doesn’t translate as “great”. Most young people are gay-positive and for the most part trans-positive as well, but it’s easier to get them to come out to Pride events than to convince them that voting for political moderates is sometimes necessary to stop the reactionaries from winning.
Another Scott
In my quick Googling around, it seems that Rufo is tied up with Manhattan Institute. William Kristol is on the board of directors of the Manhattan Institute.
Maybe the next time Bloody Bill Kristol is on one of the talking head programs, they can ask him if he and the rest of the board thinks Rufo’s attempts to get people killed are Ok. The press needs to call out these greybeards that prop up these monsters.
Maybe 501(c)(3) rules need to be re-examined by Congress and the IRS:
There’s an awful lot of winking-and-nodding abuse of these 501(c)(3) rules, IMHO. Demonization of marginalized groups is not a public benefit. Rufo can say what he wants, and he and his organization can take the social consequences for it. However, the rest of us should not subsidize his hateful rhetoric via federal tax benefits for his organization.
Grr…,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
OT: Tried my hand at watercolors after more than 15 years.
Daffodils
West of the Rockies
Rufo is into reductionist terms, so I propose Murderous Nazi Homophobe Rufo.
West of the Rockies
@West of the Rockies:
On second thought, is that actually reductionist?
SpaceUnit
@schrodingers_cat:
Very nice as always.
I’m getting Van Gogh vibes from it.
prostratedragon
@eclare: Oops! Sorry, let’s try this one: “Carefully Taught,” Billy Porter and India.Irie
SpaceUnit
@West of the Rockies:
No, it’s a bit of a mouthful.
An earlier commenter, Benw, suggested “goat fucker”. That’s way more reductionist and probably more accurate.
“Pig fucker” might even be better.
prostratedragon
@Benw: Which is much more productive than the “debates” he wants to encourage.
SFAW
@Ksmiami:
Like Fortunato, one would hope.
SFAW
@West of the Rockies:
I’d rather see “Evil Motherfucker Rufo,” but that’s just me.
eclare
@prostratedragon: That works!
Another Scott
@Another Scott: Relatedly, in a way, ProPublica has a story about a Black educator that was hounded in Cherokee and Cobb County Georgia:
PragerU is yet another 501(c)(3). Our tax system is supporting them and their RWNJ donors.
Grr…,
Scott.
Kelly
Don’t know if this was posted earlier. Judge Luttig explains his slow speech was intentional so he would be clearly understood. He is healthy.
https://twitter.com/judgeluttig/status/1538266496371245057
Steeplejack
@prostratedragon:
Nice song. It’s India.Arie.
Urza
@James E Powell: No, they act like they wanted it to happen. And did then, and do now.
Mai Naem mobile
I don’t get the strategery of drag queen campaign hate. I know it’s not exactly the same thing but there’s a bunch of successful movies and teeveewith men dressing up as women. Mrs Doubtfire, the Tyler Perry stuff, The Bird Cage, Tootsie, Bosom Buddies, Drag Race. I’ve even seen some ancient stuff on AMC. My guess is most people think its funny and entertaining. Just more solutions looking for problems.
Citizen Alan
@James E Powell: No. They were thrilled by the Pulse shooting. They want everyone they hate to die the same way.
eclare
@Mai Naem mobile: Good point. Now that I think about it, I went to a drag show in ATL a few times in the mid-nineties. Very fun.
Citizen Alan
@SpaceUnit: How about “suspected pedophile Christopher Rufo,” since that’s apparently alright for them to say.
opiejeanne
@Mai Naem mobile: Some Like it Hot.
And then there’s Rudy Giuliani.
opiejeanne
@eclare: The year before Covid struck, our daughters took my husband to a drag show for Fathers’ Day. It was delightful, and I emailed my thanks to the lovely creature who paid a lot of attention to mr opiejeanne. I got an email back saying how nice it was to hear from a fan.
I’m still annoyed that I never got to a show at Finucchio before they closed.
eclare
@opiejeanne: How could I forget that movie! A classic, with one of the best ending lines of dialogue.
StringOnAStick
Friday’s Gardeners World (BBC) featured a drag queen gardener, telling his story of how he got into gardening and showing him doing his character at the garden show. It struck me how fun and sweet he is, how accepting and supportive the audience was, and just how different it is here right now.
I agree that it feels the Putin is supporting this latest outburst of hate for purposes of driving social issue wedges.
Matt McIrvin
@James E Powell: For them, Pulse was about how Muslims are bad. They can play both sides if they have to.
Matt McIrvin
@StringOnAStick: Remember, “progressive” transphobia is a huge thing in the UK. This garbage is not specific to the US at all.
prostratedragon
@Mai Naem mobile: I’ve been digging up a few of the old ones, in my ongoing project of illustrating that a lot of new stuff ain’t new (so at least some of the purveyers of shock are lying). Goes back at least to Milton Berle.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon: Milton Berle as Auntie Mildred on Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.
prostratedragon
Milton Berle introduces Gypsy (James Haake) at La Cage, 1986
prostratedragon
Dom DeLuise at the mercy of Geraldine (Flip Wilson) in the grocery store
prostratedragon
Geraldine with Joe Namath, who doesn’t even try to keep a straight face
prostratedragon
A playlist of drag performances, including some documentaries and complete shows. Berle, Wilson, Eddie Izzard, Dame Edna, Lily Tomling as a drag king, others.
ColoradoGuy
If it wasn’t for hate, the GOP wouldn’t exist at all. It’s the only thing that unifies them.
Tony Jay
Dead thread (or maybe not that dead) but I just wanted to say this.
In a world where political and social movements pay people large sums to craft simple messages, that set of tweets from Rufo should definitively end the current stage of ‘Trans Panic’ and set the stage for massive pushback.
It’s all there. The proof that it’s all being artificially manufactured for political aims. The open calculus that their scheme relies on falsely redefining words and phrases in order to trick voters. The admission that they’re lying, know they’re lying, but think they can get away with it because people are stupid.
Every single time this fake issue is raised every single Dem and human rights realist simply has to point to the ‘Rufo Rules’ and hammer home the simple and irrefutable fact that Republicans invented this conspiracy theory knowing it would put schools and teachers and children in danger from the Right’s own radicalised base and they did it anyway because they have nothing else.
No ifs or buts, no highbrow head shaking or arched eyebrows of scoff – the Right raised this slimy motherfucker to national prominence and he just tweeted out the notes he took on a criminal fucking conspiracy.
Use them. Reframe the issue. Win. Save Lives.
schrodingers_cat
@SpaceUnit: Thanks.
*blushes*.
WaterGirl
@Benw:
Good idea, but “stupid goat-fucker Christopher Rufo” would be much better.
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
@Ksmiami: Yes, walled off à la the Cask of Amontillado.
brantl
@MagdaInBlack: People are born with knee-jerk fear, though, and that’s what they are preying on, every day, all the time.
brantl
@Cameron: Frank is a more banal type of evil, letting the Republicans have more of an “Excuse” for being self-centered-serving assholes, rather than a new “Cause”.
Citizen Alan
@ColoradoGuy:
Well, there’s also greed and fear. But mainly hate.
Urban Suburbanite
The Discovery Institute, the Seattle-based creationist front group that boosted Rufo, has found a new douchebag to shine up. This time, it’s a fired local reporter named Jonathan Choe. He’s a clout-chasing idiot who tries to be an imitation of Andy Ngo – which means encouraging violence, picking fights with local activists, and fueling hatred of homeless people. The Sinclair station fired him for his gushing coverage of a Proud Boys rally, and then he spent some time annoying homeless people and being a park nuisance.