How effective is this rhetoric?

a bigot, a racist, a sexist, and an antisemite, ha?

This is by Robin Snyder. She describes herself as a political science PhD with a no-nonsense voice and is sometimes compared to Heather Cox Richardson — but with more attitude. She is here on Substack. I post “as is.” I am making no editorial corrections or comments. After all, I do not have 50K subscribers.

Wednesday September 10, 2025

Well to say we’re in a perilous place is putting it mildly. The tragic killing of MAGA hero Charlie Kirk at a rally at Utah Valley University today is threatening to send our already incredibly vomitous political environment spiraling into toxic overdrive.

Democrat after Democrat, from Gavin Newsom to freaking JoJo in Jerz, immediately after the shooting, rightly, came out with statements condemning the shooting and all political violence in the strongest possible terms. This is – and sorry we need to go there but JFC let’s not live in a fantasy world – a 180 from the Republican reaction to violence against Democrats.

A few months ago, the head of the Minnesota House Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed by a right-wing extremist who left a long target list of other Democrats behind. I’m old enough to remember that the response to that horror show from Republicans was crickets. It wasn’t the only time. Wajahat Ali reminds that Trump and everyone on down the line mercilessly mocked Paul Pelosi when he was nearly beaten to death with a hammer by a crazed wingnut conspiracy theorist.

But of course it gets worse. With no suspect, no motive and no clue who killed Kirk, Republicans, from elected officials to the fanatical creeps who fund them, are all in on blaming Democrats and whipping their base into a frenzy, which will inevitably lead to more violence.

Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin rushed to Newsmax to fan the flames, asking “When are the Democrats going to stand up and apologize for the hatred and the lies that they have fed their base that has led to these actions?” This is unconscionable.

House Oversight Committee Chair Comer Pyle thundered of Democrats “There are consequences to their words.”

GrayDC News caught up with the repulsive phony South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace as she was leaving the Capitol today. The very first thing out of her mouth to reporters on the Charlie Kirk shooting were: "Democrats own what happened today."

When a reporter followed up asking if that meant Republicans owned the shooting of the Minnesota lawmakers, Mace replied, dumbfounded, “Are you kidding me?” They are so used to the asymmetry of coverage they literally don’t know how to respond when called on their bullshit.

Never leaving an opportunity to foment civil war go to waste, Fox’s abhorrent Jesse Watters spit that “We’re gonna avenge Charlie’s death.” OMG

If there was ever a time to have a leader to turn down the temperature it is now, but instead we have Trump who, glowering menacingly under his bronze spackled makeup, released a video intended only to pour gas on the fire.

Trump: "For years those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges and law enforcement officials." He called Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom.”

This is dangerous, dangerous territory. Every decent person is appalled by Charlie Kirk’s killing and has the deepest sympathy for his family, wife and young children. At the same time, it’s okay to acknowledge that Kirk was a bigot, a racist, a sexist, and an antisemite who traipsed across the country fomenting hate. In a free country, Kirk was allowed to make tens of millions off spouting his heinous lies which demonized everyone who disagreed with him. It's the American way! Likewise, Democrats are allowed to call him on his awful beliefs, and to question why in the world it is appropriate for the American flag to be lowered at half-staff, as ordered by Trump, for this partisan hack who openly hated half the country.

Well, the goons funding MAGA gave us some hints. They want to use this tragedy as a pretense to supercharge their authoritarian project.

If you think that sounds overwrought, check out these comments:

Blake Masters, the Peter Theil-funded freak who was the Republican candidate for Senate from Arizona and who fired off assault weapons in his campaign ads: “Left-wing violence is out of control, and it’s not random. Either we destroy the NGO/donor patronage network that enables and foments it, or it will destroy us.” Destroy????

Christopher Rufo: “The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J. Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years. It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.”

As journalist Matty Yglegias pants-pissingly put it: “This may not be the incident that sparks it, but they are chomping at the bit for an act of violence that will serve as a pretext for shutting down all opposition politics.”

Given the unfortunate state of the mainstream media we all know there this is headed: Inevitably, while Republicans will continue to be given a free reign to vilify Democrats as Communist Socialist Sharia-law loving radical extremists, Democrats will be put on notice by the media to mind their Ps and Qs. God forbid, don’t call the fascists, uh, fascists.

To this demand, I encourage you to turn your attention to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren on CNN, who flicked away that stupid demand with this: "Oh, please. Why don't you start with the president of the United States? And every ugly meme he's posted and every ugly word."

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I am cutting the rest off. You can read it on her Substack feed. After all, as I said, she has 50K subscribers.