The Elephant In The Room
Hello friends! I hope you were paying attention when I told you this would be a “weekly-ish” newsletter and not a weekly one. The past couple weeks were one of those times because I was busy covering the latest indictments against former President Donald Trump. I felt a bit like Michael Corleone or Silvio Dante: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.
I wrote two big stories on the indictments. After special counsel Jack Smith unveiled his charges related to former President Trump’s plot to reverse his loss in the 2020 vote, I exposed text messages that Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Arizona’s former GOP chair exchanged with the White House showing how involved the party leaders were from the very beginning of the alleged election conspiracy. When Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, unveiled her indictment against Trump and 18 co-defendants for the Peach State parts of the 2020 plot, I dug deep into one of the more bizarre episodes of the sordid saga.
Do you remember the situation where Kanye West’s publicist showed up at the home of election worker Ruby Freeman and pressured her to admit to false election fraud allegations? Back in 2021, I broke some news about how a Trump campaign aide was involved in that wild scene right here on this Substack. That aide was one of the 18 co-defendants who were charged by Willis. I expanded on my earlier reporting for TPM with a look at the publicist’s social media that showed, along with her ties to Kanye, she had extensive connections to Trumpworld.
Both of these stories touched on something that I have tried to highlight in a lot of my recent work: Even the more strange, excessive, and seemingly fringe aspects of the efforts to keep Trump in power had official support from his campaign team, Republican members of Congress, and their party apparatus. Institutional conservatism in this country has largely become inextricably linked to Trump’s authoritarian brand of politics. Trump, who is currently lapping the GOP primary field, also clearly has the backing of the Republican base.
I tend to feel like major media — particularly T.V. news outlets — tend to overemphasize so-called “Never Trump” conservatives. It’s a case of covering the party they might want rather than the one we have. Poll numbers, secret text messages, and court cases are making it abundantly clear: Trump is both the face and the heart of the modern GOP.
A few of the top recent news stories I want to share with you also show how the far right is lurking not so far below the more mainstream GOP.
HuffPost published a great exposé earlier this month on right wing writer Richard Hanania. The story showed how Hanania had authored articles under a pen name in the early 2010’s where he dabbled in eugenics, white supremacy, and pro-segregation ideology. Hanania was championed by Bari Weiss and the Silicon Valley billionaires who love (and fund) her schtick. The story was undeniable proof of how easily racism can co-exist with the supposedly intellectual “anti-woke” movement Weiss and her Bay Area buddies have tried to build in recent years.
SPLC had an exposé of their own, which revealed that an associate of Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes was working for Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA). Following on the heels of my own reporting for TPM, this makes clear the extent to which the furthest fringes of the far right have literally infiltrated the House Republican caucus. My colleague Josh Kovensky also had a great piece out for TPM this week that delved into how Kanye West’s potential 2024 presidential campaign is devolving into a “surreal fiasco” with far right activists and Republican operatives feuding for control. Greene has a cameo in that piece as well.
Last week, I spent two days watching the My Pillow guy’s election conspiracy summit. It was a vivid example that, even though the far right may have powerful connections, big backers, and terrifying aims, they often utterly fail to execute.
And speaking of poor execution, check out this video featuring some Fuentes fans who fucked around and found out when they took on Jewish UFC fighter Natan Levy.
As we continue to mark the 50th anniversary of hip hop, I enjoyed reading this piece on the role Kool Herc’s sister, Cindy Campbell, played in the birth of the genre.
On that note, allow me to close out this week’s newsletter with the epic performance two members of my top five — Nas and Lauryn Hill — gave at the Hip Hop 50 show at Yankee Stadium on August 11. I would love to see these two on tour one day!
😍👍👍👍👍