The Blood and Soil nationalism animating the GOP in 2024:
Earlier this week, Trump shared a link on his social media platform challenging Nikki Haley’s ability to be president because her parents were not naturalized citizens when she was born in Bamberg, South Carolina. An utterly bogus assertion but an acute expression of the conspiratorial white nationalism that is a driving force of his bid to retake the White House. An outgrowth of his call to end birthright citizenship, Trump is boosting the idea that the woman whom he named as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is insufficiently American because her blood does not have sufficient claim to the soil after she turned into a perceived enemy. For Trump and those who line up behind him, this isn’t about the law, it is about drawing the line that their enemies, like Haley, can never truly be “one of us.” In an op-ed published last week in the Des Moines Register, Trump called on Iowans to canvas for him as an effort to do their part to stop the “invasion” of non-white immigrants, invoking the white nationalist conspiracy that has inspired multiple deadly racist political attacks. The “invasion” language lays the critical foundation for invoking the “war measures” of the Alien and Sedition Act that Trump promised to employ to begin mass round-ups of immigrants. At a speech in Iowa over the weekend, Trump repeatedly promoted the other part of the white nationalist replacement conspiracy, falsely asserting that migrants are being manipulated in a plot to subvert a fair election. This collection of conspiratorial white nationalism isn’t ancillary to the campaign but its driving vision. Nor is the white nationalism confined to the Trump campaign. Over the weekend, ranking House Republican Elise Stefanik defended Trump’s Nazi comments that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of Americans. Meanwhile, in the pages of the right-wing website Breitbart or over on the Charlie Kirk Show, the great replacement theory is stated as a “fact.”
COMBATING THE NARRATIVE: The response here must be directly pointed at the conspiratorial white nationalism animating their argument. Theirs is not a legal argument constricted to the confines of what is Constitutional, and we mustn't be lulled by the idea that the courts make these dangerous proposals moot. The arguments may be wrapped in the trappings of laws and statutes in order to present an air of legitimacy, and we must resist the temptation to be distracted by these disguises. The conspiratorial white nationalism Trump is campaigning on isn’t just about hate and division but laying the foundation to subvert democracy and redefine who gets to be a part of the nation.
Increasing Threats to the Homeland in the Effort to Impeach the DHS Secretary:
After years of agitation from hard-right House Republicans, the House Majority officially began impeachment hearings for DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday in the House Homeland Security Committee. The move is a sham political stunt, front to back, as the New York Times headline succinctly captures, “G.O.P. Opens Mayorkas Impeachment Push With No Evidence of High Crimes”. But their effort isn’t simply a colossal waste of time and treasure but a dangerous forum to amplify and legitimize pernicious nativist lies. Republicans’ widespread adoption of the white nationalist “replacement” and “invasion” conspiracy is the driving force of their impeachment argument. As the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said on Fox News at the end of last year in a segment about the pending impeachment hearings, “it shows their intent is to fundamentally change the population of the United States, and I believe to empower the Democrat Party in perpetuity that is their intent.” At least 33 Republican members of Congress from the 118th Congress have used language associated with the great replacement theory to call for Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment at least 60 times on public platforms. During previous Capitol Hill testimony, Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly warned about domestic terrorism that could be inspired by great replacement “invasion” language. On one occasion, testified that such language from Members of Congress “fuels the threat landscape.” Seeking to graft weight onto their “invasion” conspiracy, the House Majority brought State Attorneys General to help advance their disinformation narrative that falsely equates the fentanyl crisis as an immigration issue. The Republican strategy here is to manipulate the fentanyl-related overdose deaths as casualties of the so-called “invasion.” This conspiratorial fiction is divorced from reality, but it attaches the real pain and suffering of the fentanyl crisis to the dehumanizing “invasion” conspiracy, which has already inspired multiple acts of domestic terrorism.
COMBATING THE NARRATIVE: Many observers are rightfully pointing out how the sham impeachment effort is driven by politics and fails as a matter of constitutional law. However, this cannot be written off as an ignorable political sideshow because of the serious danger it imposes. By employing the white nationalist “replacement” and “invasion” conspiracy to impeach the DHS Secretary, Republicans are exacerbating the very threat the Secretary is sworn to protect the nation from. But nor should this political stunt be given the front page attention and legitimacy the stunt queens desperately hope to garner. Combating this nativist stunt requires a delicate balance. A critical part of that balance is making forceful condemnation of this effort for exacerbating the threats of white nationalist domestic terrorism to the homeland front and center.
Republicans confirm devotion to nativist politics and migration chaos:
Congress remains locked in the circular negotiations that currently would end asylum as we know it in exchange for a one-time aid package to Ukraine and Israel. As we have noted here for weeks, the “deal” is both bad policy and bad politics. However, as has been the case from the start of these negotiations, the strategy of plenty of Republicans is to talk out both sides of their mouths, to crow endlessly about an “open border” and at the same time proudly scuttle any legislative action, including one that gives Republicans almost all the restrictive immigration measures they want in exchange for very little. With the twisted incentives inside the GOP, this strategy makes perfect sense. The nativist demagoguery is central to fundraising and agitating their base (even if the evidence from the last several cycles reveals this strategy largely fails in competitive general elections). In their view, they need the “illegal immigrants” the broken system produces. In fact, the more chaos, fewer safer and legal channels, and the more bad actors are incentivized, the better, because they produce fodder for campaign ads and appearances on FOX. Without a chaotic system, their strategic xenophobia becomes less effective. Besides, an orderly legal immigration system is harder to point to as the villain in conspiracies about a stolen election. Nor are Republicans cleverly hiding their play here but instead bragging to the press about their cynical political motivations. But to be absolutely clear, what is on offer is NOT a package of reforms that would update the broken system. Instead, as it stands now, the proposals would incentivize bad actors and end the policies that are working to reduce pressures at the border and help some avoid a perilous journey north. For more, check out a deep dive on the devastating consequences of the proposal from policy experts HERE.
COMBATING THE NARRATIVE: The leading faction of the GOP is currently trapped inside a bigoted conspiratorial fiction that asserts that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America and are the invading force acting as willing pawns polluting our ability to have a democratic system. The Republican Governor of Texas is suggesting a desire for extrajudicial killings of migrants at the border and intentionally trying to create maximum chaos across the country using migrants as pawns. Meanwhile, immigrants remain a bedrock foil for a dog-whistle electoral and fundraising strategy across the GOP. The conditions this reality produces are not ones conducive for productive negotiations. Yes, there are challenges that must urgently be addressed, but the hard fact is that Republicans are set against solutions. That is a sorry state of affairs, but there are people who are responsible, and the American people should know who they are and what their motivations are.
POLITICS UPDATES
The fourth-ranking House Republican, Elise Stefanik, was on Meet The Press last weekend, where she stood by Trump’s “poisoning the blood” rhetoric, which echoes the vile language of Hilter. She also referred to convicted January 6 insurrectionists as “hostages.” But, as Greg Sargent wrote from his new perch at The New Republic, this rhetoric causes problems for other Republicans, “it turns out vulnerable House Republicans aren’t too thrilled about Stefanik’s barb. The Washington Post reports that many are distancing themselves from it, a sign that being associated with pro-insurrection sentiments is politically dangerous in swing districts across the country.” Outside of the GOP hard-core base, there’s strong opposition to that kind of extremism. The Washington Post published a poll showing that while Republicans are willing to glide past January 6, most Americans aren’t. As Aaron Blake noted, while the choir on the political right has grown, Trump is still largely preaching to the choir, pointing out several key findings, including “Fifty-eight percent overall say those who entered the Capitol “threatened democracy,” while just 12 percent said they “defended democracy.” Stefanik has become one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders. But, everyone who she endorses and supports has to own these words. Read more from Gabe Ortíz HERE.
Iowa Caucus: On Monday, the Republican Party of Iowa will hold the first presidential caucus allowing their base to weigh in to see if the Party will nominate the multiple indicted former president who staged a violent coup attempt after losing the last election. Making immigrants out to be an urgent existential threat to the safety and stability of the nation and your local community has been a central theme for all the GOP presidential candidates. They hope their particular brand of xenophobic fearmongering and exceedingly extreme rhetoric and positions will drive a segment of Iowans – a hard-core of the GOP base – to their corners of school gymnasiums across the state. Beyond the horse race of it all, the dehumanizing rhetoric and radical policy promises have serious consequences and demonstrate the gravity of the stakes of the upcoming election. Yes, the campaign promises look to create massive shifts in immigration policy from mass deportations to massive cuts to legal immigration. And yes, the political attacks are a form of strategic bigotry meant to agitate anxieties around scarcity, safety, and identity to seize power. But the conspiratorial nationalism animating their campaign rhetoric and promises is socializing a justification to their base for the need to install an authoritarian state. Check out the piece we published HERE for a more detailed look at what the GOP candidates are promising their base and Gabe Ortíz’ piece detailing the cost of the nativism work Iowa families HERE.
NY-03: Republicans are hoping to use strategic xenophobia to secure a win and hold onto the battleground New York seat following the ouster of former Rep. George Santos in the special election next month. Last month, Republican Mazi Pilip employed the white nationalist replacement theory to attack Democrat Tom Suozzi saying, “They [Democrats] are trying to secure the future election. The way to do it? Let’s open our borders.” A coordinated NRCC and Pilip $100K TV ad buy, peddles the other pernicious nativist disinformation that claims Suozzi “helped Biden let millions of migrants illegally cross the border causing violent crime and fentanyl deaths.” This race provides an opportunity to clearly show the extremism of Pilip, Stefanik, Speaker Johnson, the House GOP Majority and Donald Trump.
WEEKLY STATS OF NATIVIST NARRATIVE
Of the 525 GOP Twitter accounts we track, this week, they sent:
890 original tweets peddling anti-immigrant attacks mentioning “border”
139 original tweets about “open borders,” with Gov. Greg Abbot tweet having the most reach with 384.1K Views, 3.3K Retweets, and 20K Likes.
60 original tweets that used “Biden Border Crisis” with Gov. Greg Abbott tweet having the most reach with 192K Views, 1.7K Retweets, and 11K Likes.
42 original tweets that mentioned both “fentanyl” and “border” with Speaker Mike Johnson tweet having the most reach with 81.8K views, 602 Retweets and 1.8K Likes.