The making of a right-wing martyr: Conservatives treat Derek Chauvin's conviction as an act of war

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
Even setting aside morality, the smart political move on the right would have been to throw Derek Chauvin under the bus. Instead, many of them are clamoring to claim him as a martyr.

The making of a right-wing martyr: Conservatives treat Derek Chauvin's conviction as an act of war
Turning a dead-eyed murderer like Derek Chauvin into a martyr shows that the right has no limits on its open racism
salon.com
10:18 AM · Apr 21, 2021

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/21/the-making-of-a-right-wing-martyr-conservatives-see-derek-chauvins-conviction-as-an-act-of-war/

Throwing Derek Chauvin under the bus should have been a no-brainer for the "I'm not a racist" crowd. The pretense behind "blue lives matter" has been that it's not that conservatives are racist but that Black Lives Matter goes "too far." They argue that most police killings are unfortunate accidents to be tolerated in the name of greater social safety and that the "few bad apples" who do it on purpose can be held to account without widespread reform.

It was always nonsense, of course. But Chauvin's conviction on three counts for murdering George Floyd provided conservatives a golden "hey, at least we're not that guy" opportunity. The evidence against Chauvin was overwhelming. The video of the murder showed the world the nonchalant determination on Chauvin's face as he snuffed out Floyd's life. Police officials testified against Floyd. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher gave conservatives an out by saying, "This wasn't policing, this was murder." Conservatives could have easily clung to Chauvin's conviction as an "exception that proves the rule" situation, insisting that because they condemn him, no one should call them racist. It would have been a lie, but occasionally cutting loose the worst members of their tribe has long been a winning strategy for the right.

But nah, instead they're turning a dead-eyed murderer like Chauvin into a martyr. And in doing so, they're removing the last shred of plausible deniability that "blue lives matter" and the criticisms of Black Lives Matter was ever about anything but stone-cold white supremacy.

Insisting that Chauvin was the hill to die on made the leap from the unapologetically rancid fringes to the Fox News talking heads in a record amount of time. Shortly after the verdict was announced on Tuesday, far-right Twitter cranks like Paul Joseph Watson and Matt Walsh were insisting Chauvin was the real victim here and that the jury was "intimidated" by the "mob." Minutes later, that line was already being broadcast on Fox News, as Greg Gutfeld, with his usual unfunny "humor," was pretending to be "glad" Chauvin "was found guilty on all charges, even if he might not be guilty of all charges," because "I want a verdict that keeps this country from going up in flames."

*snip*

[soothsayer]

1. I hope these are death throes we're seeing

Flailing about while supremacy dies.

Well it’s a hope. We’ll turn to the poet:

The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.

-Antonio Gramsci

[riversedge]

9. love the poet's word you quote.

[TwilightZone]

2. Curiously, a lot of them are being pretty quiet about it.

And some have spoken in favor of the verdict, including Tim Scott and Tommy Tuberville.

The pundits, of course, were always going to do this. The high-profile GOP members in Congress don't seem to be in a big hurry to follow suit. Some will, of course. But many are being uncharacteristically quiet.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. So these conservative thugs, would willingly ignore the findings of a valid certified jury, vetted

by both sides, and who found Chauvin guilty on ALL counts.

Kind of hard to defend a murderer...I think they'll discover this over time. Murder is murder. Period. And to boot, from what I read/heard, major efforts were expended in explaining what was reasonable force vs. unreasonable force against a person of interest by the police, and Chauvin was still found guilty on ALL counts. So obviously Chauvin went beyond reasonable force and murdered a man. God rest his soul.

Unfortunately, this won't bring back Mr. Floyd.

Next step is sue the jurisdiction where Chauvin worked in civil court. If jurisdictions find that there's an extreme cost to such abase of exercising the physical restrain of a person or persons by police, then perhaps the police entities will start retraining themselves or get rid of rogue cops (not worth the insurance cost to keep such officers around).

[Demovictory9]

4. crazy ole Dennis Prager took the "intimidated by mob" excuse this morning when really he hates

that possibly cops won't be able to act as the Jim crow enforcers on black citizens.

[Midnight Writer]

5. Even my conservative cop friend thought Chauvin was guilty as hell.

It is tough to gaslight this one since it is clear on the video.

[struggle4progress]

6. "First we couldn't smash your windows! And now we can't kneel on your necks!

What, oh what, is happening to our country?"

[panader0]

7. Chauvin will soon be joined in martyrdom by his two cop cohorts.

I'm not sure when their trial is scheduled or what the charges are, but both of them were
also kneeling on Floyd. Their weight certainly had an impact on George Floyd's ability to
breathe. I'm sure they won't be punished as hard as Chauvin , but they are certainly culpable
to some extent.

[MarcA]

8. Could their purpose be to create and continue Chaos,

conflict and turmoil among the citizenry?

[DFW]

10. No conservatives. Just Republicans.

And if they wanted some war, all they have to do is imagine what American cities would have looked like right about now if an innocent verdict had been rendered on all counts.

[uponit7771]

11. K&R

[gratuitous]

12. A White cop is held responsible for killing a Black man (at last)

And it's the tottering of the republic.

My takeaway from this case is that prosecutors badly underestimate their chances of bringing a successful criminal case against a cop. Granted, this conviction required a lot of video shot from several different angles and a parade of witnesses and experts, but I should think jurors are not quite as blindly loyal to the police as prosecutors seem to think. Louisville, you watching?

[joetheman]

13. How many wars do these chicken hawks want to lose?

I'd like just one of the FOX talking heads who sit behind a desk in front of a camera and incite others to riot, war, or to commit hate acts to step outside and walk in just one protest.