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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Aristocrats Funding the Critical Race Theory 'Backlash'
In the immediate aftermath of Republican Glenn Youngkins Virginia governorship victory last week, many pundits credited an uprising against critical race theory as the key to the former Carlyle Group executives electoral success. But hardly anyone is talking about how critical race theory has largely been an astroturf issue created by GOP operatives with a backlash funded by billionaire donors.
The anti-CRT movement has descended with a vengeance this year into suburban school board meetings and Fox News programming. And while the movement may present itself with a local face, many of its most effective advocacy groups are propped up by wealthy, well-connected backersright down to its connections to the billionaire Koch family.
The Daily Beast has identified eight recently created anti-CRT groups which operate at local levels across the country but bear ties to ideological right-wing aristocrats and political operatives. Their backers include former officials in Donald Trumps administration, an executive at a notorious D.C. lobbying firm, as well as Koch entities and The Federalist Society.
In Virginia, one of the key leaders against critical race theory is Ian Prior. If Priors name sounds familiar, thats because you may have been one of the tens of thousands of Americans who to receive emails from Prior in one of his many different former roles: press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Justice Department official during the Trump administration, communications director for the Karl Rove super PAC American Crossroads, and now, a GOP operative behind two organizations that have inflamed attacks on so-called critical race theory in Virginias public schools.
Prior runs Fight for Schools, a state-level PAC which emerged this year to challenge educational decisions in Loudoun County and mobilize behind Youngkin. The candidate turned to Priors group for fundraising and voter outreach efforts, and state election disclosures show that the organization raised hundreds of thousands of dollars during the campaign.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/right-wing-aristocrats-fund-critical-race-theory-backlash?ref=home
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Well, well! Quelle surprise!
Champp
(2,114 posts)Anything to divide and weaken America
Jim__
(14,045 posts)The problem is that this stuff works. Tell people their kids are being propagandized in school and people react viscerally. How do we fight this?
Initech
(99,915 posts)They start small by getting their people elected to school boards and city councils. I think we need to start doing the same.
The thing is there's a group of voters who we'll never connect with - many of their minds have been warped by a steady diet of Fox News, AM hate radio, and Facebook propaganda.
But the middle of the road voters are the ones who the Dems need to start connecting with, and it starts with the smaller picture rather than the bigger one.
And I've said before that the Dems' biggest problem (and trust me I got a lot of shit for suggesting this) that it isn't the lower class, lower educated voters. It's the upper class country club people who are the real problem.
They're the ones more likely to have better internet connections and satellite TV, which allows them to have Fox News on every TV in the house and then they spend most of their time passing the garbage memes and posts around Facebook and bashing the government that they take advantage of. They're also likely to have a higher tier membership in their churches. I know a lot of these people, trust me.
Scrivener7
(50,774 posts)duplicating their messaging mechanism with our own message. By hiring our own psy ops guys and getting our own message into the same places.
This isn't brain surgery! After all, republiQans did it.
And they gave us a fekkin' road map! Now let's use it!!!
PS: "Aristocrats" ???? What the fuck???
haele
(12,581 posts)Leaders of the GOP political and Nationalist religious movements -and most of them are either libertarian-minded new money or trust fund babies.
Low education, low class self-styled "Aristocrats", with no idea of the history, diplomacy, or the required noblesse oblige necessary to keep one's head that typically goes with the title.
Haele
Initech
(99,915 posts)Though I'm sure a lot of these assholes are probably school board members themselves.
I have no respect for these people, in case you can't tell!
Mopar151
(9,965 posts)From these wack-o-nuts, to the Texas Schoolbook Comission - this is what they do, this is who they are. We should make them own their message, and fry 'em for it!
Besides, the kids are going to find out. How do you explain that you lied about one thing, but nothing else?