In general, I like to crack a joke or two in these columns, seeking to underscore the absurdity of politics with a bit of dark humor.
But don’t joke this time.
On Saturday, an 18-year-old white supremacist armed with a semi-automatic rifle walked into a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and started shooting people.
Blacks, mostly.
Payton Gendron was there to kill black people. Or as Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told reporters: “This individual came here for the express purpose of taking as many Black lives as he could.”
Before the police arrested Gendron, he had killed ten. He injured three others. And then he pleaded not guilty, even though he had been livestreaming his rampage, perhaps seeking to “inspire” other white suprecimists to do the same. As he himself was “inspired” by the white supremacists who came before him.
Crazy, fucking crazy.
Most of the country, or relatively sane people, reacted with horror to this senseless slaughter caused by racial hatred.
And then there was Laura Loomer, whom I will now quote, as much as I don’t want to. Because sooner or later we have to face this shit. Writing on his Telegram social media page, Loomer said. . .
“Planned Parenthood has still targeted and killed more black people than the Buffalo supermarket shooter.”
Wow. Crazier.
Karen Hawkins, my editor, and I talk a lot about the craziness of shit in our country. But Loomer’s comments go beyond routine craziness.
His comments are an attempt to downplay the massacre, or rationalize it. Next, Loomer and others like her will turn Gendron into some sort of hero who was taking a stand. Like they did with Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha.
I should point out that Loomer is no ordinary social media jerk.
No, she is a Republican candidate for Congress in the 11th Congressional District in Florida. A self-proclaimed “Islamophobe,” if that’s anything to be proud of, she has a good chance of winning the Republican primary on August 23.
She would then join Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Madison Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar and all the other crackpots in the Congressional Republican caucus.
Oh yeah, and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik in New York, don’t forget her. Once upon a time, she went through a moderate. Now she is running with the pack.
Like Stefanik, Loomer subscribes to a theory that is gaining traction in Republican circles. It’s called a white replacement, or great replacement, and the gist of it is that the Democrats are colluding to replace real Americans (ie whites) with black or brown people.
Black or brown people who will never be true Americans, the theory goes, no matter how long they or their ancestors have lived here.
Perhaps the most prominent apostle of one version of this theory is the most passive-aggressive: Tucker Carlson, the talking head of FOX.
I call him passive-aggressive because he pretends he’s not advocating hate, even when he is.
The original supporters of the white replacement made no attempt to hide their hatred. And they didn’t just blame the Democrats.
They blamed “the Jews.” And so, in 2017, the Nazis marched through the streets of Charlottesville chanting “The Jews will not replace us.”
That’s the first time I realized this supposed theory. Several leading Republicans denounced the Nazis. But not Donald Trump. He said there were “very good people, on both sides” of the protests. Good Nazis? And with that, the hate seeped deeper into the GOP’s bloodstream.
Like I said, Gendron is an advocate for white replacement. It’s all in the 180-page manifesto he wrote.
That seems to be the problem with these deranged killers. Not only do they feel compelled to slaughter people, but they apparently want others to follow in their footsteps.
This is how Robert Bowers justified shooting 11 worshipers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.
And Patrick Crusius did the same thing when he gunned down 23 Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019.
And Brenton Tarrant killed 51 people at two different mosques in New Zealand in 2019.
Jewish, black, Latino and Muslim people, massacred senselessly for who they are.
Now, one would think that mainstream politicians would want to stay far away from the white replacement theory.
But at the moment he is gaining popularity in the Republican Party. Polls show nearly 50 percent of Republican voters believe it’s real.
That leaves top politicians in a dilemma. If they report it, they risk alienating their base. Many remain silent. They crawl under a metaphorical table, pretending they don’t see the hate on their faces.
Obviously, lunatics with high-powered weaponry are the biggest danger. But the silent group is also a threat. In their silence, they enable the shooters.
As I write this, the highest-ranking Republican elected official to speak out against white supremacy is Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
“House Republican leadership has enabled White Nationalism, White Supremacy and Anti-Semitism,” Cheney tweeted Monday. “History has taught us that what begins with words ends much worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”
Obviously, I’ve had my issues, to put it mildly, with the Cheneys over the years. But right now I can’t be picky about my allies in the fight against fascist white supremacy.
Thank you, Congressman Cheney. Now what about the rest of you Republicans?
Right here in Illinois we have five Republican candidates clamoring to be the party’s nominee in the November general election against Governor JB Pritzker.
Their names are Richard Irvin, Darren Bailey, Paul Schimpf, Gary Rabine, and Jesse Sullivan.
I’m still waiting for one of them to denounce the white replacement theory.
In their silence, with each passing day, those Nazis marching through Charlottesville grow closer to the center of the Republican Party.
Illinois Republicans, it’s time to come out from under the table and take a stand.