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“America First!” Was a Hit; But Who is a Real American to the Firsters?
“You very likely will not be flattened by the news that Economic Insecurity does not hold a prominent place in the data,” wrote Charlie Pierce in Esquire about Robert Pape’s recent University of Chicago study of Capitol rioters arrested during the January 6 insurrection. “Neither will you be stunned by what form of insecurity actually does.”
It is largely about race. But even as all of this plays out against the backdrop of the Derek Chauvin trial for the murder of George Floyd, ongoing violence against Asian Americans and perennial panic over Central American refugees crossing the southern border, huge segments of Americans, from lawmakers to the electorate, will insist on discussing anything but race.
After Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said that he was never all that concerned as the MAGA horde trashed the Capitol all around him (killing five, including a Capitol Police officer and injuring hundreds more), because they were just real Americans and not Black Lives Matter or Antifa (Anti-Fascist Action), he caught all of the trouble that he said he expected. “And Joe,” Johnson said at the time, “this is going to get me in trouble.” And when it did, he said the remark was “completely innocuous.” Because, of course, he and his death cult are anything but threatened by pro-fascist action…