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In the same week that self-styled foot soldiers in the conservative movement tried to intimidate voters at ballot drop boxes and spread baseless theories about the brutal assault on the House speaker’s husband, Republicans continued fanning the flames of bigoted conspiracy theories that have inspired a raft of right-wing violence in recent years.
Some Republicans on the ballot in the upcoming midterms helped push demonstrably false theories last week alleging that Black, liberal puppet masters are controlling American politics with ill intent. Taken together, the claims borrowed both from the racist “replacement theory” alleging white voter disenfranchisement and the legacy of white voters painting Black figures as political evildoers.
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Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina was one of the GOPers pushing these bigoted theories. In an interview last week, Norman claimed impeachment would be necessary to investigate a so-called “cabal” controlling the Biden administration.
“Joe Biden is not running this country; there is a cabal of unelected elitists who are running this country,” said Norman, adding that former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder are “probably” involved.
Seemingly confused by Biden’s unassuming nature, Republicans have tried to paint him as a Trojan horse for liberal lawmakers to enact policies that Republicans claim will destroy the country somehow. Many of those lawmakers being demonized as dangerously liberal, including members of the affectionately named “Squad,” are nonwhite. Norman’s allegations borrow from a legacy of fearmongering over unelected Black people meddling in political affairs where they allegedly don’t belong.
Sarah Palin got in on the “replacement theory” pitch, too. The Republican, fresh off being bested by Democrat Mary Peltola in Alaska’s special election for the House, clearly doesn’t think her extremism will inhibit her.
Now running for Peltola’s seat, Palin claimed at a debate Wednesday that Obama is “calling a lot of these shots” in Washington. It’s obviously not true — and it would certainly come as a surprise to Democrats who have wanted the former president to be more involved in Democratic politics. But facts be damned, Palin claimed Obama is playing puppeteer “to fundamentally transform America.”
Meanwhile in New Hampshire, Republican Don Bolduc, a backer of former President Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, recently trotted out a familiar claim among leaders looking to delegitimize nonwhite voters.
In a debate last week, the Senate candidate alluded to “school buses loaded with people” arriving in New Hampshire to vote illegally in previous elections. All sorts of illiberal administrations, including under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, have espoused similar theories to undermine the legitimacy of votes for their opponents.
In fact, unsurprisingly, Trump and his administration trotted out this same exact lie about voting in New Hampshire back in the 2016 election. And, you guessed it, the claim was easily refuted.
There’s no remaining mystery as to the impact of the racist “replacement theory” — it has proved to be fatal for individuals, and potentially so for targeted institutions. The only question that remains is how and when the lawmakers pushing it will be held accountable.