Category Archives: Federalist

'The deconstruction of America begins with and depends on the deconstruction of American men,' Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said Sunday night.

This is the text of Missouri Sen. Josh Hawleys speech on Oct. 31 at the National Conservatism conference, which is running in Florida this year from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

Good evening. It is a pleasure to be with you tonight.

I had the honor to be at your inaugural conference two years ago. After that speech, the Left called me a racist, a fascist, and a Nazi.

So when Yoram invited me to speak again this year, I thought: Whats to lose?

I spoke two years ago of the Lefts ambition to create a world beyond belonginga world where community and shared cultureour culturecount for little. Its part of the Lefts effort to fundamentally remake America.

I want to talk with you tonight about another aspect of that ambition. I want to talk with you about the Lefts attempt to give us a world beyond men.

We meet at a time of reckoning. As we speak, the Left controls the commanding heights of American society. They have the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate. Their voices predominate in the news media, in Hollywood, arguably sports, and of course, at our universities.

This is their hour. And they are determined to use it.

The Left know what they believe. They believe that America is a systemically racist, structurally oppressive, hopelessly patriarchal kind of place. Its a dystopia, if only Americans would get woke enough to see it. Its a nation that needs to be taught how unjust it truly is and after that, rebuilt from top to bottom.

Thats the Leftist project, and thats their grand ambition: to deconstruct America.

This work of deconstruction is what unites todays Left and binds together all their various preoccupations, from critical race theory to their economic socialism to their bizarre war on womens sports.

But what I want you to notice, what I want to call out tonight, is this fact: that the deconstruction of America begins with and depends on the deconstruction of American men.

The Left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic. They want to define the traditional masculine virtuesthings like courage, and independence, and assertivenessas a danger to society.

This is an effort the Left has been at for years now. And they have had // alarming success. American men are working less, getting married in fewer numbers; theyre fathering fewer children. They are suffering more anxiety and depression. They are engaging in more substance abuse.

Many men in this country are in crisis, and their ranks are swelling.

And thats not just a crisis for men. Its a crisis for the republic.

Because the problem with the Lefts assault on the masculine virtues is that those self-same qualities, the very ones the Left now vilify as dangerous and toxic, have long been regarded as vital to self-government.

Observers from the ancient Romans to our forefathers identified the manly virtues as indispensable for political liberty.

Now maybe they were wrong and todays Left is right. Maybe virtue isnt needed for liberty. Or maybe the only necessary virtues are the modern liberal ones of tolerance, and compliance, and I suppose, consumption. Maybe all you need to be a good citizen after all is to be a good consumer.

But it doesnt look that way. Its hard to argue that our democracy is in better shape now than it was thirty or forty years ago. Its hard to believe that our liberty is now more secure.

Its hard to accept that the pathologies gripping so many American men are good for American society. Id contend just the opposite.

Now this is not to say that American women arent central to this story, far from it. American women have shaped our culture every bit as much as men, and their virtues are every bit as necessary to the success of our republic.

And indeed, the Left is carrying out its own assault on womanhood, and on the very idea of gender.

Many of my Democrat colleagues in the Senate wont even say the word mother any more, for heavens sake. Birthing people is the term of choice, as if women dont exist.

And leftwing advocates across the country are trying to destroy womens sports, as if women and men are somehow interchangeable.

All that too is part of the deconstructionist agenda.

But I want to focus tonight on the deconstruction of men, not because men are more important, but because I believe the attack on men has been the tip of the spear of the Lefts broader attack on America. And because this attack on men is already far advanced.

But even as I describe the danger, there is cause for hope. For while the Lefts assault on manhood has been sharp and prolonged, it has not yet succeeded. And we must make it our aim as conservatives to see that it does not succeed.

More than that, we must seek a revival of strong and healthy manhood in America. We need men who will shoulder responsibility, men who will start and provide for families, men who will enter the covenant of marriage and then honor it.

We need men to raise up sons and daughters after them, to pass on the great truths of our culture and history, to defend liberty, to share in the work of self-government.

We need the kind of men who make republics possible.

And it is not too much to say that our ability to get that kind of men will determine the success of our long experiment in liberty.

***

Let me start by pressing home this point. The Lefts attack on America leads directly to an attack on manhood.

For years now, Democrats and other leftists have insisted that American society is systemically oppressive, systemically evil and unjust. Theyve said it so much and so often that to them, its become a truism. Its become the very cornerstone of their worldview.

Just listen to the President of the United States. Joe Biden has, as president, repeatedly referred to Americas systemic racism. His Administration has loudly called for a new gender equity agenda to right the structural injustices of our society.

His nominees have advocated critical race theory and training in equity for federal workers.

This past week the Administration celebrated the introduction of an X gender marker on American passports. X means neither male nor female, if youre keeping up.

All this points to how important the deconstructionist agenda is to Team Biden and to the Left. Inflation is rampant, store shelves are bare, but the Administration wont be distracted from what truly matters, exposing just how bad America is.

Other prominent liberals have taken the next step and identified Americas many alleged woes with men in particular.

Take Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. White supremacy and patriarchy are linked in a lot of ways, she says. Meaning that Americas systemic racism is a systemic problem with men.

Author John Stoltenberg writes that talking about healthy masculinity is like talking about `healthy cancer.

Professor Suzanna Walters of Northeastern University says it seems logical to hate men unless they pledge to vote for feminist women only and dont run for office.

Now this line of thinking is hardly new. The critical theory of deconstruction runs back to mid-century intellectuals like Jacques Derrida and Herbert Marcuse; and farther back to the Frankfurt School of the 1930s; and back farther still to Marx.

Nor is it new to blame men for societys ills. Marcuse in particular is interesting in this regard. He was one of the leading lights of the 1960s counter-culture, and he thought Marx was right to call western society structurally oppressive, but wrong to see that oppression as principally economic.

No, the really oppressive thing about American society, he said, was culture.

And while Marx pinned his hopes on working class men, the proletariat, Marcuse saw those same men as the problem. They were too culturally conservative. Too hidebound. Too traditional.

Marcuse concluded the revolution would only come from the well-educated elite, who could see beyond mirages like manhood.

Which brings us back to todays American Left. Theyve swallowed this theory whole and they are delivering this message from every platform where they have power. Which is most everywhere.

University curricula abound with seminars on masculinity and its defects. To take but one sample of whats on offer, consider Professor David Cohen of Drexel Kline School of Law: Traditional masculinity, he says, has oppressed girls and women and limited the identity construction of all boys and men.

A seminar at Williams College, called Performing Masculinity in Global Popular Culture, asks Why must masculinity be the purview of males at all? Answering that question will cost you $75,000 a year.

Even our military academies are in on the act. West Point reportedly held mandatory events last year addressing gender norms, including toxic masculinity. One cadet said afterwards, Im being taught how not to be a man.

Men are getting the message. Theyre leaving higher education in record numbers. I suspect youve seen the recent Wall Street Journal reporting: Women now make up 60 percent of college students; men, 40 percent. Experts predict a 2:1 ratio soon, with the trend sped up by the pandemic.

But the message of toxic masculinity is not only in the academy. Its in our grade schools, where boys are increasingly treated like an illness in search of a cure. If boys are too rambunctious, theyre diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder and medicated into submission.

Hollywood delivers the toxic masculinity theme ad nauseum in television and film.

And our expert class amplifies it. The American Psychological Association now advises that conforming to traditional masculinity ideology has been shown to limit males psychological development and negatively influence mental health and physical health. Manhood is a disease to be defeated.

The Left delivers the same message in the press, through the corporations, and through advertising. Gillette infamously ran an ad campaign for its razors in 2019 that included this voice-over: Bullying MeToo movement against sexual harassment toxic masculinity is this the best a man can get?

And the Left is writing this same men-are-the-problem mantra into policy.

Working class men have been a particular target for this Administration. President Bidens illegal vaccine mandate on private citizens puts millions of working class men squarely in the cross hairs. Shut up, get the jab, or get lost.

Nevermind these are the very people hailed as essential workers not twelve months ago. Not anymore. Now theyre expendable. Now theyre the problem.

But the Left has been pursuing its attack on men through policy for longer than the last year, and sometimes with the help of Republicans.

Over the last thirty years and more, government policy has helped destroy the kind of economy that gave meaning to generations of men.

Domestic manufacturing once supported millions of American men with good wages, who in turn started and supported families. Now that industry lies all but dead on the altar of globalism.

At the same time, advancing consolidation has made it almost impossible for family farmers to compete against multinational firms.

The result is fewer and fewer men working. And I dont mean the elderly or disabled, I mean prime-aged, able-bodied men.

Since 1965, the number of adult men between the ages of twenty and sixty-four not workingnot even looking for work, but completely and totally out of the labor forcehas quintupled, soaring from 3 million in the 1960s to more than 16 million in 2015.

And the less men work, the less they marry.

Marriage rates are plummeting. And the age of first marriage continues to rise, as men push commitment off further and further into the future.

By 2010, a majority of men in this country between 25 and 34 had never married. And that trend has accelerated since.

Fewer marriages means fewer fathers in the home. By 2020, over 18 million American children lived without a father present. Thats more than a quarter of all children in America. And I probably dont need to remind you that an absent father is strongly correlated with increased childhood poverty, childhood depression, and poor academic performance.

I am not here tonight to tell you that men are victims. The last thing we need more of in this country is the victim mindset. And men who blame others for their problems and then slink away to do nothing, or worse, who embrace violence or cruelty, deserve rebuke.

Responsibility is one of Gods greatest gifts to mankind, and men must be held responsible for their actions.

Still can we be surprised that after years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness, and pornography, and video games.

I found the comment by one young man to the Wall Street Journal particularly evocative, and particularly heartbreaking. He said, Im sort of waiting for a light to come on so I can figure out what to do next. I suspect he speaks for many.

And while the Left may celebrate this decline of men, I for one cannot join them. No one should.

The crisis of American men is a crisis for the American republic.

Its not just that millions of men out of work slows our innovation and economic growth.

Its not just the billions of dollars in welfare payments these idle men cost the federal fisc year on year.

Its not only the depression and darkness that now shadow so many.

Its that liberty requires virtue. And in particular, it requires the manly virtues.

America needs good men.

The liberty of a republic is a demanding thing.

To keep a republic, you have to be willing to fight for it.

To share in self-government, you have to stand strong against those who would try to make you dependent on their wealth or influence.

To preserve liberty, you have to discipline your passions and sacrifice in the service of others.

For centuries, lovers of liberty have praised these qualities as the highest standard of manhood. Thats not to say that women dont possess them. But it is to say that these virtues are the bright side of the aggression and competitiveness and independence that psychologists, no less than philosophers, have long observed in men.

Assertiveness and independence are strengths when used to protect and empower others.

Want an example? Look no further than those dads at Southwood High School in Shreveport, Louisiana. The ones who just by showing up, calmed the fighting and changed the atmosphere of an entire campus. As one student said to a reporter, Dads have the power to do that.

Every republic needs those kind of men.

The question is, how are we going to raise up good men today?

We can start by repudiating the lie that America is a systemically oppressive nation and that men are systemically responsible.

It is a fantasy, it is a folly, it is a falsehood and we should call it out for what it is.

America may be an imperfect place, but it is the most noble experiment in liberty the world has ever seen, for the poor and the rich alike, for men and for women, for black and for white.

And though we have struggled to live up to our idealsand failed, and risen to struggle againthere is honor in the struggle, and we are still, even now, the last best, hope on earth.

And we must tell the men of this nation that their struggle, too, is noble and that they are needed.

To each man, I say: You can be a tremendous force for good. Your nation needs you. The world needs you.

Your strength can liberate others. Your power can serve those in need. Your creativity can light new paths. Your courage can defend the weak. Your faithfulness can raise up sons and daughters after you and make their way straight. You can make this a more perfect nation.

We must say this to men of our society from the time they are small, and teach it to them in our classrooms and in our homes and in our churches.

And we must do more.

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Hawley: Leftists Want Men To Stand Down, But We're Standing Up Instead - The Federalist

Not long after polls closed in Virginia on Tuesday, it became clear that Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin would sweep the gubernatorial race from a former governor in a state that went blue for Joe Biden by 10 points just one year ago.

There are plenty of people to thank for this victory over Terry McAuliffe, of course: Biden, whose failed economy and response to the coronavirus has been disastrous for Virginias working families, and his Vice President Kamala Harris and friend Barack Obama. Theres also union boss Randi Weingarten, The Atlantic ideas section, an out-of-control state legislature, law-and-order-flouting district attorneys installed by George Soros, Democrat blackface kings Ralph Northam and Mark Herring, abortion extremists, critical race theory champions, the Loudoun County Public Schools and its corrupt Superintendent Scott Ziegler, woke and elitist school boards, and Merrick War-On-Parents Garland.

But it turns out the one person to did the most to propel Youngkin to the governors mansion was none other than Terry McAuliffe himself. And it all boils down to this clip:

I dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach, McAuliffe said during a September debate with Youngkin.

The Hill called his remark a blunder, and a delusional Washington Post columnist on election day referred to the line as a gaffe, as in an unintentional slip of the tongue. But if thats true, McAuliffe is quite a gaffe machine. On the contrary, hes doubled down on the anti-parents-rights rhetoric as a hallmark of his campaign.

The two gubernatorial candidates had the usual political platforms and pet projects, but in a state embroiled in a culture war controversy over something as important as education and parents rights over their own children, this particular stand from McAuliffe turned out to be the most consequential of all.

As the Democrat insisted parents should stay out of the education system, woke school boards stifled concerned parents, the White House and National School Boards association were colluding to brand those parents as domestic terrorists, and the U.S. Department of Justice was preparing to send federal law enforcement after them. Meanwhile, Virginia public schools were pushing for radical transgender policies as one school covered up a male student allegedly raping a girl in the womens bathroom and then sending him off to reportedly assault another girl in a different public school.

Terry McAuliffe routinely lied about critical race theory not being in Virginia schools, even though its explicitly taught throughout the state. In fact, evidence shows McAuliffe was actually the first Virginia governor to have promoted it. To close out his campaign, he took the tack that there are just too many white teachers in the state, so he would reduce them and diversify to make everybody feel comfortable.

So when McAuliffe said he didnt think parents should be telling schools what to do, this is what parents saw him advocating for instead not their rights and the best interests of their children, but corruption, coverups, indoctrination, division, and racism.

On Tuesday, Virginia parents got the final say, and it turns out they do think they should be telling the schools what to teach their own children.

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Watch The Clip That Changed The Entire Virginia Race For Youngkin - The Federalist

Those who hope to find a place thatll encourage the virtuous masculinity that so often finds itself the target of our mainstream culture have been left with a dwindling set of options.

My family intended to guide my formation as a young man and instill traditional values when they put me in Cub Scouts in the first grade, supporting me all the way until I earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 2018. It worked.

The time I spent in Scouting certainly contributed to my sense of what is required of me as a man; to act on the moral duty I have to our nation, be capable of self-reliance, abide by the virtues that I believe come from a divine origin, and attain the skills that are needed to care and provide for those around me.

Despite the role scouting has had in my life, Ive found myself coming ever closer to recanting the resounding yes I offered to my Scoutmaster when, at the very end of my interview leading up to earning my Eagle Scout, he asked me if I thought Id one day want to put my sons in what still could then be accurately called the Boy Scouts of America.

I find myself similarly concerned for my younger brother who is currently active in the troop I was once a part of as the organization continuously bends to a culture that has grown increasingly hostile to its original mission.

Not only did the Boy Scouts end their identity as an exclusively male institution when they opened the organization to girls in 2019, theyre also the latest to cave to the nationwide push for critical race theory, or as they and others euphemistically call it, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

At the very beginning of this month, the national organization announced a new merit badge entitled Citizenship in Society, that will become a required merit badge for those pursuing the rank of Eagle Scout in July 2022. Citizenship in The World, Citizenship in The Nation, and Citizenship in The Community are already required merit badges, each of which I quite enjoyed. So whats Citizenship in Society?

According to the announcement, the merit badge, which was developed by BSAs Office of Diversity and Youth Development Office will encourage Scouts to explore important topics around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

So, at a surface glance, the merit badge may not appear particularly controversial, despite using the rebranded language of critical race theory. One of the requirements simply implores Scouts to Consider ethical decision making. Another tells them to discuss what you can personally do to create a welcoming environment in your Scouting unit.

Theres even a notable lack of conversation about race, gender, white privilege, oppression, or any of the critical race theory buzzwords. It might feel refreshing, but dont take that sigh of relief just yet.

Enter the official Merit Badge Counselor Guide. While the content thats openly advertised to children remains rather tame, the content for the adults wholl be guiding Scouts through the process reveals the radicalism of the ideologies of those who worked to make this a requirement for prospective Eagle Scouts.

Consider the Resources section of the guide, which are optional and require parent permission before being shown to children, but are nevertheless provided with the intention of influencing the counselors.

One such resource is the All My Relations podcast, which focuses on the Native American experience and features episodes titled Decolonizing Sex, Celebrate Indigenous Peoples, Not Columbus, and Indigiqueer. Flag folding is so last year. What we really need are Eagle Scouts who understand the Native American LGBT sexual experience!

Theres also Learning for Justices White Anti Racism: Living the Legacy a transcription of a series of interviews that parrots the critical race theory talking points weve become all too familiar with.

When one participant is asked What do you think of the concept of being colorblind, she responds with I hate it. Another participant describes one of the stages of becoming a white ally as Realize the meanings behind privilege, racism, and whiteness. The organization is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that profits from spreading racial and religious animosity, and creates curricula that intend to dismantle white supremacy and strengthen intersectional movements.

The Guide to Allyship is also listed as a resource. It instructs people to Transfer the benefits of your privilege to those who lack it and to Amplify voices of the oppressed before your own.

The FAQ section of the guide gives counselors talking points they can use when facing questions. Under one of the answers, theres the line Use only if pressed (reactive only), before listing ways in which the organization is promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, including Offering diversity and inclusion training for BSA employees and volunteers and Reviewing property names, events and insignia, in partnership with local councils, to ensure that symbols of oppression are not in use today or in the future.

On top of this, this merit badge is unique in that it doesnt actually have a merit badge booklet but is just guided by the counselor. Now Scouts will be at the mercy of their individual counselor, a prospect that could either be a saving grace or doom children to nauseating lectures on intersectionality and privilege.

When The Federalist inquired about the materials the BSA is providing to counselors, the organizations PR team avoided commenting on the specific resources and instead stated that The merit badge does not advocate for a particular point of view, but rather encourages Scouts to learn about diversity and inclusion and ethical leadership through self-exploration, research and exercises with their merit badge counselor, parents and peers.

They also added that The ideals and values of diversity, equity and inclusion are core to who we are at BSA. Our values as stated in the Scout Oath and Scout Law encourage Scouts to respect the beliefs of others, to be kind and courteous, and to help other people at all times.

Jay Cromwell was a Scout in his youth before spending more than 50 years serving in leadership positions in Scouting. When The Federalist reached out to hear his perspective on the recent change, he said, The head honchos of BSA think they can suck up enough to get the leftists to leave them alone, but they can only do that by going out of business because they stand between the left and its desired goal of socialism.

Cromwell also added that thenew merit badge is not going to help scouting or race relations. And I believe this wokeness is going to self destruct.

Continue reading here:

Boy Scouts Announce New Critical Race Theory Requirement - The Federalist

Last week, the Racine County, Wisconsin sheriffs office held a 75-minute press conference to announce the results of their investigation into absentee voting at residential care facilities. As reported here, the press conference showed that the Wisconsin Election Commission illegally directed municipalities not to use the Special Voting Deputy process to service residents in care facilities, but instead to transmit absentee ballots to those voters by mail.

That illegal directive resulted in apparent violations of election law by employees of the Ridgewood Care Center, a Racine nursing home. The evidence also suggests, at a minimum, the improper influence of elderly voters.

The significance of this story, however, spans much beyond the 72 counties comprising this midwestern state that broke by 20,682 votes to Joe Biden. Rather, an honest review of the evidence presented by Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and lead investigator Sgt. Michael Luell exposes three significances of national importance.

First, Thursdays press briefing exposed state officials utter disregard for election law and their inability to stop flagrant misconduct before elections. The WEC knew full well it was directing clerks to violate mandatory provisions of Wisconsins election code and so did the clerks, yet the lawlessness went unstopped.

Indeed, the WEC did act lawlessly, as is clear from the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureaus October 2021 report that stressed, statutes set forth the exclusive means of absentee voting in person in residential care facilities and qualified retirement homes. A municipal clerk must appoint at least two special voting deputies to supervise absentee voting by individuals in such facilities and homes, the report explained (emphasis added).

Yet not only did no one stop the WECs directive, unless someone steps up to prosecute those responsible for directing this apparent violation of election law, it seems unlikely there will be any consequences to the state election officials.

Not only are there no consequences, but there is also no outrage beyond a few on the right screaming into the void that election integrity matters. Meanwhile, the corrupt corporate media ignores the story and the left spins it, as Democratic Party of Wisconsin interim executive director Devin Remiker did, calling the press conference nothing more than a publicity stunt.

No wonder, then, we see election officials throughout the country blatantly ignoring the rules that state legislatures have established for elections.

No one should take comfort in the fact that the press conference concerned last election cycle. The 2020 presidential election was not a one-off for election irregularities, but a test year for the new normal of election fraudone perpetrated by election officials, instead of voters.

Election officials in Fairfax County, Virginia showcased this reality two weeks ago once the governors race there turned tight, by adopting a policy to ignore the statutory mandate that absentee ballot applicants include the final four digits of their Social Security numbers with their signature. Friday then saw a state court judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging that law, finding the plaintiff in the case lacked standing to sue.

With the election set for Tuesday and absentee ballots already returned, Virginia is destined to repeat the cycle seen throughout the country in 2020: violations of election law with no consequences.

A second lesson from Thursdays briefing concerns the victims of the election fraud, in addition to every voter disenfranchised by a fraudulent vote.

The oft-repeated response to undisputed evidence that election officials ignored the law, or voters illegally voted in 2020, ran that the laws were mere technicalities. We saw that in Georgia with the secretary of states office Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling reportedly tellingAtlantas WSB-TV, The reality is these are normal, everyday Georgians who are just trying to exercise their right to vote in a very weird year, after being confronted with evidence that one voter admitted he cast a vote in a county in which he no longer lived.

This response, of course, is wrong in its own right, as every illegal vote disenfranchises a lawful voter. What happened in Wisconsin, however, should penetrate the press and the publics apathy to voter fraud because the targets were vulnerable seniors, moms and dads of everyday Americans.

Wisconsins election code and the requirement for SVDs sought to prevent the potential for fraud or abuse; to prevent overzealous solicitation of absent electors who may prefer not to participate in an election; to prevent undue influence on an absent elector to vote for or against a candidate or to cast a particular vote in a referendum; or other similar abuses.

Yet, once election officials dispensed with the SVDs, that is exactly what happened, with one former employee of the Ridgewood Care Center saying one senior who voted, was leery about signing her name because [she] was unsure if she was voting for the right people.

This problem is also not limited to Wisconsin, with the American Constitutional Rights Union (ACRU) receiving tips of similar abuse of vulnerable voters throughout the country. The ACRU, the nations leading advocate for the protection of vulnerable voters, sees the abuse of elderly and vulnerable voters as a nationwide problem, and in 2019 launched a Protect Elderly Votes Project to protect elderly and disabled voters in residential facilities.

Yet even when it is a matter of protecting elderly and disabled voters, and even when presented with specific, detailed evidence of such elder abuse, leftist media ignores the issue, proving the corporate press just does not care about election integrity. The same holds true for Democrats whose response, instead of outrage, was to pretend this press conference was about Donald Trump.

This is yet another attempt to attack our democracy and cast doubt on a free and fair election, in which Wisconsinites elected Joe Biden, Wisconsin Democratic Party head Remiker said in response to the press conference.

No one knows, however, who the seniors voted for, as the Racine County Sheriffs Office repeated numerous times on Thursday. The members of the WEC also come from both parties. In short, the only ones making election integrity about politics are the Democrats and the press.

The Racine County Sheriffs Office press conference exposed a third reality with national significance: The summary of the nearly year-long investigation illustrates how law enforcement officers who are serious about complaints of voter fraud handle a case. It contrasts starkly with the unserious response seen throughout the country by secretary of states offices, legislative bodies, and attorneys general.

In the moderate-sized Wisconsin county, Luell gathered evidence via subpoena, and interviewed family members, staff members, and local election officials. He pulled the voter applications and envelopes used for voting in the 2020 election, compared the participation rates to past elections, and looked to the potential victims records of voting going back to 2012. He also reviewed visitor lists, the governing provisions of the Election Code, and the WECs documents and proceedings.

In contrast, other states such as Arizona and Georgia, while conducting audits, have apparently failed to do the legwork necessary to follow-up on potential illegal voting or fraud. In both states, which also broke for Biden in 2020, there is solid evidence of illegal voting that could be easily determined by a thorough investigation. Yet to date there is no evidence that these states have launched the probes necessary to prove (or disprove) the concern.

Earlier this year, the Georgia secretary of states office confirmed they were investigating evidence of more than 10,000 voters illegally voting in a county in which they were not residents. Yet a request by The Federalist last week for the status on that investigation went unanswered.

Such an investigation should be simple, albeit time-consuming, as demonstrated when a local reporter in Georgia went knocking on doors to ask voters about their moves and where they voted, confirming the data provided the secretary of states office.

Maybe, then, there is a fourth take-away from Fridays press conference: Rather than depend on state officials to take election fraud and illegal voting seriously, the complaints should be handed to local law enforcement. That approach could work in Georgia. Given, however, that Democrats have already proven they dont care about election integrity, the evidence will need to be handed to red counties.

That tactic might even have a second unintended but beneficial consequence: prompting Democrats to retaliate by lodging complaints with left-leaning police and sheriffs departments. The majority of Republicans would welcome that development because election integrity matters no matter which side benefits from illegal voting or fraud.

Also, most Republicans dont fear honest investigations into election fraud and illegal voting. That Democrats do is telling.

Margot Cleveland is a senior contributor to The Federalist. Cleveland served nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk to a federal appellate judge and is a former full-time faculty member and adjunct instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame.The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.

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Why The Wisconsin Elder-Fraud Voting Story Has National Implications - The Federalist

Sen. Chuck Grassley said Attorney General Merrick Garlands stubborn refusal to retract the domestic terrorism memo authorizing federal law enforcement to target frustrated parents who speak out against local school boards will have a chilling effect on parents willingness to hold their childrens education system accountable.

In a Senate floor speech delivered on Monday, the Iowa Republican explained how Garland made an extraordinary admission that he instructed the FBI to get involved with local school boards and doesnt have any plans of rescinding his memo directing that action.

If there is a reason for law enforcement to be involved, its probably something local law enforcement can handle. So the direction will have the effect of intimidating parents who speak out about their childrens education. Make no mistake about it. The attorney general should withdraw that memo, Grassley said.

The National School Boards Association sent a letter to the Biden administration last month beggingfor federal law enforcement to use domestic terrorism laws to target parents who oppose anti-science mask mandates for children and the infiltration of racist curriculum in schools. The NSBA claimed that federal action was warranted to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation.

Most of the incident examples the NSBA used to justify intervention by the Biden administrationdid not escalateto a level that even yielded arrests or charges on the local level, yet mere days after the letter was sent,Garland directedthe FBI and state attorneys to address a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nations public schools.

Attorney General Garland has since testified that he gave the Department of Justice this instruction because of what he read in the National School Boards Association letter to President Biden from just five days earlier. This is an extraordinary deployment of federal law enforcement, when we have problems like a historic murder surge and an open southern border, Grassley said.

Dozens of state school board associationsreported that they were not consulted before the NSBA sent its letter to the administration, and some have even voted to withdraw their membership from the national chapter whose President Viola Garcia and CEO Chip Slaven colluded with the White House before releasing their official demands. The emails also show that the NSBAs board of directors, much like the state school board associations, was not consulted about the plea before it was made public.

The White House helped write a letter to itself comparing parents who love their kids to domestic terrorists but the actual members of the National School Boards Association had nothing to do with it, Grassley said before noting that 17 state attorneys general have written to Garland to state that there has been no spike in violence against local school boards. So, the idea that parents pose any sort of federal threat to local school boards is all just made up what looks to be by the White House for political purposes.

Garland previously told Grassley that he would not rescind the memo despite an apology from the NSBA. This lack of clarification on behalf of parents, Grassley noted, is going to have a chilling effect on their willingness to keep speaking out at school board meetings.

That memo stands, as far as hes concerned. He says he doesnt see how it could be interpreted to mean the FBI will go after impassioned parents. He says there are lines in Constitutional law that law enforcement cant cross. Well, thats true, but hes been working with the Constitution his entire adult life. However, most parents and most school board members arent experts in the First Amendment, Grassley noted.

These parents are reading the attorney generals own words to mean that when they speak passionately at local school board meetings, they could get in trouble with the feds, Grassley continued. So parents are going to stop speaking up at local school board meetings. And thats whats known as a chilling effect. That might be what some at the White House or the National School Boards Association wanted all along, but its a horrible thing for democracy, and it should never happen in the United States of America.

During the same Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Grassleyaccused Garland of moving the DOJ as far left as it can go and targeting parents [who] are trying to protect their children. The Republican also criticized the DOJ for refusing to answer GOP members letters, questions, and demands even though Garland previously promised to be transparent in his confirmation hearing.

Attorney General Garland has said how he wanted to de-politicize the Department of Justice. Now he wants federal prosecutors parsing what parents say to their local school board members, Grassley said in his floor speech. This is because he thinks theres a disturbing spike in violence by parents, but hes not actually sure if thats right. And this instruction is going to scare parents out of speaking their minds at local school board meetings. But the attorney general wont change his instruction to the FBI.

Mr. Attorney General, Grassley continued, parents are not domestic terrorists, and you have only one reasonable choice. Withdraw your memo and focus on the real threats. Stop being a pawn for the White House by politicizing the Department of Justice.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Grassley: Garland's Double-Down On Parents Will Have 'Chilling Effect' - The Federalist

On Wednesday, the phrase Brandon administration was trending on social media after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used it to describe the Biden administration.

Before that, it was a Southwest flight from Houston to Albuquerque on Friday morning that propelled the Lets go, Brandon meme to new heights.

After an AP reporter on the aircraft tweeted the next day her article reporting the pilot using the phrase Lets go, Brandon, over the speaker system, an avalanche of outrage quickly followed from the left, only to meet merriment and mirth from conservatives.

While a simple story, the incident has five fascinating takeaways.

Just as the Southwest story was taking off, NPRs Saturday Weekend Edition provided its audience a primer on the Lets go, Brandon meme. The publicly funded news organization opened its explainer, If youve heard people chanting Lets go, Brandon! or seen someone with a shirt or hat sporting the seemingly jovial message lately, you might be wondering who Brandon is and why so many people are rooting for him.

Now, that might be a fair question a month ago. But surely between October 2, 2021, and this weekend, news-savvy Americans, such as NPR listeners, would have heard of reporter Kelli Stavast informing her NBC audience that the NASCAR fans in the background chanting F-ck Joe Biden were really cheering Lets go, Brandon! for driver Brandon Brown, whom she was interviewing.

That NPR needed to explain the phrase isnt actually supporting a guy named Brandon tells us everything we need to know about the prevalence of self-censorship in the corporate media and the listening (or reading) habits of much of America.

Conservative Americans who get their news from both right-leaning outlets and the corporate media have been enjoying the Lets go, Brandon! meme for nearly a month. Everyone else apparently needs a primer, making the meme even more powerful.

The right has long quipped that the left cant meme, but Lets GoGate proves they dont even know a good meme when they hear it.

After the weekend tutorial on the history of the chant, which has made its way on to everything from hand-painted placards to hats in the halls of Congress, coverage framed the issue as one of a vulgar saying that is circling in conservative circles.

But as I tweeted at the time, with G-rated jargon to make the point, what these @npr dummies dont get and what they will never get is that Lets go Brandon. is an indictment of the cowing media which has refused to report honestly about anything regarding this administration.

Lets go, Brandon works because, in three short words, conservatives can convey their displeasure with Biden while also making fun of a sycophantic media thats trying to protect him from criticism. Thats part of its brilliance. Best yet, the fawning media provided the punch.

If only conservatives could craft a pithy chant that similarly conveyed the in-the-tank medias burying of the Joe Biden pay-to-play scandal revealed from Hunters abandoned porno-filled laptop.

Equally entertaining was this weekends episode of Lets Invent a Scandal, as the left attempted to turn Lets go, Brandon into an indictment of the party of family values by framing the phrase as a vulgarity.Its not.

Its the equivalent of Gosh, darn or h.e. double hockey sticks, or as my dear dad would bark out during my childhood Oh, sugar, or if he was really mad, Oh, ship.

Lets go, Brandon isnt a vulgarity it is a substitute for a vulgarity that still expresses the sentiment of dissatisfaction with President Biden.

In any event, its awfully rich that the same folks complaining about the vulgarity substitute, were ALL CAPS SCREAMING an actual vulgarity one year ago when Trump was president.

Equally delicious is watching the same Hollywood folks bemoan Lets go, Brandon as offensive, when they found F-ck Trump worthy of a tinsel-town standing ovation.

The real icing on the cake, of course, would be if the pilot had actually said, Lets go, Braves, as some think, thereby making Lets go, Braves a new meme that, like its predecessor, both expresses disdain for Biden and mocks the press, while also ridiculing the liberal outrage over Lets go, Brandon.

Hypocrisy is one thing; delusion is an entirely different matter. And Lets go, Brandon has turned into a veritable, verbal Rorschach test for the left.

Do they hear a profanity substitute? Sane.

Do they hear F-ck Joe Biden? Borderline.

Do they hear Hitler? ISIS? Putin? Certifiable.

The weekend prognostics were not good for several public figures.

Returning now to reality, the lefts reaction to the Southwest pilots claimed use of the Lets go, Brandon chant reveals a final truth: The left couldnt handle the conservative equivalent of what the woke corporate culture hammers the right with every day.

From corporate training sessions to mandated pronoun usage, speech codes, commercials, and sponsorships, Big Business in America forces liberal identity politics and causes on customers and employees alike.

When Democrats decried the faux new Jim Crow, Major League Baseball bent the knee to flee Atlanta. When conservatives seek escape in sports, movies, or music, they are whacked back to reality with divisive politicization, disdain, and condescension. And when we fly, were expected to ignore the company-sponsored pins employees don supporting the racist and Marxist organization Black Lives Matters.

But three simple words send the left to the fainting couches.

Welcome to our world.

It isnt as crass, though. It is also definitely not as constant as the one we confront on a daily basis. It is also, however, much more fun because we see the humor in the situation, whereas the lefts just a bunch of self-deceiving scolds.

Margot Cleveland is a senior contributor to The Federalist. Cleveland served nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk to a federal appellate judge and is a former full-time faculty member and adjunct instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame.The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.

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5 Things We Learned From Left's Fresh Outrage Over 'Let's Go, Brandon' - The Federalist

Kenosha County, Wis., Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder has a fanciful idea: That the trial hes overseeing that includes murder charges against 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse can be removed from politics.

He said so on Monday during jury selection. We dont want to fall into the trap, he said, that many in the media have, a large percentage of the media, and discuss this as a political trial or that there are bigger factors at stake in this trial.

How naive. Of course this is a trial of political consequence and of course there are bigger factors at stake. The potential jurors know it, and thats why during selection several of them expressed concern that their city or they personally might be the targets of rioting or harassment, regardless of the verdict the jury renders.

All of the potential jurors are kept anonymous until after the trial is over but heres a sample of what some of them said during selection:

One said that no matter the verdict, half the country will be up in arms about it.

Another said, Im more afraid of our community and the outsiders of our community that are coming in It just brings us back to August (2020). She also said she was potentially afraid of reliving riots depending on the verdict.

A third said it was scary to be on a case like this one, specifically citing riots and wondering aloud, Am I gonna get home safe?

Those are legitimate concerns. We saw what happened earlier this year in Minneapolis, when businesses and restaurants boarded up their storefronts in anticipation of a possible acquittal of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who ultimately was convicted of killing George Floyd.

If things dont go a certain way in politically charged trials like that, despite evidence leading a deliberate jury to the opposite conclusion, well, that might very well mean more rioting, looting, arson, and violence.

Potential jurors in the Rittenhouse trial received the message loud and clear that this isnt just a murder trial. This is about the broader question of whether some types of political violence are acceptable, even necessary.

Rittenhouse is charged with the murder of two men and the attempted murder of a third. All relevant parties are white (sadly robbing the media of a beloved racially charged narrative) and it isnt disputed that each of them had been chasing the teen and attempting to apprehend his weapon. All of it was in the context of several nights of destructive rioting in Kenosha, which resulted in a total of $50 million in damages to the city.

The mayhem was sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man who was wanted for violating a restraining order stemming from claims he had sexually assaulted a woman. Blake is on video resisting his arrest and defying police orders by moving to enter his vehicle as they tried to apprehend him.

The city went up in flames and the national media to this day characterize the chaos as a Black Lives Matter march because they, along with leaders in the Democratic Party, believe all of it was justified.

Rittenhouse may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but thats not a crime and its not what hes on trial for. Hes on trial for shooting men who pursued him and made moves to grave his gun, something that is seen on video, testified by at least one witness, and written out in the states own complaint against Rittenhouse.

A jury will inevitably render its verdict, but contrary to what the judge says, theres no way around it this is a political trial and that should scare the jurors.

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Jurors In Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Are Scared, And They Have Reason To Be - The Federalist

Updated Nov. 4, 2021.

At least 19 states have already begun to legally pursue action against the Biden administration for forcing medical coercion on federal contractors but following the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations new emergency temporary standard demanding employers with 100 or more workers mandate the jab, others are looking to sue too. OSHAs explicit threat that the rule could eventually extend to smaller businesses in the near future has also pushed politicians, attorneys, and business owners to take legal action.

Here are the conservatives who are suing Biden and his administration for forcing the COVID-19 jab on workers.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt was one of the first Republicans to initiate a lawsuit against the Biden administrations new COVID shot mandate and testing rules.

Ive been in discussions with businesses in Missouri, including a trailer manufacturing company in mid-Missouri, who say that this vaccine mandate will crush their business, Schmitt said in a statement. We will be on file first thing [Friday] morning to halt this illegal, unconstitutional attempt by the Biden administration and the federal government to impose their will on thousands of Missouri businesses and millions of Missourians.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took to Twitter on Thursday to declare his opposition to the newest illegal, unconditional regulation from the Biden administration and announce a lawsuit against the president and his team.

Biden just announced his plan to wield OSHA to mandate vaccines on private businesses. And Im announcing my plan to sue him once this illegal, unconstitutional regulation hits the Federal Register, the TXAG account announced. Here comes another winning #Texas v. Biden law suit!

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced on Thursday that he would sue the Biden administration over the new OSHA rule because Forcing these injections on Montanans at the threat of losing their jobs infringes on the rights of our state, individuals, and businesses.

If a president can unilaterally force people to submit to a medical procedure they dont want, then theres seemingly no limit to the federal governments control over our lives, the Republican said in a statement. President Bidens illegal mandate is an egregious overreach and sets the country down a dangerous path. Weve been preparing for this. Ill be filing a lawsuit tomorrow to stop this lawless order in its tracks.

Attorneys General in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee all banded together on Thursday to file a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky following OSHAs release of its new vaccine rule proposal.

The Constitution lays out critical rules by which the executive branch must operate. Congress and the states have their own powers, which the administration cant just take over because it wants to, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signaled his states intent to pursue the federal government for trying to force Floridians to get the jab.

The rule is going down, DeSantis said.

Noem took to Twitter on Thursday to announce today, we are joining a lawsuit against the Biden Administrations unconstitutional vaccine mandates.

@JoeBiden, see you in court, she added.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb directed his administration to pursue legal action against the Biden administration on Thursday to combat the governments overreach. Attorney General Todd Rokita has repeatedly pledged for months that he would sue the federal government as soon as the mandates manifested.

This gross example of federal bureaucratic overreach has nothing to do with whether its a good idea to get vaccinated, Rokita said in September. But it has everything to do with the Biden administrations total disrespect for individual liberties and the prerogative of states to govern their own affairs.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds promised immediate legal action against the new OSHA rule in a press release on Thursday.

President Biden is taking dangerous and unprecedented steps to insert the federal government even further into our lives while dismissing the ability of Iowans and Americans to make health care decisions for themselves, she said.Bidens plan pits Americans against Americans, while forcing them to choose between making a living or standing up for their personal beliefs. Bidens actions will only worsen the existing workforce shortages and supply chain issues that hinder our economic recovery.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Thursday announced plans to file a new lawsuit against the Biden administration on Friday morning, following up an initial lawsuit he filed when Biden first signaled the requirements in September.

When faceless government bureaucrats dictate what you must inject into your body, thats the furthest thing in the world from a safe workplace. The government doesnt get to be your nanny, and its certainly not your doctor, Brnovich said in a press release.

The Job Creators Network along with businesses such as the Lawrence Transportation Company, Guy Chemical Company, The Rabine Group, and the Independent Bakers Association filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Biden administration for its clearly illegal shot coercion.

The Biden Administrations vaccine mandate is clearly illegal and will have a devastating impact on our small business community and our entire economy. JCN is suing the Administration on the grounds that OSHA does not have the authority to impose such a mandate. Even if OSHA did have the power, there is neither the grave danger nor necessity to issue such a sweeping regulation, JCN President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz said in a statement.

The JCN first announced its plans to push back on the Biden administration after the president released a press release stating his desire for the new rule in September.

President Bidens vaccine mandate on small businesses is unconstitutional and a dramatic overreach of federal authority, Ortiz said at the time. To hold the Biden Administration accountable and stand up for small businesses, Job Creators Network plans to file a lawsuit to block the implementation of this order.

Conservative publication The Daily Wire, backed by the Dhillon Law Group, Inc. and Alliance Defending Freedom, alsoannouncedit would sue the federal government over the proposed rule.

The Daily Wire will not comply with President Bidens tyrannical vaccine mandate, and we are suing the Biden Administration to put a stop to their gross overreach, said Daily Wire Co-Founder and Co-CEO Jeremy Boreing. President Biden, the federal government, social media, and the establishment media have conspired to rob Americans of their freedoms in the name of public health. They have broken faith with the American people through conflicting messaging, false information, and by suppressing data and perspectives with which they disagree.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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The Conservatives Suing Biden Over His 'Unconstitutional' Vax Coercion - The Federalist

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Libby Emmons, editor-in-chief of The Post Millennial, joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss how the rampant wokeness promoted by unchecked leftism could be progressives downfall.

The progressive left has achieved their goal. They are in charge of the universities, they are in charge of the art museums and the art institutions, theyre in charge of the funding and granting organizations, theyre in charge of the federal government, theyre in charge of lots of state governments and city governments of our biggest and most influential cities, theyre in charge of the entertainment infrastructure and the social media infrastructure, they own all of this and they complain to us that we are oppressing them while we are being censored [and] we are being targeted, Emmons said.

Jashinsky agreed that leftists have taken over institutions and seem to hold lots of power but said their inclination to embrace anti-human ideas could contribute to their demise.

Maybe were racing against the clock to the point where, you know, they either destroy America or its taken back, but in the long term, unchecked leftism the logical conclusion of their ideas is anti-human, and humans are not just going to be acclimated to anti-human behavior, Jashinsky said.

Emmons later concluded that its important for people to recognize that there is no moral good in slander, defamation, and lies in order to silence people that you disagree with.

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Will Leftists' Rampant Wokeness Be Their Downfall? - The Federalist

The only way Democrats remain competitive is if Americans remain convinced that systemic racism is real and dangerous.

On Friday, five people disguised in baseball caps, tan pants, white shirts, and black shades stood with tiki torches in front of Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkins bus at a Charlottesville campaign stop as a claimed showing of white supremacist support.

Were all in for Glenn, the group reportedly chanted as they invoked memories of the 2017 Unite the Right rally where a clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters turned deadly.

Democrats were quick to exploit the demonstration as an illustration that their opponents political base was steeped in white supremacy.

The Unite the Right rally was one of the darkest days in the Commonwealths history, wrote Christina Freundlich, the spokeswoman for Democrat candidate and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, on Twitter. This is who Glenn Youngkins supporters are.

Except the demonstration was orchestrated by Democrats.

After Republicans and the entire internet immediately mocked the supposed expression of white supremacist excitement for Youngkin as a likely hoax, suspicions that it was fake were confirmed. Online sleuths called out several of the protesters as Democrat operatives, who quickly made their online profiles private.

The grifter-run operation at the Lincoln Project, built on seducing blue-dollar donors to cloak Democrat attacks as Republican, later claimed (without proof) that it was behind the spectacle.

Todays demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, [and] the Republican Partys embrace of those values, the group wrote in a statement, despite Democrats apparently having been the ones who had a black man dress up as a white supremacist.

The antics to prop up a candidate down nearly two points in the RealClear aggregate of polls in a state President Joe Biden carried by 10 points a year ago not only mark another exercise of false-flag racism (and in the process, reverse racism), but signal a desperate cling to the narrative of systemic racism to energize the leftist base and intimidate voters.

Never mind it was Virginias current Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam who dressed up either in blackface or as a Ku Klux Klansman. And never mind it was President Joe Biden who actual neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, who organized the 2017 Charlottesville rally, endorsed.

After more than a century as the party of slavery and segregation, Democrats have come to embrace a new form of systemic racism in their race-baiting politics and widespread adoption of critical race theory.

Since dismantling the current state of racism has become such a fundamental pillar to the Democrat Party, conceding to reality on the issue would forfeit a lucrative political tool. Thats led the party to aggressively assert that systemic racism against non-white people is endemic, even present within liberal enclaves where Democrat rule is purportedly synonymous with liberation. Thats because, when systemic racism ceases to exist, so does the central mission of the Democrat Party and its favorite attack against Republicans.

The nations obsessive focus on race is a product of Democrat engineering, a party advertising solutions such as reparations and affirmative action branded as social justice with consequences far more detrimental than color blindness. With a lens solely fixated on race, an entire generation is now primed to seek out episodes of racism even where there are none. In a world where cereal boxes, Santa Claus, and even Jesus Christ are racist, what isnt? When everything is racist, nothing will stop being racist. Under this ideology, the very denial of racism is also deemed racist.

Race relations, meanwhile, have rapidly deteriorated under this leftist narrative thats now gripped legacy institutions from Hollywood to Wall Street. According to Gallup, just 43 percent of white adults and 33 percent of black adults said relations were very or somewhat good, a new record low for each group since Gallup began polling on the question in 2001.

The fake incident apparently orchestrated by the Lincoln Project to indict Youngkin as the candidate of white supremacy reflects Democrats need for systemic racism to persist. Republicans success in making a blue state competitive on a platform that emphasized the absurdity of Democrats racist efforts in schools began to prove it doesnt.

Out of desperation, then, Democrats have started to fake abhorrent photo-ops to create the preferred narrative they claim to be warriors in dismantling.

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Democrats Need Systemic Racism To Exist So Much, They Fake It - The Federalist