Thread by @C_Stroop

1. From the 1990s this same affinity for Russia that @HeerJeet tracks among overt racists ramped up among the Christian Right in conjunction with a shared “traditional values” agenda. That strain of Christian admiration for Russian conservatives can also be traced back further.

https://twitter.com/heerjeet/status/1019003528566616064

2. Pat Buchanan is aware of this and, as a traditionalist Catholic, in fact straddles that overt white supremacist/Christian traditional values line when it comes to reasons espoused for admiring Putin. For more on this, see my essay “Bad Ecumenism”:

academia.edu/27600336/Bad_E…

3. For more on the history and current realities of European and US right-wing Christians’ admiration for and collaboration with Russia, see the policy research I’ve published with @PRAEyesRight.

politicalresearch.org/author/c-stroo…

4. @HeerJeet is right that we need to understand #TrumpRussia and the #TreasonSummit in the context of this broader pattern.

Others whose work elucidates aspects of this include @cjcmichel, @sarahkendzior, @brucewilson, @melhoop10, @coleparke, @CodaStory.

5. Also everyone should read @MarcelHVanHerpe’s book Putin’s Propaganda Machine, and, in connection with this thread, particularly the sections on the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in international networks.

amazon.com/Putins-Propaga…

6. When it comes to Russian influence on the American and European Right, you have to understand that the affinities for Russia are real and powerful and prior, giving the Kremlin something to exploit to further divisions and undermine democracy and the post-war order.

7. This is also why simply impeaching Trump will not solve our problems. Large swaths of the white American population are genuinely anti-democratic. Some focus on “family values,” others on race, but all uphold white supremacist patriarchy. And they own the radicalized @GOP.

8. So understanding their overtures to Russia as a two-way street in the global culture wars, with democracy itself at stake, is critical. #TheResistance should seek to counter Russian influence, but not in isolation from opposing homegrown anti-democratic forces. #Resist

9. The big picture problems: 1) globally, how do we shore up democratic norms and institutions and the rule of law against the rise of Putin-style populism? and 2) in America, how do we work toward functional democracy with one party in our two-party system completely broken?

10. No easy answers. We are working to expose #TrumpRussia, Republican corruption, and Christofascism, and we have to hope this, and the #MuellerInvestigation, will help Democrats in the midterms. The @GOP won’t correct itself unless it is utterly defeated for a good while.

11. So keep winning local victories, protecting the vulnerable, getting out the vote, calling things by their names (e.g. the fascist, theocratic, white supremacist Trump regime). Be loud, be visible, donate to Democratic candidates who have a chance of flipping seats if you can.

12. March. Engage in civil disobedience. Do not give undue civility to people who are happily dismantling our democracy. We’re in the situation we are because the Right pushed and pushed, shifting the Overton window, normalizing the extreme. It’s past time to push back. #Resist

Addendum: See also this very relevant thread by @JeffSharlet about Maria Butina, the National Prayer Breakfast, and what I would call the global culture wars, in which Americans and Russians play key roles:

https://twitter.com/jeffsharlet/status/1019066278865178624?s=21

#TheocracyAlert #EmptyThePews #Resist