There actually is a “Deep State” that nefariously plots the demise of America.
It’s made up of:
- Foreign dictators/autocrats
- Billionaire libertarians
- Predatory capitalists (NRA/gun lobby)
- And American anarchists/authoritarians (Bannon, Carlson, etc)
Remember the connections between the NRA and Russia? Who benefits from a more divided, less democratic, more authoritarian-leaning United States? Russia.
Who benefits from a more heavily armed, militarized United States? The NRA and the gun lobby.
Let’s unpack.
Since at least 2016, Russia used social media, with the help of Trump/Manafort-supplied GOP polling data, to drive a wedge into pre-existing cultural divides to fuel a cultural civil war … in hopes of creating an actual civil war.
… because a weaker, more divided, less democratic, more authoritarian America was less likely to contain Russia on the world stage. This undoubtedly factored into Putin’s (mis)calculations to invade Ukraine.
Of course, the authoritarian-aspiring Republican Party is a more than willing participant, even holding CPAC in Hungary, where Orban stated that the path to power is paved with shows like “Tucker Carlson Tonight” … because “America First.”
For context, here is analysis of Hungary’s democratic decline by Freedom House, an independent/nonpartisan watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world.
Circling back to Tucker Carlson, we already know where authoritarian leaders stand on him, but take a guess where Carlson stands on Hungary.
Take a guess where Tucker Carlson stands on Russia/Ukraine.
Take a guess where Tucker Carlson stands on the gun issue.
Unsurprisingly, Carlson is demagoguing the gun safety issue with the “deliberate removal of nuance.”
Carlson and others incite fear of global, elite-orchestrated, government police state:
This constant exposure to weaponized stress/fear literally rewires the human brain …
… and creates paranoia that reasonable attempts to prevent future massacres of children are actually attempts to disarm citizens … in order to usher in a resistance-free government police state. The irony: It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy (video):
I’ve previously described this as a perceived “authoritarian arms race.”
Again.
Who benefits from this all of this insanity and the fractious demise of the United States? Russia (and other foreign enemies who weaponize social media against Americans).
And who profits from all of this? The NRA.
And who does the NRA/gun lobby pay to maintain, or even exacerbate, the status quo? “America First” Republicans.
This article originally appeared on Nick Carmody’s Patreon account here.
