- Caleb Kieffer, Hannah Gais, and Rachel Janik @ Hatewatch: Hate Groups Rejoice Over Newly Elected Speaker Mike Johnson.
- Jake Lahut @ The Daily Beast: Nancy Mace’s Staff Guide Shows Her True Priority: Nancy Mace.
- Jo Yurcaba @ NBC News: PragerU buys 'takeover' ad on X as part of $1M campaign to promote polarizing 'Detrans' film.
- Nathalie Baptiste @ HuffPost: This Extremist Group Calls Itself A 'Parental Rights' Org. Now It's Targeting School Boards In 1 Key State.
- Charles McCrary @ The Soapbox: The Making of a Crass Religious Freedom Celebrity.
Johnson now serves in one of the most powerful positions in the federal government and is second in the line of presidential succession. Given his fringe public statements and positions, it is not surprising that hate groups and extremists have rushed to praise the new speaker.
In a strategy memo she wrote in 2021, Mace described herself as “THE freshman thought leader on federal issues,” according to a copy obtained by The Daily Beast. She even gave herself a brand name: “NATIONAL NANCY.”
The Prager University Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, purchased a “takeover” ad on X on Thursday as part of a larger $1 million marketing campaign to promote its polarizing film “Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care.”
Moms for Liberty has, in recent years, been a major player in America’s culture wars. The group has been behind the drastic increase in book ban attempts across the country, influenced local leaders to implement anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and railed against educators and others in communities, smearing them as child abusers. In 2023, Moms for Liberty held its annual convention in Pennsylvania, sparking widespread protests. Now it has set its sights on the state’s many school boards.
In his memoir, Kennedy presents himself as combative, violent, crass, and uninterested in thinking carefully about law or religion. In this way, he is truly a religious freedom celebrity for our times.
