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The ghost of political déjà vu revisited the Republican Party last week, with the GOP suffering humiliating defeats in virtually all of their political contests. The one bright spot was Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves holding onto his seat in a state so ruby red no one expected Democrats to win, anyway.

Ohio voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of guaranteeing women the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. Interestingly, in November 2022, access to abortion measures won in all six state ballot measures where it was up for a vote.

On the same day, candidates supported by Moms for Liberty lost in Bucks County, Pa., and Loudoun County, Va., bell-weather counties where suburban voting can occasionally indicate developing national trends. Candidates affiliated with the extremist organization also faired dismally in midwestern states like Iowa, where three school boards in suburban Des Moines flipped to Democratic control.

Right-wing organizations like Moms for Liberty have attempted to exploit parental resentment over COVID lockdowns to stoke anger and fear over other educational issues, such as how topics like race and sexuality are taught in public schools. Over the past few years, school board meetings from coast to coast emerged as lighting rods of controversy — catapulting school board elections into an issue that became a subject of national significance.

But it was the election results in Virginia that garnered considerable response from the mainstream media and revealed indicators of potential problems for Republicans. The legislative elections in Virginia were widely viewed as a test of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who neither fully embraced nor totally rejected Donald Trump. Like many of his fellow conservative cohorts, Youngkin decided to wade into abortion territory, seeking to prove that his call for a “limit” on abortion after 15 weeks, with some exceptions, was a position that could play well among suburban voters.

Youngkin anticipated his brand of conservative stances on issues would reward voters in providing him full control of the legislature by flipping control of the state Senate narrowly controlled by Democrats while simultaneously retaining a narrow Republican majority in the state House. Instead, Democrats held the Senate and also took control of the House. In several key districts, Democratic messaging was focused heavily on the issue of abortion.

Given the dramatic political shellacking Republicans suffered in Virginia in particular, most political experts are in unison the results have sullied Youngkin and will likely quell any serious discussion of him becoming a late entrant in the 2024 Republican presidential election.

The election results are not just about the resilience of abortion rights as a political winner for Democrats. It also demonstrates that right-wing culture warriors attacking education supposedly created around a “parents’ rights” agenda has resoundingly lost its political appeal.

In reality, most Americans detest extremism. People don’t want politicians to decide for them who they can or cannot marry or love. They don’t want politicians dictating what they can or cannot do with their own bodies. They don’t want politicians deciding what they or their children can read. They don’t want politicians attempting to impose their religious or moral values on them.

As a result, the majority of Americans have voted to reject the dystopian version of America that right-wing Republicans aspire to implement. For the sake of our democracy, let’s hope that ever increasingly more people do so before November 2024.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Debates over free speech have deeply immersed themselves into the fabric of our culture over the past few years. Wild and sharp finger-pointing has gone in both directions.

Last week, a Cornell University junior accused of posting violently threatening statements against Jewish people on campus was held without bail after his first appearance in federal court on Wednesday, as he should have been.

Patrick Dai, from Rochester, New York, has been charged with using interstate communications to post death threats. The graphic, anonymous messages posted this weekend on a Greek life forum rattled Jewish students on the Ivy League campus. “While we take some measure of relief in knowing that the alleged author of the vile anti-Semitic posts that threatened our Jewish community is in custody, it was disturbing to learn that he was a Cornell student,” Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said in a message to the university community.

There is no question the violence in Israel and Gaza has heightened tensions on college campuses across the U.S. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian student groups are weighing in online and in person, with many of their statements and protests provoking strong reactions from the other side.

The truth is Hamas’s actions on October 7 were nothing short of sadistic and abominable. We must start with this assertion, as everyone must accept this indisputable fact. There is no room for debate here. The consensus must be unanimous.

Now, college campuses are supposed to be forums for the rational examination and exchange of ideas among people with diverse, pluralistic views. In these important spaces, individuals can become intensely immersed in various forms of inquiry. This intellectual universe is deeply embedded in the American social and cultural imagination. However, the current Middle East conflict has resulted in numerous universities morphing into battlegrounds where ideas have been weaponized in a manner that has become more and more acrimonious, leading to an increasingly bellicose inquisition.

This drama is occurring at a time when the public opinion of higher education—always ambiguous at best, especially among conservatives —has reached new depths. The sector has come under increased scrutiny from many quarters: politicians, students, college graduates themselves, and the public at large.

According to a Gallup poll conducted earlier this year, just a third of the roughly 1,000 randomly selected people surveyed stated they had confidence in institutions of higher education, down from about half in 2018. Although this is hardly a scientific study, it is a barometer for the public mood on the issue, provided that a broad swath of Americans from various walks of life were interviewed.

There is no doubt that such a dramatic drop is the result of a constant barrage of criticism regarding the increasing cost of a college education as well as merciless attacks from right-wing pundits, politicians, neoliberals, and those without a degree. Needless to say, as a professor who has served as a member of academia for more than a quarter of a century, this erosion of public confidence is troubling and disturbing.

Dissension and criticism aside, higher education has (and continues to be) the pathway for upward mobility in American society. Yes, many important jobs do not require a college degree. For those who decide to pursue such careers, great! God bless them. Nonetheless, there are many other professions where a degree is a prerequisite.

It is essential that we cannot prevent any type of conflict – racial, religious, political, or otherwise – to diminish, erode, or nullify an institution as crucial as higher education.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected speaker of the House, is the most unabashedly Christian nationalist speaker in history.

That Matt Gaetz is so deliriously happy should tell you quite a bit about the latest speaker of the House. Turing an appearance Steve Bannon’s far-right “War Room” podcast last week, just hours before Johnson was sworn in as speaker, Gaetz was gleefully celebrating in anticipation of Johnson’s election.

“If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention,” Gaetz said.

I can’t argue with him about that.

Johnson is not a well-known political figure, but he’s an ideal individual to unite the fragmented Republican conference. As vice chair of the House Republican Conference, he was known for his even temperament, which makes him palatable to the mainstream of the party.

Despite that pleasant exterior, Johnson is largely identical to Gaetz and his brethren. Johnson has referred to his relationship with Rep. Jim Jordan, mentor to the far right, as “like Batman and Robin.” Two cartoon characters. Go figure.

Johnson’s politics are more embedded in conservative fundamentalism than he noted during his remarks when he accepted the position of Speaker. He spoke of how his spouse, who was not present at the ceremony, had spent the past few weeks fervently praying and was, in his words, “a little worn out.”

His views on cultural issues are very much in sync with those of the conservative far right. In an op-ed he wrote in 2005, Johnson called abortion “a holocaust” and likened the judicial philosophy that legalized the right to an abortion to the views of Hitler. In another editorial in the same publication, he described homosexuality as an “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyle,” calling it a threat to “the entire democratic system.” One can only imagine his true feelings about interracial marriage, immigration, and race-related issues, his adoption of a Black son notwithstanding.

It goes without saying Johnson is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump. Johnson aggressively defended Trump during the Democrat-led House impeachment hearings. Furthermore, he filed an amicus brief that was co-signed by 100 other House Republicans supporting Texas litigation that intended to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

No group has been more supportive of Donald Trump or more likely to believe the myth that the 2020 election was stolen than Christian nationalists. Although Trump is no longer president, they can take some degree of solace that Johnson is now second in line to the presidency.

A recent report conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that White evangelical Protestants continue to be some of Trump’s most ardent supporters and remain the only major religious group in which a majority (61%) rate him favorably. Though 60% still doubt the 2020 election’s outcome, white evangelicals are more determined than any other demographic to vote in 2024, with 78% telling PRRI that they are certain they will cast a ballot. This percentage is notably higher than the 61% for Black Protestants, 53% for non-Christian religious Americans, and 56% for religiously unaffiliated Americans who responded to the poll.

Many on the right are basking in what they see as a victory for their agenda. In Speaker Johnson they see a dedicated, committed conservative, a person who embodies values that are highly duplicative of their own. Unfortunately for much of the nation, they are correct, at least temporarily.

On the upside, Johnson will no doubt serve as a major motivation for Democrats and many moderates, who rightfully see the newly elected Speaker of the house who personifies the antithesis of their more open-minded value system. He may end up becoming one of the best things that has happened to the Democratic party, not to mention the preservation of democracy.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Well, well, well… look at what’s transpired in Trump World over the past few days.

Two of Donald Trump’s most ardent defenders have decided to switch teams and testify against the former president. Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro have agreed to take last-minute plea deals, turn state’s evidence, and testify against their former boss. Chesebro has agreed to testify in future cases if called to do so.

What a difference a few days before an upcoming trial can seem to make.

After an unsuccessful attempt to keep Trump in the White House in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, Powell has moved herself out from the Georgia case by pleading guilty to six misdemeanor offenses and agreeing to testify against her co-defendants.

Her testimony is crucially important, and her plea is a significant breakthrough for prosecutors. She is the first cooperating witness who is part of a group that met with Trump to engineer plans to overturn the election. Additionally, she attended an tense and volatile meeting at the White House on December 18, 2020, that degenerated into a screaming match.

Powell was one of Trump’s advisers who argued during subpoenaed testimony that plans to seize voting machines and other nefarious activities were legitimate. Her plea deal indicates her testimony at trial will be starkly different. Her plea could also possibly have a mahor impact in the federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

In contrast, Chesebro, one of former President Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election fraud case, didn’t truly believe that the 2020 election was stolen, according to his attorney. “First of all, Mr. Chesebro never believed in ‘The Big Lie,’” attorney Scott Grubman said on Saturday in an interview on MSNBC. “If you ask Mr. Chesebro today who won the 2020 presidential election, he would say: ‘Joe Biden.’”

Chesebro, following Powell, is the second of Trump’s former attorneys to accept a plea agreement in the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. He pleaded guilty on October 20 to a single felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents relating to his attempts to create a of swath of fake electoral college votes in Georgia. Chesebro will receive five years’ probation and a $5,000 fine in exchange for agreeing to testify and providing documents and evidence. His trial was also scheduled to start on Oct. 23.

Predictably, right-wing media outlets have only briefly mentioned the two plea deals. Many have failed to cover the story at all, while other figures have engaged in all sorts of twisted mental gymnastics to try and place a positive spin on the news. One conservative publication not worth mentioning offered the laughable assertion Powell’s guilty plea meant that Fani Willis’s case was weak. Their words continue to insult the intelligence of their readers.

These same two people, the “Kraken” Powell and the steadfast attorney Chesebro, who claimed to have indisputable evidence confirming election theft and foreign interference, have suddenly and abruptly done an about-face. In this screeching U-turn, they have admitted guilt and asserted they were lying the entire time.

Although Powell and Chesebro may be lowlife opportunists, the truth is that both are skilled attorneys. Both know what prisons look like and what prison life entails, especially for high-profile defendants such as themselves. They are astute to the fact that life behind bars would not be a bed of roses. Club Fed — a country club prison — was never an option for these two.

As a result, both defendants have caught the religion of truth and reality, decided to adopt an “on the road to Damascus” strategy, cut tail, and run away from Donald Trump, a person for whom loyalty is a one-way street. Don’t be surprised if we see more rats jumping off the sinking ship.

This is devastating news for Trump, his attorneys, and the entire defense team. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

The nation and much of the world is reeling from the horrific and unsettling events that have occurred between Israel and Hamas. There’s also a war still going on in Ukraine, and looming overhead is the possibility the federal government may shut down in about a month.

Amid it all, the House Republican majority is making a mockery of effective governance.

As I’m writing this column, two weeks out from the removal of Kevin McCarthy, Republicans have yet to elect Speaker to succeed him. Clown show doesn’t even seem the perfect term to describe such an inept debacle. It’s true the GOP House caucus has engaged in some admittedly clownish behavior, but even clowns are trained and skilled performers who perform such antics as part of their stock and trade.

This sordid saga initially began in January when it took the Republican majority 15 rounds of voting to finally elect McCarthy as Speaker, long a goal of his political career. But his victory was a pyrrhic one. His nine-month tenure was the briefest for any speaker since Michael Kerr, who died in office in 1876. His ousting was engineered by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and seven other far-right Republicans, motivated by a confluence of factors but most notably to curry favor with their right-wing constituents.

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the “gang of eight” who were instrumental in removing McCarthy, claimed she was being targeted and castigated for her vote. Determined not to be ignored, Mace strolled into the caucus meeting with a big red “A” decal on her T-shirt reminiscent of 17th century adulteress Hester Prynne. But Prynne never gave out any of the salacious details of the man who had impregnated her. So Mace either decided to provide a revisionist version of “The Scarlet Letter,” or she has never read or properly comprehended Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel.

North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy was so put off by his fellow colleague that he wrote on social media: “#GetADamnLife.”

As if this level of chaos wasn’t already surreal enough, New York Rep. George Santos made a frantic effort to leverage his vote in return for a promise he would not be expelled, despite his 23 felony indictments for various kinds of fraud. That being said, it appears his fellow New York GOP colleagues have reached the breaking point with him and want to see him ousted sooner rather than later. As the old saying goes, real life politics is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Initially, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise was reassured he would likely garner strong support and be able to secure the crucial endorsements needed to be elected as the next House Speaker. Later in the week, he withdrew from consideration once it looked as if he would be unable to secure the necessary votes from his colleagues. Opposition against Scalise ranged from his ties to right-wing groups and most notably his comment “I am David Duke without the baggage.” Others cited his recent and current health issues. In reality, it was likely a combination of both factors that eventually sank his candidacy.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Donald Trump’s buddy and confidante, is being touted as the next possibility. This closeness with the former president gave his supporters assurance he could prevail in amassing enough votes to be elevated to the speakership. Nonetheless, like Scalise, he has his share of detractors within the fragmented caucus and has so far fallen short of the backing needed to be elected to the position.

No astute political observer is likely under the misguided impression there is a considerable level of ideological balkanization among the current caucus. With few exceptions aside, the majority of the bickering House members agree, virtually without exception, that the overwhelming majority of members in the Republican caucus are solid right, with a few centrists mixed in. Most members share a commonality of right-wing, authoritarian governance. Whatever divisions are currently on display and being hashed out in the open, they pale in regard to the right-wing value system they support and embrace. They are the 21st century version of the White Citizens’ Councils of the 1950s and 1960s.

There are certainly some conservatives who have denounced the tactics of their more extreme brethren, but these individuals seem to be voices in the wilderness rather than being taken seriously as rational voices of reason. When this current madness will end is anyone’s guess. Nonetheless, Republicans and other conservatives may want to do some real soul-searching about what is happening in their party.

Currently, the right-wing lunatics are running the political asylum.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

More than a century ago in 1900, Black intellectual extraordinaire W.E.B. Du Bois stated the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the color line. He was right on target.

This prophetic message remains relevant today in the 21st century. If the past several years have taught us anything, it is as a country we’re in a perpetual state of crisis when it comes to the racial situation plaguing our nation.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted in August this year asked more than 5,000 adults their views on the state of race relations in America. White adults were the most likely to say the country has made a great deal or a fair amount of progress in ensuring racial equality (58%). In turn, Black adults were the least likely to say there’s been a lot of progress (30%).

About a third of Black Americans (32%) say the country hasn’t made much progress or any progress at all on racial equality in the last 60 years. This is larger than the shares of Hispanic (19%), white (11%), and Asian (11%) Americans who say the same.

The recently conducted poll provides specific details on the vast divide of opinion between different races on topics including politics, economics, and law enforcement. Such findings demonstrate that more than a decade after the election of the nation’s first Black president, race is still the unruly, rambunctious elephant running wildly through the room.

As a Black college professor, when communicating with other educated Black professionals (and some non-Black), friends, and acquaintances, I can detect the unmistakable level of anger, stress, fear, and resentment in regard to the current volatile racial situation. Such emotions are indeed well founded. The temperature is hot, and the climate has become unpredictable.

For many of us, our viewpoints on race have largely been formed by our personal experiences. In a nation that has been less than equitable to people of color, especially Black Americans, it is justifiable that many Black Americans are more inclined to believe race is an intractable factor in our society and has an unshakeable grip on all people.

Many of us have stories of family members or friends who have been the recipients of its often-poisonous venom. On the other hand, many whites, particularly affluent white men, are in positions where the specter of racial prejudice has little, if any, effect on their lives. Indeed, many of them are largely immune to the disease that is institutional and structural racism.

A number of whites are in denial about racism. A greater percentage are even more dismissive about the potential negative economic, psychological, and emotional impact that it can have. Over the past few years, several conservative media outlets, Fox News and Newsmax in particular, have shamefully and purposely misrepresented and manipulated racial incidents in an effort to appease their viewers.

Race relations have gotten worse than they were a decade ago. This is particularly the case since the Trump years. However, as a historian, I can vouch for the fact that they are somewhat better than they were in the mid to late 1960’s.

Throughout history, Americans have frequently reacted brashly to dramatic changes, such as reconstruction, suffrage, the modern civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and so on. The reality is as the great 19th century author and orator Frederick Douglass stated, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.”

It is imperative those of us who are of good will remain steadfast in our determination to do all in our power to prevent the rights that our forebears of yesteryear fought so valiantly for from being dismantled and extinguished by those who desire a return to a more, dark, oppressive, dystopian era.

We must get busy quickly. Time is running out, and too much is at stake.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

October 3, 2023 will go down in American history as the first time a Speaker of the House was expelled from Congress by his own peers. Kevin McCarthy, a man consumed of blind personal ambition and self-interest, was shown the exit door by his congressional colleagues.

Eight Republicans – Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace and Matt Rosendale – joined all Democrats (who were unanimous) in voting out McCarthy. The American public witnessed Republican members of the House of Representatives engage in a intraparty, public meltdown.

McCarthy’s term inaugurated with rabble rousing and unsettling chaos, taking 15 rounds of balloting in order for his ratification as speaker to take effect. From that theatrical moment onward, his rocky tenure progressed from one conjured up crisis to another – an unnecessary debt ceiling showdown, failed votes and pulled bills on the floor, name-calling in Republican caucus meetings.

On the other side of the aisle, McCarthy reassured Democrats fair and equitable treatment and a stake in governing while championing deeply partisan legislation they found unfathomable. He forgave former President Trump after previously denouncing him for the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He condescendingly spearheaded an impeachment inquiry into President Biden when he was being verbally attacked and threatened by far-right wing members of his caucus. He ratified a spending deal with the White House before backing out.

More incredulously, he recently made the rounds on the Sunday talk show blaming Democrats as the reason the government almost shut down. Yes, the same Democrats whose votes helped McCarthy avert a shutdown.

Bullied by far-right wingers in his own party, distrusted by Democrats, McCarthy found himself in a political no man’s land, and thus pretty much talked himself out of his job. Virtually no one trusted him, and for good reason.

Democrats were in unison toward their opposition to McCarthy. Their refusal to become his defense culminated in a consistent pattern of what they viewed as untrustworthy behavior. Hitching his political wagon to the Trump train. Secretly sending a tape of the Capitol riots to right-wing media outlets to garner favor. Removing Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney from leadership over her principled opposition to the Freedom Caucus. Willingly ushering in, granting favor and unchecked power to extreme right-wing politicians such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and others. Minimizing the January 6th attack and reportedly undermining the congressional investigation into the insurrection.

In reality, McCarthy’s fall was of his own making. He granted the Freedom Caucus a (still undisclosed) set of concessions during his effort to become speaker back in January, and one of those concessions was to lower the threshold for a motion to vacate to just one member. Talk about desperate and spineless.

McCarthy knew that he would need some Democratic votes to keep the speakership. But he did not provide Democrats anything in return for such votes. This fact in particular, coupled with a host of other issues, sealed McCarthy’s futile destiny. Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, made it official by saying it was up to Republicans alone “to end the House Republican Civil War.”

Republican dysfunction and chaos aside, there are many pundits who argue that Democrats face their own potential dilemma. Was the feckless devil they knew a more secure bet than a future replacement they did not?

Regardless, whomever succeeds McCarthy will likely be at political mercy and will of the far-right faction that expelled him — perhaps even more so. Yet it was Democrats that ultimately decided McCarthy was not worth rescuing, with all 208 voting on Tuesday to remove him.

Truth is, they probably made a very smart decision.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Taylor Swift has been making massive headlines lately (to be honest when has she not?) for her efforts in getting 35,000 new voters to register in one single day. There’s also her all-but-confirmed relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Although her legion of fans (better known as Swifties) have taken an intense interest in the singer’s newfound romantic interest, many on the right have been severely triggered by the recent machinations of the pop megastar, who has issued blistering criticisms of conservative politicians including Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and former President Donald Trump.

Mark Hemingway, columnist for the right-wing website The Federalist, wrote an article claiming the singer’s popularity was “a sign of national decline” and that her music was “utterly defined by self-obsession rather than introspection.” Far right-wing writer Roger Kimball, a columnist for the passionately Trump-supporting blog American Greatness and magazine the American Spectator, echoed similar sentiments and further commented: “She is homely.”

Right-wing speaker Juanita Broaddrick, a diehard Trump supporter who once accused former President Bill Clinton of rape, responded to an earlier video of Swift criticizing Trump, stating: “Who gives a F what Taylor Swift thinks?” Well, it turns out that in addition to millions of devoted fans and followers, many on the right care what Swift things, given their pathological obsession with her. The truth is she’s living rent free on the sharpest tips of their lounges and residing in the darkest corners of their minds.

Criticism of pop culture celebrities is hardly a new tactic among conservatives, from as far back as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1950s and onward. Athletes and celebrities have always found themselves in the crosshairs of the cultural right, a social segment that has often viewed such entities with a jaundiced eye over political, social, and religious differences.

Hostilities aside, declaring war against Taylor Swift is an ill-advised tactic that could likely only further augment her already fiercely powerful brand. She has demonstrated over and over, time after time, that the degree of her cultural influence is formidable and an undeniable reality. Her mere presence at last Sunday’s Chiefs game supporting Kelce in her private sports box with Kelce’s mother and other assorted guests resulted in a 400 percent spike in sales of his jersey. His social media followership increased exponentially in a matter of days. She is a force to be reckoned with.

The NFL has been a historically conservative organization with a right-leaning fan base. Taylor Swift represents assertive, powerful, independent womanhood. She is pro-choice and a staunch advocate of LGBTQIA rights, and she openly espouses and supports progressive positions on race, gender, class, and economics. Hence, she epitomizes most of the things that many conservatives despise.

Nonetheless, it still seems like a foolish agenda to target someone with the profile of Swift. With her legion of diehard fans, more than a billion dollars in personal wealth, and an impeccably strategic business acumen, the right is facing an uphill effort and is alienating sizable segments of Americans.

Don’t take my word for it. Check in with her former manager Scooter Braun and Kanye West, and ask them whether they suggest taking on Taylor Swift.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Those of us who work in academia understand that academic freedom represents the cornerstone of successful colleges and universities. It epitomizes the right of freedom to teach, discuss, engage in research and freely publish your findings. It also means the ability to dictate one’s own teaching and scholarship agenda, the security of academic positions and shared governance to ensure independence.

Despite such facts, the mission of academic freedom is under severe attack from varied quarters, resulting in ominous and potentially dangerous threats for both students and professors.

The last few years have witnessed a number of disturbing and blunt challenges to academic freedom. Right-wing state legislators began sponsoring legislation to ban what they deemed “divisive concepts” in education curriculum and abolished administrative offices and practices dedicated to racial-pluralism and other forms of diversity. For a sizable segment of the Republican party, so-called “divisive concepts” represent the belief by historians that the institutions of the United States were established to maintain racial and gender hierarchies in addition to maintaining the supremacy of White Americans. Regardless of their beliefs, it’s the indisputable true.

Academic freedom was established by the founders of the American Association of University Professors following the firing of Darwinists by autocratic college presidents in the 1880s and 1890s, coupled with the dismissal of social reformers and activists by conservative boards disproportionately dominated by businessmen in the early 1900s. Flash forward more than a century later, and the fiery pace of legislation introduced over the past few years is broader and potentially more consequential than the few initial incidents that spawned the principle of academic freedom as it was articulated in 1915.

While it has not rivaled the damage to academic freedom that occurred during the McCarthy/Red Scare era of the mid-20th century, when approximately 100 professors were fired and hundreds more were harassed and silenced, it is certainly moving in such a direction. The horrific events of September 11, 2001, provided proponents of such censorship the opportunity to flex their regressive, reactionary muscles to attack academic institutions.

To be sure, there are cases where left-wing activists have aggressively imposed their ideologically imposed beliefs in ways that have intruded upon academic freedom. But the reality is the overwhelming amount of hostility toward academic freedom is flourishing from the right. Republican lawmakers around the country are moving quickly to remake higher education in their conservative vision. Passage of bills in states including Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Ohio have alarmed proponents of academic freedom, who say that the efforts to limit or mandate certain courses or the teaching of certain topics, restrict or end faculty tenure, and defund and ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs will damage higher education.

Academic freedom has been a vital ingredient and component of higher education in this nation for most of its history. It resulted from the notion that colleges and universities were autonomous institutions with the freedom to teach without interference from external forces and their political or ideological agendas.

It’s vital that faculty and students in higher education are afforded the liberty to teach, research and discuss gender, race, racism, science, legal theory and other topics of larger public interest. These are stories and discussions that acknowledge and respect the diversity and pluralism of all of our students and the nation at large.

Academic freedom and free speech in general are crucial to our democracy. Either you have it, or you don’t. It is important to remember that when you attempt to curtail the civil rights of others, it may very well only be a matter of time before your own beliefs are stifled, if not outright canceled. Denying others the right to voice their opinions is a misguided and dangerous activity that can result in dramatic and disastrous consequences for us all.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Get your popcorn ready, because a gut-wrenching level of drama has gripped the House of Representatives! To quote Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, “The Republican party is currently in a civil war.”

Last week, Speaker Kevin McCarthy slid over to a lectern and called for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. After rabidly weaponizing the term “corruption,” he turned around and walked away, assuming he had performed another crucial task required of him, regardless of how absurd this effort was in his attempt to retain his tenuous position.

He is on the same ignoble level as Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Lindsey Graham, and many others who have sullied themselves in mounds of filth in an effort to support and appease Donald Trump. It also revealed how craven and obsessed they all are with residing within the periphery of power, regardless of how corrupt or unethical it is to engage in such derelict antics. It appears that little, if anything, is off limits for these morally broken and ethically empty individuals. McCarthy has permanently etched his name and legacy alongside this long and morally-degenerate group.

Before securing the speakership, McCarthy had to deny that Trump was lying about the 2020 election after previously denouncing Trump’s scurrilous behavior on January 6, 2021. He had to twist himself back and forth like a weather vane while asking the former president for his forgiveness.

As many of us remember, McCarthy needed 15 rounds of voting to land the House speakership. He finally succeeded only by offering political concessions and compromising himself by giving every member of his caucus the power to call to remove him at any given moment. Thus, as a result of such shameless concessions, he is constantly at the beck and call of the loud, unhinged, and deliriously reactionary Republican far-right wing House Freedom Caucus.

This motley crew of rapacious Republicans are just the latest in a historically long line of American right-wing activists, from the conservative John Birch Society to the White Citizens Council of mid-20th century America. These were organizations committed to fighting influences such as racial integration and communism.

Other right-wing organizations of the late 20th century, such as the Moral Majority and American Enterprise Institute, saw it as their mission to turn back the tide of supposed liberal radicalism they claim had poisoned and morally debased American society. Recent outfits (and there are many), such as The Eagle Forum, America First and Judicial Watch, have focused on multiple issues in an effort to advance their right-wing agenda.

The Freedom Caucus, drunk on their own power, have made it clear to McCarthy they are coming after him. As a result, he has conjured up a ludicrous impeachment inquiry against President Biden to serve as a decoy, a diversionary tactic for the time being. This is without having the votes needed to do so.

McCarthy’s latest cave-in to his far-right flank has revealed a few things. His speakership is in far more jeopardy than many Americans may realize. A small, yet vocal and influential segment of his caucus continues to dictate his decisions. A contentious spending standoff is now very likely to result in a shutdown that could disrupt the economy in a dramatic fashion.

The truth is that the Speaker is caught politically between a rock and a hard place. But what else can you expect when you lack any moral principles, and you sell your soul to right-wing political demons, as McCarthy has done.

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Copyright 2023 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.