Cagle World

The drama surrounding Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid remains nothing short of surreal.

It took 15 bids to secure the votes required to become speaker of the House. In his fatalistic desire to become speaker, McCarthy made numerous concessions to his opponents that have all but promised to nullify any real power or influence he will likely have.

An interesting side story stemming from the drama was the effort by far-right House members to support Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, one of the few Black Republicans in the chamber.

Following McCarthy’s failure to earn a majority of votes for a third time, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas nominated Donalds for speaker. Fellow far right-wing extremist Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado eventually threw her support behind Donald before eventually voting “present” on Friday evening, allowing McCarthy to finally win the speakership.

Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who chairs the far-right Freedom Caucus, provided the most condescending and shameful nomination speech for Donalds, who was recently elected to a second term in Congress this past November.

Overcome with a misguided degree of giddiness, Perry informed his house colleagues that Donalds, a fervent Donald Trump and MAGA supporter, would be the first Black speaker, and laughably tried to paint Republicans as the party of diversity.

“Now, as my colleagues probably know, the first Black members of Congress to serve in this body were Republicans,” he said before noting that abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a Republican.

Republicans love stating that many Black people were Republicans through much of the 19th century, and for a sizable portion of the 20th. This largely resulted from the party’s alignment with the Union during the Civil War. Throughout much of the 20th century, Republicans were seen as the more progressive of the two major political parties. It remains quite a spectacle to witness conservative commentators like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and others note Republicans supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

While true, what they fail to mention is it was the same year far-right activists took over the party from their more moderate colleagues. Many Dixiecrat segregationists, such as Sen. Storm Thurmond of South Carolina,  became so enraged at the passage of this monumental piece of legislation they switched from Democrats to Republicans, joining forces with the Birchers and other right-wing political groups. Later years would see the party engage in Southern strategy tactics, racially coded rhetoric and similar sinister shenanigans.

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri made it clear she didn’t agree that Donalds was a historic candidate for speaker.

“He is a prop,” Bush wrote on Twitter. “Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy. His name being in the mix is not progress—it’s pathetic.”

For a party that claims discussions about racism are anti-American, Republicans love to promote Black politicians when it is beneficial to their agenda. Thankfully, those of us who have studied history know the truth all too well.

Watching and observing House members during those dramatic proceedings, one could definitely notice the racial and gender diversity that personified the Democratic members of the house. Meanwhile, the Republican side of the House represented the racial demographics of your typical Alabama country club.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem many people have been falsely persuaded by devious, bigoted, opportunistic  Republicans who have the unmitigated gall to discuss Black history from a disingenuous and distorted perspective. We know the reality, past as well as present.

In the words of the classic civil rights anthem “we shall not be moved.”

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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.

Earlier this month, Grace Stanke, a 23-year-old nuclear engineering student from Wausau, Wisc., was crowned Miss America 2023.

Stanke is a beautiful, blond-haired woman who is obviously gifted in math and science. She was crowned by her predecessor, Emma Broyles, Miss Alaska, who became the first woman from her state to win the title. But don’t be surprised if you missed it – for the second straight year, the pageant was streamed online and didn’t air on television.

A scandal in 2017 involving leaked emails in which top members of the Miss America Organization traded misogynistic barbs about contestants. Miss America 2018, Cara Mund decrying the treatment she allegedly received from pageant organizers, most notably, then CEO and Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson.

The scandals certainly didn’t endear a pleasant perception of the pageant to those who may have been on the fence, and the majority of former major sponsors have withdrawn their financial support.

Criticism has come from all sides. Left-leaning critics see the pageant as too resistant to change, while those on the right accuse organizers of attempting to abandon its traditionally conservative principles and rituals in an effort to appease liberals and progressives. The contest is caught in the middle of an ideological tug of war.

The fact that Stanke is blond haired is not a significant factor in the pageant world of the early 21st century. However, decades ago, it would have been seen as par for the course. Since its inception in 1921, race has been a mainstay of the Miss America Pageant.

In September 1945, a few months after the end of World War II, Bess Myerson, Miss New York, became the first — and is still currently — the only Jewish woman to wear the Miss America crown. Not surprisingly, there were some critics of Meyerson’s victory who claimed that postwar sympathies were a major factor in her winning the title.

Unlike her predecessors and successors, who were heavily booked and financially well compensated as they traveled across the nation, none of the pageant’s sponsors were willing to have their products associated with or advertised by a Jewish woman. Thus, Meyerson was absent from any pageant duties. She later stated:

“I couldn’t even stay in certain hotels… There would be signs that read, ‘No coloreds, no Jews, no dogs.’ I felt so rejected. Here I was chosen to represent American womanhood and then America treated me like this.”

Instead, Meyerson worked with the Anti-Defamation League, who convinced her to go on a national speaking tour addressing high school students about the dangers of hatred. As time progressed and such hatred slowly dwindled, she began to be offered entertainment and business opportunities that had previously been denied to her because of her heritage.

Antisemitism is hardly the only issue that has plagued the pageant. It took until 1970 for a Black contestant, Cheryl Browne, Miss Iowa, to compete in the national pageant. More than a decade later, when Vanessa Williams was selected as Miss America 1984, she was subjected to virulent levels of hostility, including death threats. Williams even had to travel in certain parts of the nation with armed guards.

The specter of nativism reared it’s sinister head when Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014, became the first Indian American woman to capture the crown. Almost immediately, Davuluri faced an onslaught of xenophobia and racism from bigoted detractors on social media. The horrific responses directed at each Miss America who deviated from the white, Christian “mainstream” highlight the conundrum the pageant has found itself facing in recent years.

To it’s credit, the Miss America pageant has made significant strides in overcoming its anti-WASP image, with a number of non-White winners over the years. In 2016, Erin O’Flaherty Miss Missouri, became the first openly-gay contestant.

Only time will tell whether the Miss America pageant will manage to survive amid today’s culture wars. Many have counted it’s demise over the years, only to see it rise and rebound. In that way it’s like a Timex watch, taking one hell of a licking, but manages to keep on ticking.

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Copyright 2022 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.

It sure didn’t take long for right-wing media figures to criticize the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Griner was released on Dec. 8 by the Russian government as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed “the merchant of death.” Since the deal was made by the Biden administration, the Right predictably launched a perverse and sinister attack, politically weaponizing her release by employing racist and homophobic language.

Bout had been serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. for more than a decade. Griner, who landed on U.S. soil at the end of last week, had been detained in Russia for several months – where she’d gone for a professional basketball job during the U.S. offseason – for accusations of possessing hashish oil. She was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. She was transferred to a Russian penal colony in early November after her appeal against the conviction was rejected.

Right-wing conservatives have brutally attacked Griner throughout her time in Russian custody, focusing on her identity as a Black, queer woman and targeting her previous protests against racial injustice as unpatriotic. Statements such as “America-hating lesbian pothead” and “Black lesbian millionaire athlete who broke the law in a foreign country” have been levied toward Griner.

Large segments of the Right have continued to attack her, as well as denounce President Biden (without evidence) for supposedly prioritizing her release over Paul Whelan – an ex-Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 because of spying allegations.

Newsmax host Benny Johnson attacked Griner as a “Black woman, lesbian woman, drug addict, America-hating – woke.”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson baselessly suggested the Biden administration didn’t secure Whelan’s release because he “is a Trump voter and he made the mistake of saying so on social media.” He went on to say Griner “hates the country so much she doesn’t want to hear its anthem. That’s the kind of position that gets you rewarded by Joe Biden.”

Pro-Trump talk radio host Michael Savage purported the same ideas, tweeting, “The choice of Griner over Whelan may reflect the preferences of Biden’s political base. The WNBA star and celebrity is also a black lesbian, who protested the U.S. national anthem. Whelan is a middle-aged white man and a U.S. Marine.”

Right-wing nonsense notwithstanding, the family of Paul Whalen issued a most professionally honest statement to the media and the larger public:

“There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home. The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”

David Whelan expressed his happiness for Griner, but also acknowledged he has major concerns about his brother.

“I can’t imagine he retains any hope that a government will negotiate his freedom at this point,” Whelan said in a statement. “It’s clear that the US government has no concessions that the Russian government will take for Paul Whelan. And so, Paul will remain a prisoner until that changes.”

The fact is Griner has been unapologetic in promoting her platform to speak on issues that impact people of color. In 2020, she was staunchly critical of about the initial lack of investigation being conducted in the death of Breonna Taylor and was very vocal about the murder of George Floyd.

“We should not play the national anthem during our season,” she told the Arizona Republic at the time. “I think we should take that much of a stand. I don’t mean that in any disrespect to our country.”

Griner explained that her father had fought in Vietnam and served as a law-enforcement officer for 30 years. “I wanted to be a cop before basketball,” she said. “I do have pride for my country.”

Her comments dripped with pride, candor, patriotism, and honesty. It is evident she is a person who loves her nation, but like many others who criticize it, she wants it to live up to the values of fairness and equality that it supposedly professes for all of its citizens

Sad to say, the same cannot be said of her racist and homophobic right-wing critics.

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Copyright 2022 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.

You’ve got to hand it to Donald Trump. The guy certainly has a knack for making a fool of himself.

From dining with rabid anti-Semites to urging on Truth Social we should consider terminating the Constitution so he could be reinstated as president. You lost, Donald. Get over it and move on.

As you can imagine, reaction was swift, forceful, and fierce from many Democrats.

“You cannot only love America when you win,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “The American Constitution is a sacrosanct document that for over 200 years has guaranteed that freedom and the rule of law prevail in our great country.”

“Every congressional reporter should demand responses from Congressional Republicans about Donald Trump’s call for the Constitution to be terminated … how many of them called themselves ‘Constitutional conservatives’ during the Obama years???” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) tweeted Saturday evening.

“Donald Trump wants to suspend the Constitution in the name of protecting the Constitution, just like he perpetrated election fraud in the name of preventing election fraud,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) tweeted.

“January 6 was Donald Trump’s attempt at terminating the US Constitution. He’s a repeat offender,” Torres added in another tweet.

Even some Republican politicians came out and criticized the former president.

“We should never dishonor that oath,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike rounds. “No one is above the Constitution. Anyone who desires to lead our country must commit to protecting the Constitution. They should not threaten to terminate it.”

Rounds added that “there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would alter the results of the 2020 election.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also condemned Trump’s comments on Twitter. “Suggesting the termination of the Constitution is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic,” she tweeted on Sunday night.

Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke out as well, telling WVOC radio in Columbia, S.C.: “Everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or to serve again, should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Trump attempted to attribute blame to the media for supposedly “misrepresenting his words,” lying in a caps-lock laden post on Truth Social that his false claims of widespread voter fraud were “irrefutably proven.”

Truth be told, for an individual who is under intense investigation for attempting to overthrow the government, it’s quite an act of supreme arrogance to issue such a bold statement.

Predictably, though not surprisingly, many Republican leaders have hesitated to weigh in on the comments of the former president, opting instead to pussyfoot around such alarming commentary.

I know it’s been several years and we all have Trump fatigue, but just think about it for a moment –  a former commander-in-chief has called for the termination of the Constitution, and the response from the majority of politicians in one party is crickets.

Such a level of silence is deafening, and nothing short of pure cowardice. A sad commentary to be sure.

Such a chilling degree of spinelessness among so many in the GOP demonstrates the chilling degree of power and fear that the twice impeached former president has tyrannically inflicted upon the Republicans. This abject amount of fear saturating the party does not bode well for their 2024 prospects.

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Copyright 2022 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.

Donald Trump endured bipartisan criticism for his recent dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and far-right wing advocate.

Critics from across the political spectrum — including some reluctant Republicans — called out the former president and urged him to take a more aggressive stance in denouncing anti-Semitism.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for a leader that is setting an example for the country or the party to meet with an avowed racist or anti-Semite,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who has said he is considering a 2024 presidential bid, said on CNN. “It’s very troubling and it shouldn’t happen.”

“Anti-Semitism is a cancer,” tweeted Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state. “This is just awful, unacceptable conduct from anyone, but most particularly from a former President and current candidate.”

“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an anti-Semite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable,” David Friedman, the ambassador to Israel under Trump, wrote on Twitter. .

President Biden deflected a question about the dinner over the weekend, telling reporters, “You don’t want to know what I think.”

In typical Trumpian fashion, the twice-impeached former president defended his behavior by pretending to be a good Samaritan.

“So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black, Ye (Kanye West), who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, by allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so that I can give him very much needed ‘advice,'” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He added in a later message, “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

Fuentes is a 24-year-old who promotes white nationalism through online platforms. The FBI has called him a white supremacist in court documents. He has also questioned the Holocaust, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

One would have to be dangerously naïve to believe Trump doesn’t know about white supremacists like Fuentes and their support of him. The truth is he has a long and disturbing history of failing to repudiate hate speech. Some of his supporters include the Daily Stormer, a leading neo-Nazi news site; Jared Taylor, editor of American Renaissance, a Virginia-based white nationalist magazine; and Michael Hill, head of the League of the South, an Alabama-based white racist organization.

During his controversial presidency, Trump made outlandish comments directly emboldening white nationalists. He said there was “blame on both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville, which included the death of 34-year-old Heather Heyer.

He was an adamant proponent of the Barack Obama birther theory, initially claiming the nation’s first Black president was not born American by birth. He later recanted his dishonest remarks during a sham press conference to promote the grand opening of one of his hotels.

Sadly, Trump’s appeal to bigots is nothing new.

Over the years, Trump has said that Black people have an inherent laziness about them that is probably genetic in nature and referred to Covid-19 as the “Kung Flu” and the “Chinese virus.” He calls Mexicans “criminals” and “rapists” and trying to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. He also referred to African and Latin American nations as “s—-hole countries.”

Perhaps one of the most telling examples of Trump’s appeal to bigots was the comment made by an unnamed man cited as the “Imperial Wizard” of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the KKK. He said the reason a lot of Klan members like Trump is “because a lot of what he believes, we believe in.”

Not much else needs to be said.

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Copyright 2022 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 massacre this past weekend at Club Q, an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, was hardly shocking given our current politically acrimonious and poisoned climate.

Police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting, in which five people were killed and at least 18 others wounded. The suspected gunman, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, was charged with five counts of murder and several hate crimes.

The victims of this savage attack, doled out late Saturday night with an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun, were Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who in 2018 was the first openly gay man elected governor in the U.S., called the shooting “horrific, sickening, and devastating.”

Interestingly, the accused Colorado Springs shooter is the grandson of Republican California Assemblyman Randy Voepel, who represents eastern San Diego County. Voepel is a staunch MAGA republican who was steadfast in his support of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. He was quoted as telling the San Diego Union-Tribune: “This is Lexington and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny.”

“Randy Voepel certainly had a reputation as an extremist, as a loose cannon, as a hard-right, MAGA Republican — who was anti-gay, racist and very pro-second amendment,” said Democratic Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, who represents Laguna Beach.

Thanks to the heroism, bravery and quick thinking of two patrons in attendance, many more deaths and human carnage were prevented. One hero was Richard Fierro, a decorated Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who had taken his family to support a drag show performer who was friends with his daughter. Another was Thomas James, a U.S. Navy information systems technician second class who zeroed in on the shooter and managed to overpower him.

Recent information exposed about the suspected gunman revealed he had a history of violence against women. He was arrested last year after and hours-long standoff with police after making a bomb threat against his mother. He was charged with multiple felonies, nonetheless, he still had access to guns.

Many conservatives have spent the past few years consuming the irresponsible drivel pushed by Fox News and others that gay and trans people are “groomers” – meaning perverts and pedophiles who want to molest children, or sterilize them, or confuse them into leading wayward, immoral, and derelict lives. It’s similar to the myth perpetuated about Black people that we’re all violent, lazy and oversexed.

The “groomer” idea originated out of the outlandish QAnon conspiracy theory that influential Democratic politicians and Hollywood celebrities are kidnapping children, both for sex trafficking and to harvest their glands to make youth serums. Such discredited theories led to the attack on a Washington, D.C, pizza parlor in 2016, where it was believed Hillary Clinton and others had a secret human trafficking operation. Sad to say, there are more than a few poor, misguided souls who believe such outlandish nonsense.

One should not have to have the acumen of a rocket scientist to realize that the vast majority of LGBTQ people love their parents and siblings. They care deeply for their close friends, care about the environment, and do not abuse or mistreat children. They are not trying to “convert” anyone and, like most straight people, mind their own business.

Why such a reality is so hard for some people on the right to understand is nothing short of bewildering. My heart goes out to the families of these young people whose lives were taken from them far too soon by an unhinged psychopath. May they rest in peace.

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Copyright 2022 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.

We’re more than a week out from the 2022 midterm elections, and there has been considerable commentary and various reasons offered about why the results turned out the way they did.

For all the talk of the “massive red wave” that was supposed to arrive with the force of a hurricane, what we witnessed was a red drizzle.

The surprising result prompted shell-shocked Republicans to immediately create a circling firing squad, levying blame at various individuals – in particular, Donald Trump. The blame game is still taking place among many GOP faction, and the ongoing fragmentation is an interesting spectacle to watch.

Interestingly, but not entirely surprising, right-wing media have increasingly zeroed in on two groups of voters who they see as being part of their problems – young voters and single women. Gen Z, the age demographic that includes voters under thirty, and unmarried women have garnered considerable ire among numerous conservative outlets for their overwhelming support of Democratic candidates in the 2022 midterm elections.

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University estimated that young voters between 18 and 29 voted for Democrats over Republicans in House races by 28 points. Around 27% of the demographic voted in the midterms, down from 2018’s 31% but the second highest percentage in the last decade. The poll also found that 72% of young women between 18 and 29 voted for Democratic House candidates.

Incredibly, some far-right pundits and conservative media outlets have suggested raising the voting age and possibly prohibiting unmarried women from voting, arguing these groups are being misguided by Democrats.

Media Matters, a progressive fact-checking outlet, cited the following examples:

• Fox News host Jesse Watters dismissed young voters as “totally brainwashed,” and claimed, “Once women get married, they vote Republican.”
• Anti-Muslim extremist Brigitte Gabriel wrote on Twitter that we should “raise the voting age to 21,” and that “Generation Z is destroying the country at the ballot box.”
• Conservative outlet RedState published a piece titled, “Don’t Blame Gen Z for Voting Democrat, Blame the People Who Told Them To.” The piece argued that “many of them don’t know any better. Their entire perspective on politics comes from people like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and whatever TikTok influencer they decided to start getting their information from.” The piece goes on to urge parents to “investigate your kid’s schools,” and encourage politicians to defund state universities “that preach anti-American values.”
• Conservative propagandist and election denier Dinesh D’Souza argued that young people voted overwhelmingly for Democrats because college students are misinformed about conservatism. As a result, when that view is “challenged later, their minds are so hardened, so set, that they’re not even really listening.” D’Souza also said that uncertain economic futures partially created by large student loans push young voters towards “socialism” because it means “somebody else is going to foot the bill.”
• Blaze TV host Steve Deace pushed the idea that Democrats have a “demonic agenda” that “survived the election because young unmarried women want to kill babies whenever they want.”
• Appearing on “The Ingraham Angle,” Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo claimed young people voted for Democrats because they were offered “drugs, recreational drugs, abortion, [and] paid off student loans.”
• The Telegram account for far-right social media network Gab called these voters “unmarried childless whores of Babylon” who want to “continue to slaughter their children.” It later called unmarried women “a civilizational threat.”

There were numerous other outlandish assertions that aren’t worth repeating.

The fact is by attempting to pacify their audience with a barrage of nonsensical propaganda, the right-wing segment of the Republican Party gives further credence to their critics that they are disingenuous provocateurs who will engage in any sort of behavior, no matter how blatantly dishonest or reductive in an effort to maintain power and control over their largely racist, sexist, xenophobic, paranoid and misguided followers.

Such manipulative gaslighting is nothing short of abominable.

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Copyright 2022 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 Republican Party endured considerable humiliation on election night, as their much-anticipated “red wave” turned out to be a red thud.

There are races yet to be decided and votes are still being counted, but it is safe to say that across nearly all regions of the nation, Republicans did not do as well as expected. What has followed has been bitter recriminations and finger pointing in the direction of one person – Donald Trump.

Trump’s is like a lingering cold that one cannot rid themselves of. Issues such as preserving democracy and abortion rights emerged as crucial concerns that deeply resonated with voters, even more so than political pundits in both political parties had believed. Issues such as public safety and an unstable and worrisome economy remained relevant, but not absolute. Suburban women, a highly courted swing voting group, went decisively Democratic.

Some Trump’s endorsed candidates were victorious. J.D. Vance, a one-time Trump critic and outspoken supporter, won the Ohio Senate race against Democrat Tim Ryan. In North Carolina’s Senate race, Republican Ted Budd defeated Democrat nominee Cheri Beasley in a close contest.

It was notable that prior to the polls closing on Election Day, Trump went on premature offensive, defiantly deflecting blame for a poor showing later that night. “Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit,” he told NewsNation. “And if they lose, I should not be blamed at all, OK?”

The truth is a sizable percentage of the Republican electorate disagrees with him and are making their displeasure known by openly criticizing him.

“Republicans have followed Donald Trump off the side of a cliff,” David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser with ties to Pennsylvania, told the New York Times.

Over the past two years. Trump endorsed more than 300 candidates, held dozens of political rallies, and raised millions of dollars. Election 2022 was supposed to further tighten his hold on the GOP. Instead, with the party’s underwhelming performance, fear and caution has suddenly transformed into growing frustration at the former president for endorsing what many see as a group of terribly problematic candidates.

Alarm bells were ringing well before the election, when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced his concerns about “candidate quality” and his fear that such individuals hampered Republican prospects at reclaiming congressional majorities. It turns out that McConnell was correct in his assessment.

Indeed, from Fox News to conservative gadfly Ben Shapiro to Joe Rogan to conservative blogs, dismay and disillusion was rampant.

“I’m very surprised. Personally, my prediction was we’re going to get at least 23 seats — frankly, I’m shocked,” said Saul Anuzis, a Republican strategist and former Michigan GOP chairman, told the Washington Examiner.

When your party nominates charlatans like Mehmet Oz, far-right conspiracy theorists like Doug Mastriano, and ardent election deniers like Kari Lake and Blake Masters, can you really expect to win in a general election?

Most Americans detest extremism. People don’t want politicians deciding 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 the fringe segment of the Republican Party aspires to implement. For the sake of our democracy, let’s hope more people wake up to this fact.

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Copyright 2022 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.

Days away of the 2022 midterm election, a disturbing trend is unfolding involving “poll watchers” positioning themselves at various voting locations across the nation.

These poll watchers are armed men (mostly men) dressed in military attire outside polling places attempting to psychologically intimidate or use violence against certain voters by engaging in menacing antics.

Such activity has been very commonplace in Maricopa County, Arizona where these “self-selected vote watchers” appear to be saying to would-be voters, at the barrel of a gun, “In order to vote, you must be granted approval by me.” In addition to surveilling voters, these self-appointed vigilantes have taken to shooting videos, recording license plates and engaging in other arrogant and retrograde shenanigans. There is no doubt that such behavior has a racial nexus behind it.

The organization supposedly behind such sinister efforts — Clean Elections USA — would undoubtedly deny their mission is to dissuade voters of color. Clean Elections is a group of far-right election deniers, and as any followers of post-1964 American history know, the right-wing segment of the Republican Party is known for its lack of support and hostility toward people of color.

Sadly, Maricopa County – where the percentage white people is about 53 percent – is the ideal demographic terrain for such a group to exercise their putrid and hate-filled demons.

Fortunately, a temporary restraining order was granted earlier this week in response to a lawsuit aimed at keeping an election watchdog group in Arizona from harassing and intimidating the state’s voters. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi barred Clean Elections USA from coming close to drop boxes, open-carrying guns near drop boxes and yelling at people putting ballots in those boxes. Interestingly , and perhaps ironically, Liburdi, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, had previously refused to bar the monitors but gave the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans another chance to argue why the poll-watchers should be restricted.

In the third decade of the 21st century, there are still many white people who feel they have the authority to dictate, regulate and police the lives of people of color. This untrammeled sense of entitlement manifests itself in varied ways.

• Can you tell me why you are jogging in “my” neighborhood?
• You must show “me” proof that you reside in this neighborhood, apartment, or other location.
• Explain to “me “what gives you the right to use this pool?

You’d have to engage in some serious level of denial and intellectual dishonesty to argue that non-white voters are the target of such racially draconian efforts. Thus, all talk of “preserving election integrity,” a favorite right-wing talking point, is total nonsense. Sadly, the ongoing fear of ever-changing racial demographics coupled with baseless conspiracies like the “great replacement theory” reside in the darkest corners of the hearts and minds of many on the right.

For all their talk of loving freedom and democracy, in reality, these are the individuals who hate the democratic process. They are only for fair and equitable elections when the outcome results in their favor.

As a Black American, whose ancestors marched, protested and lost their lives to obtain the right to cast a ballot, I am sure as hell not going to allow white supremacists to intimidate or deny me my right to vote.

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Copyright 2022 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.

It appears horror has once again gripped Excelsior Springs, Missouri, a community in the suburbs of Kansas City where a local church leaders claimed four Black women have been murdered and three more are missing.

One of the more influential voices in the city, Bishop Tony Caldwell of Eternal Life Church, demanded to know why more wasn’t being done by authorities in a viral video that was shared widely. Fortunately, with the help of The Kansas City Defender, the city’s largest Black newspaper, news of the potential serial killer spread.

Nonetheless, despite credible evidence and repeatedly being alerted of the situation several times, police officials adamantly denied the idea of a serial killer. On Sept. 26th, a Kansas City Police Department spokesperson issued a statement to local media outlets saying, spokesperson Donna Drake, which read, “We want to make the public aware that this claim is completely unfounded. There is no basis to support this rumor.”

Approximately two weeks later, a 39-year-old white man, identified as Timothy Haslett Jr., was taken into custody facing rape, kidnapping, and sexual assault charges. An investigation is currently underway.

The acts of torture and abuse that the victim said she and fellow captors endured at the hands of this monster are too graphic and disturbing to print here. However, one crucial revelation from the initial stages of the investigation is that Haslett Jr. believes that there was/is a race war on the horizon and engaged in acerbic and vehemently racist comments about Black people.

The Kansas City Defender uncovered disturbing social media posts and comments made by the kidnapper and sexual predator.

“The race war started a long time ago, wake up ya dumb b—-,” He wrote in one violent post. In another post, he emphatically professed his belief that Breonna Taylor deserved to die. “I honestly cannot remember once in my life hearing a Black person take responsibility for anything except looting and rioting,” he also wrote.

In another post he went into detail about his beliefs that Black people are lesser forms of humans than white people, writing, “When they decide to act like my equal, then we can discuss their equality.” Mind you, this is rhetoric coming from an alleged kidnapper, rapist, and racist.

When asked again if their opinion had changed since the revelation of new evidence. Kansas City Police Officials responded:

“We base our investigations on police incident reports of criminal activity. We do still maintain that there is no indication that what you guys reported was accurate and there was no indication that there was anything that supported that claim. We share what information we can publicly, many times from the scene, of incidents of violent crimes when there is a report or an investigation underway, there had and has not been anything that corresponded to your reports on social media and the web which is why we refuted that report and said that the claims were unfounded.”

Please! I guess it was too much for them to admit that they screwed up royally. The community was forced to do the work that police were hired and supposedly trained to do. Local authorities did nothing to stop the horrific violence inflicted upon these women. Then, when confronted with the reality of the allegations, they refuse to acknowledge any level of contrition. On the contrary, police had the audacity to levy condescending and dismissive responses.

Quite frankly, as a Black person, such arrogance from law enforcement is infuriating and insulting.

The response from police demonstrates how Black lives are not valued or taken seriously. How often have we seen examples where Black communities reach out for help and are met with indifference, skepticism, and even hostility?

Do any of us honestly believe that if there were several white women (hell, just one) missing from one community, that there would have been such a level of indifference from law enforcement? The answer is hell no!

This story is still ongoing. That being said, this community did not deserve such shabby treatment. These women deserve better. The members of this community deserve better. Black people deserve better.

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Copyright 2022 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.