J.D. Vance is a terrible person (feat. Roe v. Wade and James Shelby Downard)
Failed State Update for May 4, 2022
What’s this? The Failed State Update newsletter two days in a row? It’s amazing what can happen when you wake up early and the coffee kicks in.
Speaking of kickin’ in, how’d you feel about kicking in a few bucks for this newsletter? You have to admit, $7 bucks a month isn’t bad for this kind of coverage.
America’s Hitler’s Man in Ohio
Hillbilly Elegy was a hit piece on the people of Appalachia and the Rust Belt, and the Netflix film of the same name is so bad that it really should be watched by any cinephile with a taste for the perverse. The book made its author a star, one who wasted no time in selling out his centrist-liberal ideals (and for whom, like most centrist-liberals, were never really ideals to begin with) to become the darling of the Trumpian right.
From The Times (UK):
Having once said that Trump was “America's Hitler,” Vance declared him “the best president of my lifetime” at a rally last month. He pivoted to support Trump's insistence that the 2020 election was stolen and echoed a conspiracy theory on the far-right, that President Biden had allowed Mexican drug cartels to flood America's heartlands with fentanyl to “punish the people who didn't vote for him.”
Last night, thanks to that pact with the devil, Vance won the Republican primary and, presumably, the upcoming senate race.
Read Donald Trump remains kingmaker in Ohio after JD Vance victory in The Times
Vance has said so many insane things lately that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he has been infected with some sort of brain parasite. His greatest misses include an attack on the “childless left” (they have no “physical commitment to the future of this country”) and this gem:
I guess you get what you deserve, Ohio. Unfortunately, if and when Vance wins, we will all get what Ohio deserves.
Read A Non-Exhaustive List of J.D. Vance’s Craziest Statements in Mother Jones
Great job, Republicans!
I hate focusing solely on Republicans as there are so many Democrats that deserve to be called out, but this morning the corporate lackeys of the right have successfully squeezed out the corporate lackeys on the left. Great job, guys.
Of course, the big news as of late has been the imminent end of abortion rights in this country. In the PayDay Report newsletter (disclosure: I am the newsletter’s editor), labor reporter Mike Elk points out how workers in other countries have been an essential part of keeping abortion safe and legal:
The “Strike 4 Repeal” campaign successfully got Ireland’s anti-abortion law repealed in 2018. Similarly, in 2016, mass strikes in Poland got the country’s legislature to vote down a bill that would have stripped abortion rights.
Let’s hope the labor movement in this country can get its act together surrounding this important issue.
Read Will Labor Strike to Protect Abortion Rights? On PayDay Report
More of the GOP’s Greatest Hits
Jan. 6 committee asks three pro-Trump GOP lawmakers for testimony (Politico)
Why Tucker Carlson is showing 'no embarrassment, no shame' over damning NY Times exposé (AlterNet)
Even more Failed State Updates
Nxivm founder alleges FBI tampered with key evidence in his case, asks conviction be vacated (CNN)
Scientology Sued By Plaintiffs Alleging Years Of Abuse As Children (Religion Clause)
Christiane Northrup, once a New Age health guru, now spreads covid disinformation (Washington Post)
And finally, an impressive campaign ad from gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor featuring the Georgia Guidestones conspiracy theory (eagle-eyed viewers will catch a shout-out to the legendary James Shelby Downard at the beginning of the video).