The fascist think tank Claremont Institute, for example—the place that attempted the first presidential coup in our nation’s history—is currently on its own after landing coup plotter John Eastman along with a host of traitors. Struggling to restore reputation. Charlie Kirk, an unashamed fascist, started a program last year to “bring sheriffs to California for a week of training on the Constitution and the ‘roots of radical leftist ideology’.” The Washington Post Just noted.
The New York Times Now brings us some photos and news from this month’s Las Vegas meeting of the so-called Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association led by infamous crackpot Richard Mack. The group hosts election conspiracy theory promoter Mike Mypilo Lindel, “True Vote” conspiracists, and a gaggle of “constitutional” sheriffs currently in their home states not only to outwit election fraud conspiracies. , but are putting themselves in trouble by using His office’s power to “investigate” fraud conspiracies that they cannot detect but are certain of.
What’s new here, then, is that while the theory of “constitutional sheriffs” has been around for a while, it’s been pushed by anti-federalist cranks in the western states who are increasingly angry that they can’t personally see any federalist. Cannot add to It is now a movement that is strongly partnering with other anti-democratic and pro-fascist groups to gain some rights over the lands and resources they want to claim. It has shifted focus to become a movement centered around 2020 fraud, and is becoming part and parcel of the same MyPillow crowd. But, you know, with their own weapons.
The time There are few references to election officials and others who actually have to deal with these crackpots, along with speculation about where it might go next, now that both the sheriff and A. very much Republicans are considering using deputies to “monitor” polling places — a common tactic from the Jim Crow era. But as we see this crackpot movement steadily absorbed into what passes for mainstream Republicanism these days, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, and I can’t stress this enough: it’s a small movement Total crackpots with guns on their hips. The whole premise of the constitutional sheriff “movement,” as pioneered by Richard Mack and a handful of similar cranks, is that your county sheriff is the final arbiter of American law. Why? Because screw you, that’s why. It’s a theory based solely on the need to deny the federal government authority when it comes to (1) anything related to guns or (2) most things related to livestock, and a lifetime of rangeland dust. After inhaling it is the product that the far-right brain produces.
Again, the whole premise of the movement is that it is your local sheriff who decides what laws are and are not constitutional. Congress can pass laws. The executive branch can write rules. The Supreme Court can decide on the constitutionality of all this.
And, if your own local sheriff disagrees with any of it, they can delete it, declaring that the constitution actually says something different in Itchy Sand County, because the sheriff and only the sheriff has everyone else in the United Nations. It has the power to tell. Go to hell with the state government. It’s a theory so unfounded that it can be equated to old conspiracy theories about what the gold stripes on flags mean, or what eagles on top of flags mean, or the “sovereign citizen” theory that claims do that any random citizen country can declare itself an independent country and therefore no longer have to pay taxes or obey speed limits.
It is strange. This is ridiculous. This is what you get when a sheriff decides they really like the Bundy Ranch standoff, in which a group of local criminals stage an armed rebellion against federal workers who want to remove half-starved cattle from federal rangeland. The work was delegated, and they shouldn’t have been. says I must use my small portion of public power to encourage other scoundrels to do the same. Richard Mack and other followers are comic figures, absurd bully artists obsessed with their own importance, and for ten years this little movement got nowhere because the rest of the American far-south was embarrassed to be seen with them. were
The “Constitutional Sheriff” movement is an offshoot of the right-wing anti-government militia movement. It was based on non-acceptance from the beginning the gun Laws issued by the federal government. This is the “constitutional” question on which every sheriff across the country who is associated with the movement focuses all their attention; No one in the group grappled with the alleged “constitutional” right to build a myth lab or smuggle fentanyl across state lines. does not happen
No, it’s just an anti-government gun-stockpiling militia with badges on.
It’s also a movement of sheriffs who are … how are we going to put it. Not exceptionally bright? As one can imagine, people are willing to reinterpret all of history and reality to come to the conclusion that, in fact, they outrank the entire United States government. the inventor No particular tether on fantasy and reality. It’s precisely the kind of gullibility that makes all sorts of other conspiracy theories likely, and it shouldn’t be entirely surprising that those who have aligned themselves with far-right militia hokum would also claim to be hoaxes. are hook, line and sinker for that. , Sidney Powell, or other fraudulent promoters burst onto TV.
Italian satellite? Bamboo belts? for sure Once you convince yourself that you are the arbiter of all laws, it only stands to reason that, oh, Italy will use any means at their disposal to wrest it away from you.
But the other thing to remember about the new “constitutional sheriff” turning to election conspiracy theories instead of gun obsession is that it’s predictably racist. Yes, as shocking as this news is, we’ll try to absorb it: It turns out that far-right conservatives might be the sheriff. little bit Racists believe in conspiracy theories proposed by other racists to explain why votes in non-conservative American cities should be considered fraudulent but all votes for Trump in their own rural counties are surely valid.
“Some sheriffs in rural Trump-voting counties said they didn’t see big problems to solve in their counties but supported more sheriff involvement overall,” reports the report. time.
hmm keep going
“Richard Vaughn, a sheriff in rural Grayson County in Virginia, said he wants officials to be involved in monitoring vote counts, and will support election investigations ‘where there are allegations.’ ‘A lot of people are losing faith,’ he added.
ah Areas where there are “accusations”. And where are those areas? Well, Trump’s team spelled it out clearly, in their various nonsense lawsuits. The “accused” areas are Democratic-voting cities in swing states, places like Detroit and Philadelphia. Cities with many black Democrats were considered suspicious Simply because they voted against Trump in huge numbers and if Trump’s clan of fraudsters wanted to overturn the election results in those states they needed to invent reasons. that The votes, in particular, were “dubious”.
Yeah, that’s a lot of ick. But this small Constitutional Sheriff The movement has evolved from the old funny gaggle of pro-militia cranks with badges to, well, exactly the same thing, but now with Captain Mypillow and various fascism-promoting think tanks and activist groups promoting election fraud’. is focused on
It’s like the QAnon movement; The Trump years have seen every group of far-right cranks, conspiracy theorists, the professionally insane, the aspirationally insane — all rolled into one big ball of hostile delusion. The collapse of conservative ideology, after so many failures in a row, left the Republican base disillusioned and looking to blame enemies. And, lo and behold, the enemy became absolutely everyone he is not.