This is obviously a minor event in one county in one state, but I"m interested in it because it speaks to the transnational element of the grassroots MAGA movement...even though it usually takes the most simplistic and amateurish form. It speaks to these rural MAGA folks' political imaginary.
This is a haphazard response but reminded me of some things Ian has shared: bsky.app/profile/ians... bsky.app/profile/ians...
fascist internationale
Back in the 1960s there was an international fascist named Eric Butler who frequently toured the US giving speeches to small groups of right wingers. Here's an ad announcing one such event produced by Walter Huss, the White Christian nationalist antisemite who would in 1978 chair the OR GOP.
When Eric Butler gave talks to groups of 50 or so working class, white evangelical reactionaries in churches and Legion Halls across rural America, he would be marketed as a Christian anti-Communist. It would be more accurate to call him a fascistic, Nazi-adjacent antisemite, but ya know, details.
Eric Butler literally published an updated version of The International Jew in the 1950s....and he toured the US speaking under the label of "Christian anti-Communist." His American host was a member of the Bellingham, WA Chamber of Commerce and a leader in his local GOP. His wife was a DAR leader.
In 1965, Butler's host, Lee Adamson, was very mad that Western Washington faculty picketed a Nazi's speech on campus but didn't do the same thing when a Communist spoke.
To return to the mysterious and obscure "political expert on Brazil" with which this thread started...this appears to be his story. Seems like the perfect guy for this GOP event in Baker County, Oregon. bsky.app/profile/brdr...
The MAGA influencer from Baker County, OR who I saw promoting this event on FB featuring the "political expert on Brazil" organized a conference in France in 2023 featuring many B-tier figures in the international far right. bsky.app/profile/seth...
It's impossible to overstate how provincial this Baker County Republican activist's view of the world is...and yet also how well-networked in she is with ambitious far right weirdos from around the world like Zemmour and Monteiro.
Re. how provincial and deranged this person's world view is, in her latest podcast she and her co-host talked about how Boston mayor Michelle Wu is a CCP plant. Zero irony. They weren't kidding. They literally think the mayor of Boston is a Communist trojan horse for a Chinese takeover.
Same person also believes that there are CCP secret agents (who are also secret Democrats) who have infiltrated local OR GOP precincts as part of a coordinated strategy to take over the GOP from within.This person will be in DC this month meeting with high level Trump folks. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Wait until she hears that Trump "offered" PLA soldiers as peacekeepers in Ukraine. Her head will explode and she'll twist herself into a pretzel. Sorry no gift links www.ft.com/content/dc64...
Worried there is real potential for violence at the polls in Va this November, especially because it's looking like Repubs are gonna lose. Outside of Northern Va and Richmond it's pretty purple.
Bellinghamsters picketing Nazis? I've never been so proud of my hometown!
A DAR leader? Because of course she was.
Honoring a man who is to military tactics what the Yugo and the Edsel are to automotive design
Something tells me it's not his military tactics they most admire about him...
Was he plying his "Christian anti-communism" with Fred Schwarz's Christian Anti-Communism Crusade? That'd be a little awkward.
It's very possible. Huss and Schwarz were very close, and Butler would have traveled in the same basic circles. Schwarz was not Jewish, btw...despite the name. He did make an effort (seemingly genuine?) to distance himself from the nastiest antisemites on the right, so he may have not liked Butler.
HUSS!!
It seems like there were small armies of diverse self-described "anti-communists" ready to help white Christian nationalists, white supremacists, and antisemites launder the message to wider audiences. e.g. this diverse group of "anti-communists" ahead of notorious neo-Nazi Revilo P. Oliver:
You are onto something here.
During Hitler’s reign copycat Nazi organizations popped up everywhere, including here.
Related:
I'm sure he'll explain how lawless Brazil's treatment of Bolsonaro is (because communism or something) and warn to not let that happen here. Nothing but the hits his audience is paying to hear. The transnational nod - they don't gaf about Brazil - is like cherry picking Bible verses to suit.
