Andrew Shugg

Don't let anyone gaslight you. Everyone saw what happened.

I’ve been reflecting on this over the past day or so, and I’ve come to a realization. Many of my friends on the center-right who are upset with me for making what I believe to be very obvious observations aren’t necessarily angry at me—they’re angry at the implications of what I’m saying. The idea that neo-Nazism has entered the mainstream, potentially influencing the White House, is so alarming and existentially terrifying that it's easier to lash out at the messenger than confront the reality. If they accept this, it means that the political home they've invested so much of their identity in, the movement they've championed for years, has become something so morally repugnant that accepting it feels like breaking their own brain. The cognitive dissonance is overwhelming. What's striking to me is the selective outrage. Many of these same people are quick to call everyone communists, often with little more than circumstantial evidence. Yet, when it comes to countless instances of glaringly obvious signs of fascism in their own movement, they either look away or attack those pointing it out.