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Michigan repealed its right-to-work law Friday, scrapping the anti-union policy that has hurt worker organizing in the state for over a decade and marking the first time a state had repealed any such law in close to 60 years. Its a big win for the welfare of workers in Michigan and across the nation.

Right-to-work laws have a deceptive name. They sound as if theyre meant to protect someones right to a job, but in reality theyre designed to make it harder for unions to function and organize. Martin Luther King Jr. rightly described right to work as one of the false slogans meant to fool the public, because the laws use the language of rights to weaken workers ability to fight big business.

The immediate effect of these laws is to reduce the flow of money to unions.

A brief bit of background: The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 allowed unions in workplaces to collect union dues from workers covered by their collective bargaining agreements, regardless of whether or not those workers decided to join the unions. The logic was that if workers benefit from what the unions win in collective bargaining agreements, then they should be obligated to pay dues for the institutions securing those benefits for them. But the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 allowed states to introduce right-to-work laws, which prohibit mandatory collection of union dues for covered workers. That lets workers benefit from union contracts without paying the unions in their workplaces.

Many right-to-work laws passed in Southern states in the mid-20th century, and then a new wave passed after the tea party wave in 2010 a number of them in organized labor strongholds in the Midwest, including Michigan. The immediate effect of these laws is to reduce the flow of money to unions and shrink their resources for organizing and bargaining. As labor scholars have pointed out, the recently passed right-to-work laws in states such as Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin reduced unionization rates and shrank wages in those states.

Right-to-work laws are underhanded not only in their name but also in terms of the political predicament they create. They put the burden on pro-union advocates to support a policy that imposes new costs on a subset of workers who are already getting benefits. They avoid attacking workers directly but instead undermine the funding mechanism meant to keep their organizing capacity strong. Yet under the first Democratic governing trifecta in close to 40 years, Michigan Democrats have managed to repeal the law.

After having broken a long streak of inactivity, Michigan could help inspire other movements to repeal right-to-work laws, which exist in over two dozen states. And Michigans accomplishment will only add momentum to a surge in pro-union activity and sentiment across the country. Unions are the most popular theyve been since 1965. Last year brought a big uptick in worker strikes and several high-profile union wins that captured national attention, such as Amazon warehouse workers winning their first union election in New York.

Michigan just became a friendlier place again for organized labor. Hopefully other states will follow suit.

Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MSNBC Daily. Previously, he worked at Vox, HuffPost and Politico, and he has also been published in, among other places, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Intercept. You can sign up for his free politics newsletter here.

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What Michigan scrapping its right-to-work law means - MSNBC

Staff Reports

Have you ever thought about becoming a storm spotter? Now is your chance. The Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service invite you to attend free Storm Spotter Training. Storm Spotter class will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29 in the Milan Community Center, 205 N. Market Street, Milan. The class will last approximately 1 hours. It will be presented by an experienced meteorologist from the National Weather Service. Various aspects of severe weather, storm spotting and weather safety will be presented. The training is free and available to everyone, regardless of age, where you live or education level. Becoming an active, trained storm spotter is an excellent way to serve our community. While there is no personal commitment from attending this class, if you recognize hazardous weather on the horizon, you will be in a position to help warn your neighbors by calling 911. To reserve your seat for this highly sought after class you must call or text the Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency Director, Dennis Goldsmith, at (660) 265-5619 or email him atmonranch@grm.net.Reserving a seat for the class will not commit you to attending the class, but the class may not be held if fewer than 15 people reserve a seat in advance.

Bellacinos Pizza and Grinders at 516 N. Baltimore Street, will be holding a Giving Night on March 30 from 5-8 p.m. Fifteen percent of of food sales goes to the Food Bank to provide Buddy Packs for kids in need.

The South 63 Corridor Community Improvement District will hold a meeting at 11 a.m., on Thursday, March 30, in the Second Floor Conference Room at City Hall, 201 S Franklin Street. Tentative Agenda: Approval of the Minutes of the Dec. 28, 2022 Board of Directors Meeting; Approval of Appointment of Officers; Additional business as may be necessary and appropriate to commence operation of the District.

The city of Kirksville Parks & Recreation Department hosts Paint the Ville on March 30 and April 25, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Kirksville Aquatic Center, 801 E. Mill St. Register your first through eighth grade artist for the monthly Kids Club event. Artists will create a masterpiece under the direction of Paint the Ville instructor, Rachel Messer. All participants must pre-register, and class size is very limited. To register, visit the Kirksville Parks and Recreation Office at the Kirksville Aquatic Center, or online athttps://parks.kirksvillecity.com/. Each class is $20 and all supplies are included. For more information, please contact Luke Callaghan with the Parks and Recreation Department at 660-627-1485.

Hay producers can learn strategies to grow, harvest, and store high quality hay at University of Missouri Extensions upcoming Hay Production School, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Schuyler County Community Center. MU Extension specialists will teach on how to get more quality and quantity hay production during this one-day workshop, says Darla Campbell, Agri Business and Community Economic Development specialist. Topics include Forages for North Missouri, Quality Issues; Hay Testing; Cattle and Horse Nutrition, Storage and Feed Management; Economics of Stored Forages; and Fertility Management. Registration for the school is due by March 24. A minimum of 15 participants is required to hold the school. Contact Darla Campbell at 660-457-3469 or campbelld@missouri.edu for cost and questions. The Schuyler County Community Center is located at 308 Main Street, Glenwood.

Truman Opera Theatre presents Bastien and Bastienne by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall.

Thousand Hills State Park is home to a collection of petroglyphs or rock carvings made by ancestors of todays American Indians. Explore the petroglyphs with park staff to learn more about this unique piece of history. Meet at the petroglyph shelter located next to the beach. Contact the park office at 660-665-6995

The Adair County Family YMCA presents the 2nd Annual Easter Egg Eggstravaganza on April 1 from 2-3 p.m., at the YMCA Soccer Fields. Enjoy a fun time with the entire family and community. Separate egg hunts per age group: 0-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. Photos with the Easter Bunny. Yard games and activities. Easter-themed tattoos. Prizes courtesy of local businesses. Free event, donations greatly appreciated. 1708 S. Jamison, Kirksville.

A Fairyland Princess Tea Party will be held on April 1 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Kirksville Masonic Temple, 217 E. Harrison Street, Kirksville. There will be crafts, games, food and drink for $5. Presented by Kirksville Chapter #184 Order of the Eastern Star, assisted by Sigma Kappa Sorority, Truman State University. Questions? Call 660-341-4042.

Foolin Around Downtown will be held on April 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in downtown Kirksville. Support your local downtown stores and shops. In-store specials and refreshments provided at participating businesses. Shopping, specials and more.

The biggest trivia night of the year is back. The United Way of Northeast Missouri (UWNEMO) will host the 2nd Annual Charity Trivia Night on Saturday, April 1 from 7-10 p.m. at the Kirksville Moose Lodge. This years event will build upon last years hugely popular Trivia Night that welcomed 18 teams, raising over $5,000 for the 11 local agencies funded by the United Way of Northeast Missouri. Tickets are $150 per 8-person team, or $200 with Mulligans. One Mulligan can be used each round in place of an answer. The first-place team will take home a $500 first place prize and the coveted United Way Trivia Trophy. Only five table remain available so act now. Only four tables left.

The Crossing Church will hold Car Care on April 2. This event will serve single parents, foster parents, widows, active military personnel and veterans. The church is inviting anyone who falls in one or more of those categories to sign up to have their vehicle detailed and inspected. All community and church members are invited to help serve this deserving group of people on April 2. Volunteer opportunities range from greeting participants to inspecting vehicles. Theres a place for everyone to serve, ages high school and up. If youre not available on the day of the event, there will be opportunities to serve prior. For more information visit http://www.thecrossing.net/carcare or contact The Crossings local Campus Pastor.

Otto McFarland Senior Voice Recital will be held on April 2, at 2 p.m., at the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall, 100 E. Normal Avenue.

Emma Bushery & Bridget Boyle in a Senior Recital! At the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall, April 2 beginning at noon. 100 E. Normal Avenue.

Double Reed Studio Recital at the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall beginning at 6 p.m. on April 4,100 E. Normal Avenue.

A ribbon cutting will be held for Factory Connection on Wednesday, April 5, at 4 p.m. Join the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce at the open house event for chamber member Factory Connection in celebration of their new management team. The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at their retail location at 2402 N. BaltimoreStreet in Kirksville.

Join Thousand Hills State Park staff in a presentation to learn about spiders and discover just how important they are to our ecosystem. If interested, join park staff to go looking to see if any spiders are nearby. Please bring a flashlight or headlamp. Meet at the Campground 1 Amphitheater. Contact the park office at 660-665-6995.

Mark your calendars and hop on over to the 45th annual Kraft Heinz Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 8, at 10 a.m., at the Truman State University Quad. Kraft Heinz, the city of Kirksville's Parks and Recreation Department, and Truman State University's Cardinal Key are partnering to host this event free of charge. All children ages 2 to 12 are invited to join and find as many eggs as possible. Remember to bring a basket for all the eggs and your camera for a picture with our special guest, the Easter Bunny. For more information, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 660-627-1485.

Join Thousand Hills State Parkstaff to learn some birding basics! Binoculars, field guides, and cameras are welcome. Limited binoculars and field guides will be available to borrow during the program. Please wear closed-toed shoes and bring water. Meet at the beach parking lot to walk the paved trail.

Something about a snake make them sssuper important. JoinThousand Hills State Park staff to learn what that reason is and why snakes are unique. There may be a chance to meet a live animal. Meet at the Campground 1 amphitheater. Contact the park office at 660-665-6995

NEMO Job Fair Spring 2023 will be held on Friday, April 21 from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Moberly Area Community College, 2105 E. Normal Avenue. Pre-registration is required.

Friends of (Scout) Troop 404 will be holding a Bottomless BBQ Feed Fundraiser at theNEMO Fairgrounds on Friday, April 14 from 5:30- 8 p.m. Cost is $25 per person with sides and drinks. Soda for sale separately. Food by TNT BBQ. Silent Auction. Raffle for a mini-bike and smoker grill. Tickets available at the Troop 404 Facebook page or Nolan Law Firm, 210 S. Elson Street.

The Student Activities Board has announced the lineup for its spring concert series. Indie rock band DEHD will headline the second concert at 5 p.m. April 14 on the quad. The rain site for these concerts will be the Student Union Building Georgian Room. Admission to all concerts is free and tickets are not required.

The Northeast Missouri United Way Texas Hold'em Tournament will be on April 19 at the Dukum Inn.Signups start at 5:30 p.m. and the tournamentstarts at 6:30 p.m. 1st Prize is $500, 2nd Prize is $250 and Third Prize is $100. Sponsors of the event are as follows: Gold SponsorshipATSU and Heritage House Realty. Silver Sponsorships are Lovegreen Motors and Pagliais. Bronze Sponsorships are Kirksville Brake and Muffler and Hampton Inn.,

Come out for a celebration of International Dark Sky week at Stars Up, Lights Down at Thousand Hills State Park. Join others in learning about light pollution and exploring the sky above. There will be telescopes but everybody is welcome to bring their own telescopes, chairs, and binoculars. Meet at the Point Shelter. Contact the park office at 660-665-6995.

The 23rd Annual Daddy Daughter Dance will be held on Friday, April 21, at the NEMO Fair Building/NEMO Fair Grounds. Doors open from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Picture Booth open from 6:30-8 p.m. Cost is $8/couple, $2/each additional child (family cap at $10). Free concessions, photo booth, giveaways, and crafts. All girls pre-school through 6th-grade along with their dad or significant male role model are invited no RSVP needed. Proceeds of this event will go toward supporting Heartland Task Force programming and activities.

The annual Novinger Area Yard Sales & Flea Market event will be held on Saturday, April 22, beginning at 8 a.m.Residents of Novinger and surrounding area (west of Kirksville, east of Green Castle, and along Highway 157) are encouraged to participate in selling yard sale items, funky junk, 2ndchance goods, antiques and collectibles, flea market items, crafts and commercial products. Booth spaces and tables can be rented inside the Community Center or Firehouse andfree spaces can be reserved on the fairgrounds.Maps featuring the reported locations of sales will be available on Renewals Facebook page as well as in the Community Center, along with food sales.Donations of items are sought to allow proceeds to benefit Novinger Renewal.Items can be dropped off at the Community Center after 2 p.m. on Friday, April 21.Those interested in reserving an indoor or outdoor space or wanting their sale listed on the map should contact Glenna Young at 660-342-6455. The event is coordinated by Novinger Renewal, a non-profit corporation, established for community betterment and historic preservation.

Come on out to Thousand Hills State Park on Saturday April 22 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. to celebrate Earth Day. Local organizations will have stations and activities set up around the beach parking lot and the paved trail. Come connect with the earth and nature through unique opportunities facilitated by community members. There will be activities and educational booths for all ages at this free event. SB40, a local nonprofit, will be selling snacks and drinks as a fundraiser during the event. The Missouri Department of Conservation will be providing fishing opportunities along the shore just past the beach showerhouse and at the ADA accessible fishing dock. (Signs will direct visitors to these locations.) This event was created in partnership between Thousand Hills State Park, the Adair County Public Library, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the city of Kirksville. Other organizations are joining to provide educational opportunities for all attendees. In the event of inclement weather, activities will be moved to the Rieger Armory, located at 500 S. Elson St.

Mark your calendars for Curtain Call's 2023Annual Meeting. They will be meeting at the theatre on Monday, April 24 at 5:30 p.m. in order to nominate board members for the upcoming year and give everyone updates on their upcoming season.

The Student Activities Board has announced the lineup for its spring concert series. The last concert will feature country artist Chase Bryant at 5 p.m. April 28 on the quad. The rain site for these concerts will be the Student Union Building Georgian Room. Admission to all concerts is free and tickets are not required.

Elementary and middle school students interested in math and science can spend a day on the Truman State University campus participating in fun activities. Trumans chapter of Beta Beta Beta, a co-ed biology honors fraternity, will sponsor Science on Saturday, April 29. The first session, for students in first through fifth grade, will take place from 9-11 a.m. A second session, for students in sixth through eighth grade, will take place from 12:30-3 p.m. Area students will attend classes in Magruder Hall, each lasting about 20 minutes. Session one classes this spring include:acids and bases volcano, reptiles and amphibians, and secret message writing. Among the classes in session two are: strawberry DNA extraction, lava lamps, and reptiles and amphibians. Science on Saturday is free of charge. Registration will begin March 31 onsos.truman.eduand remain open until April 14 or until both sessions are full. Spaces are limited and registration is completed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Come out to Thousand Hills State Park to celebrate Kids to Parks Day Saturday May 20.

10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Kids Fishing Join the Missouri Department of Conservation for a day of fishing at the Point. From 10 a.m.-2 p.m., staff will be available with gear to help you fish or fish with you. Fishing is open to all ages. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

11 a.m. Nature Detective Hike Animals leave behind clues to tell us they have been in the area. Join park staff to explore the many different clues animals leave behind and learn what animals share the park with us. This hike will take place on the Oak Trail located next to the playground on Big Loop Road.

All programs are weather permitting. Check out Thousand Hills State Park on Facebook for cancellations, location changes, and other park information.

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Kirksville Area Calendar of Events - Kirksville Daily Express and Daily News

At the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, we stand in the same position relative to the initial invasion as America stood in 1985 relative to the 1965 arrival of our first combat troops in Vietnam. This makes it a useful moment to compare the two conflicts and their effects, and to consider provisionally, always provisionally which was more disastrous, which intervention deserves to be remembered as the worst foreign policy decision in our history.

For some time, even after my own initial support for the war dissolved and its folly became obvious, I doubted that Iraq could outstrip Vietnam in the ranks of American debacles. More than 12 times as many American troops died in the Vietnam War as died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and its aftermath. The bloodletting among Iraqis was terrible, but so was the civilian toll in Southeast Asia. The United States lost the Vietnam War completely; in Iraq, we left behind an unsteady and corrupt republic rather than a new dictatorship, with a government that still allows a U.S. military presence.

Domestically, the period around the Vietnam War was dreadful a wave of domestic terrorism, a crisis of authority, the 1960s curdling into the 1970s. The immediate aftermath of Iraq was sour and paranoid in its own way, but even with the Great Recession, there wasnt the same kind of radicalism and social breakdown. When Barack Obama was elected president, American conservatism seemed shattered by Iraq, as American liberalism was shattered by Vietnam, but by his second term, there was a return to ideological stalemate.

At various times, then at the 10th anniversary of the war, maybe even at the 15th it was possible to imagine a long-term future where Iraq was ultimately remembered more like our bloody counterinsurgency in the Philippines at the dawn of the 20th century than like the trauma of Vietnam as a bad war, but not an era-defining one; as a squandering of blood and treasure and moral credibility, but one whose overarching strategic costs were not so great.

Today, theres a stronger case for seeing Iraq as a more epochal disaster. In American domestic life, the Vietnam effect was more of a fever, whereas the Iraq effect seems like a wasting or relapsing disease. The wars influence has percolated inside other social crises, like the opioid epidemic, that have become more visible and destructive over time. Its lingering effects have made the body politic more susceptible to left-wing radicalism and right-wing demagogy, while contributing to a persistent mood of pessimism and disappointment thats then been exacerbated by other forces (social media, the coronavirus pandemic).

In our political coalitions, these disillusioning effects look even more substantial and permanent than they appeared in 2010 or 2015. Ever since the war discredited and helped dissolve the hawkish center-left, nobody has been able to reconstitute a strong centrist faction within liberalism, with the result that liberal institutions have been pulled ever leftward since 2004. Ever since the war discredited both neoconservatism specifically and the Republican establishment generally, nobody has been able to maintain a successful counterweight to the various forms of right-wing populism, Tea Party and Trumpian, that have made the GOP ungovernable and incapable of governing.

And there is a special irony that even with the intellectual ferment on the Trump-era right, the attempts to forge a national conservatism or a socially conservative populism sometimes look like efforts to grope backward to George W. Bushs platform in 2000, before he traded his humble foreign policy for a grand crusade.

But it is in the effect on Americas global position that the costs of the Iraq War really keep compounding. Its now clear that not just the war alone but its ever-spreading secondary consequences which included our futile overinvestment in Afghanistan, fatefully cast as the good war by many Democrats opposed to the Iraq invasion kept us tied us down during critical years of geopolitical realignment, making it hard to even think about, let alone cope with the revival of Russian power and the rise of China to superpower status.

The all-but-certain influence of our final defeat in Afghanistan on Vladimir Putins decision to invade Ukraine was just one link in a long chain of consequences forged by the Iraq War. Likewise, our newly aggressive posture toward the Chinese regime is a risky attempt to play catch-up to shifts that we should have been more attuned to a decade ago.

And while the effects of the Iraq War on the developing worlds attitudes toward the United States can be overstated, our initial invasion clearly made us seem like a less trustworthy hegemon reckless and revisionist rather than steady and reliable. Then the way the war contributed to our internal divisions and derangements also made American culture seem less admirable and the broader liberal-democratic project seem less inevitable. So not only Russia and China but also other power centers, from India to Turkey, were pushed toward post-American and post-Western paths by everything that followed.

Now return to the comparison between 2023 and our Reagan-era situation, barely a decade after the last helicopters left Saigon. By 1985, we had managed to separate China from Russia, the Soviet economy was faltering, and Mikhail Gorbachev had just been elected general secretary of the Communist Party, with glasnost and the fall of the Berlin Wall just around the corner. Today, with Russia and China increasingly aligned together against us and Chinese influence increasing, we seem to be descending back into the kind of twilight struggle that in 85 we were poised to finally transcend. So if Vietnam 20 years on looked like a disaster that in our strength we were able to absorb, a surmountable obstacle to American ascent, Iraq 20 years on looks more like our empires nemesis, full stop.

Of course, appearances can be deceiving. Almost nobody in 1985 realized just how quickly the Soviet Union would collapse, and perhaps today the American comeback is already beginning. We have resources and forms of legitimacy that are lacking in our more authoritarian rivals; their systems are persistently vulnerable to the follies of autocratic decision-making. And the Ukraine conflict, for some, is seen as a possible doorway to revival reinvigorating the West much as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II once did, drawing Putin into the same sort of quagmire that Afghanistan offered to the Soviets, helping us shake our Iraq distemper on a different timetable than with our Vietnam syndrome, but with similar results.

Its not a coincidence that among those most invested in this hope are some of the Iraq Wars most ardent advocates. They want redemption, understandably, for their vision of American power, if not for the Iraq decision itself.

I dont share their optimism, but Im not surprised at its resilience especially when the alternative possibility, that a single choice made with such confidence 20 years ago still has our empire on a sunset path today, seems too terrible to bear.

Ross Douthat | The New York Times(CREDIT: Josh Haner/The New York Times)

Ross Douthat is a columnist for The New York Times.

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The Vietnam effect was more of a fever, whereas the Iraq effect ... - Salt Lake Tribune

Republicans

With the old media order losing ground, a new cadre of extreme voices has emerged, precipitating a GOP shift to Maga populism

He has a platform that most politicians would envy. But Jack Posobiec is not to be found on Americas major TV networks or in its newspapers. He is among a cadre of online influencers who now shape the far right and could help decide the Republican presidential primary race in 2024.

Two operatives made the very same prediction, that Posobiec will matter as much to future GOP voters as Washington Post columnist George Will did to Republicans a generation ago, political journalist David Weigel wrote in a Semafor newsletter last week.

That observation prompted Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator and former White House official, to tweet in response: Were doomed.

Such expectations speak volumes about the breakdown of the old media order, flawed as it was, and the rise of new and often extreme voices in the digital age. It also reflects a parallel shift in the Republican party from country club to Make America great again populism.

Will, 81, edited the conservative National Review magazine, won a Pulitzer prize for commentary in 1977, was described by the Wall Street Journal as perhaps the most powerful journalist in America and quit the Republican party over Donald Trump in 2016.

Posobiec, 38, gained prominence as a pro-Trump activist during the 2016 election. He promoted bogus conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate, which held that Democrats were running a child sex and torture ring beneath a pizzeria in Washington. He is a senior editor at the far-right news and commentary website Human Events.

Posobiec has used Twitter where his 2 million followers include representatives, senators and journalists to promote Russian military intelligence operations, pushed false claims of election fraud and collaborated with white nationalists, Proud Boys and neo-Nazis, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit legal advocacy organisation.

Yet it is Posobiec and others like him who are already helping to set the narrative for the Republican presidential primary. Posobiecs recent online activity includes crude attacks on Antifa, the New York Timess 1619 Project and transgender rights (Genital Gestapo) ready-made talking points for candidates.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who belonged to the conservative Tea Party, recognises the changes of a fragmented media landscape. Ten years ago, going on CNN and MSNBC, you had great influence, he said. Now not a lot of people watch any more. More people will listen to me if I go on somebodys podcast or something. Its a completely different world now where influencers have great say.

But at what cost? Walsh added: It has nothing to do with ideas. It has nothing to do with intellect. Its all about trolling people, getting clicks and being outrageous. Theres a whole cast of characters that has sprung up over the last five to six years and they have great influence now. The Jack Posobiecs and all the rest of these guys are not fringe; they speak for a big chunk of the base.

The growth of partisan echo chambers was evident in last years midterm elections as Republicans, in particular, snubbed the mainstream media in favour of rightwing outlets and often refused to debate their Democratic opponents.

And earlier this month, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the National Harbor in Maryland, the former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon loomed large, drawing crowds as he opined loudly on Real Americas Voice, a channel that is popular with the base but little known outside it.

Bannons War Room podcast was named the number one spreader of misinformation among political talkshows in a recent study by the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington. Yet its guests have included prominent Republicans in Congress such as Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Leading online influencers appear united in their support for Trumpism, and rejection of the Republican establishment, but divided over the fate of the party nomination for 2024. Early shots have been fired in what could be a ferocious battle between them.

Trump sympathisers include Alex Bruesewitz, Mike Cernovich and Laura Loomer as well as a Twitter user known as Catturd and the former presidents own son, Don Jr. Among supporters of Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who is expected to run, are John Cardillo and Bill Mitchell.

Another influencer, Chaya Raichik, has dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida (He seems nice!) but also disclosed that, when she was revealed to be behind a provocative Twitter account called Libs of Tik Tok, she received a call from DeSantiss team offering her a guest house if she needed to go into hiding.

Other rightwing personalities such as Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens augment their social media presence with countless in-person appearances at conferences, on television and at university campuses. The owning the libs talking points that circulate in this ecosystem frequently work their way into the discourse of the conservative network Fox News.

David Litt, an author and former speechwriter for Barack Obama, said: This is like research and development for Fox. If something gets enough traction with the online audience, then I wouldnt be surprised if you start to see Fox hosts piggybacking on that once they think thats where their audience is headed.

Posobiecs Pizzagate conspiracy theory had real world consequences when a man travelled to Washington and fired an assault rifle inside the relevant pizza restaurant, later receiving a four-year prison sentence. Litt said it was alarming that, despite such incidents, Republicans have welcomed far-right influencers into their big tent rather than condemning them.

The threat of violence is out there and the flames are being fanned by a lot of these influencers. We wouldnt have called David Duke an influencer back in the day. We would have been very clear about who he was and the danger that he posed to our democracy and to the society that the rest of us would like to continue to enjoy living in, regardless of which party is in charge.

As for Will, who is approaching a half-century at the Washington Post, his column this week discussed freedom of speech and unauthorised immigration. It may not matter much to the Republican primary. Walsh, the ex-congressman, observed: The base no longer knows who the fuck George Will is and thats an absolute shame.

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Its all about trolling: how far-right influencers are shaping Republican narrative - The Guardian US

In his third year of college, Donalds realized he had to turn his life around. When he learned he could transfer his credits to Florida State University but leave his GPA behind, he jumped at the opportunity. He joined a business fraternity and met a woman named Erika, who invited him to visit her church. He accepted, and within those walls found the purpose hed been searching for. The experience led, indirectly, to Donalds pledging his life to Christ in a Cracker Barrel parking lot during an unauthorized shift break. Donalds graduated from FSU with degrees in marketing and finance and a serious relationship. Two years after Erika took him to church, Byron took her back there, and the pair were married in 2003.

Erika and Byron found high-paying jobs in the finance sector, settled down in Naples, and had three children. Through God, hard work, and a good private school education, the kid from Brooklyn had achieved the American dream. Translating those ideas into political action didnt begin until 2008, when the financial crash hit. I turned on the House Financial Services Committee one day, and I was pissed, he told The Daily Signal. I was like, Who are these people? They dont know what theyre talking about.

Cable news pundits didnt seem to know what they were talking about either. A friend advised listening to Mark Levin, a radio talk show host whom Sean Hannity calls The Great One and Rolling Stones Peter Wade called a bomb-throwing Trump sycophant. The more Donalds listened, the more sense Levin made. He began to read books Levin recommended: Bastiat, Locke, Montesquieu. He changed his voting registration to Republican, threw in with the Tea Party, and never looked back.

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The Education of Byron Donalds, the Right-Wing Fringe's Newest Star - The New Republic