There is a guy in the Vice News documentary QAnon: The Search for Q who is asked if he really believes what he’s been saying, that Michelle Obama is secretly a man. Rather than give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, he simply says, “I hate that woman, so why wouldn’t I say something like that about her?”

I thought about that guy when reading two separate pieces by Steve M. over at his blog. The first was about how performative mean-spiritedness is the point of a lot Republican behavior. Acting shitty towards people the Republican base doesn’t like gets your rewarded. And if opportunities to be cruel aren’t available, then simply hassling your enemies will do. See, presently, Sen. Ron Johnson forcing the Senate clerks to read aloud the entire COVID-19 bill, or Sen. Tom Cotton using a procedural move to delay the confirmation of Merrick Garland as Attorney General. In our context, saying nasty stuff about Michelle Obama is a no-brainer because she’s someone folks don’t like. The overall point is just to be dick because being a dick works.

The second piece is about the stage at the recent CPAC conference in Orlando. As Steve M. correctly observes, it’s simply not true that the stage was intentionally built to resemble a Nazi symbol.

But, liberals and progressives don’t like the folks who run or attend CPAC conferences, so why not make this allegation? Right? Shouldn’t we get rewarded too for saying nasty untrue things about our political opponents?

It really does work both ways. There are plenty of progressives who’ve built enormous followings by working with this exact model, especially by attacking Democrats. I’m thinking of FireDogLake, Glenn Greenwald, and Katie Halper just to name three off the top of my head.

I don’t do this, so my following doesn’t grow by leaps and bounds. It’s also why you should follow me on Twitter and Facebook and get a subscription here so I can continue to do what I do without being punished for it.

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