Over the past decade, the bogus and racist claim that migrants entering the United States in search of a better life are conducting an “invasion” of the country has moved from the fringes of right-wing media to its core. Conservative media figures, across the entire spectrum of the media ecosphere, warn that faceless brown masses are threatening the personal safety of and national identity of Americans.
This kind of language was once limited to far-right figures like Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Steve King, and the Minutemen militia. Over time, it was picked up by right-wing stars like Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson. Republican Party leaders, up to and including Donald Trump, have followed in their wake. And along the way, armed white nationalists spouting the same talking point conducted a series of massacres.
This racist and dangerous rhetoric is now the pretext of a looming constitutional crisis. Texas and the U.S. government are in a standoff over whether the state’s government can defy orders from federal officials by constructing and maintaining razor-wire barriers along the border with Mexico. Despite a recent Supreme Court ruling, Texas officials are still preventing federal agents from entering the area.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is contending that his state is suffering an “invasion.” Despite the fact that legal experts have skewered Abbott’s claim, every Republican governor but one and numerous Republican members of Congress are supporting Abbott.
As Media Matters’ Matt Gertz writes:
“It’s impossible to disaggregate the Republican Party’s full-throated adoption of the bogus ‘invasion’ analogy as a constitutional argument from the right-wing media’s use of that rhetoric.”
On January 30, Christian nationalist pastor and far-right media figure Jack Hibbs gave the House of Representatives’ opening prayer as a guest chaplain at the invitation of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Hibbs used the opportunity to pray for God to bring “holy fear” to the representatives in preparation for a “coming day of judgment” in which “all who have been and are now in authority will answer to” God.
Hibbs is a pro-Trump Christian nationalist who has built a right-wing media profile through interviews on Fox News, Newsmax, and Charlie Kirk’s Salem Media program. He has openly supported right-wing candidates, campaigns against LGBTQ inclusion in public schools, warns of an imminent civil war in the U.S., and uses bigoted rhetoric against marginalized communities. He also frequently warns of a coming “Antichrist.” After the January 6 insurrection, he defended the violence at the Capitol as “what you get when you eject God from the courts and from the schools.”
Johnson has extensive ties to the Christian nationalist movement and its leading figures. He sponsored Hibbs’ January 30 prayer at the Capitol.
Right-wing media figures are attacking pop star Taylor Swift and spreading conspiracy theories about her after reporting that the Biden campaign is hoping for her endorsement. Swift has been the subject of increasing ire from the right, fielding unhinged attacks and conspiracy theories that she is secretly a Democratic operative, CIA agent, or part of a “psyop.”
- Serial plagiarist Benny Johnson speculated that the fame of both Swift and Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce has been “concocted” and that the Super Bowl will be “rigged for the chiefs.”
- Failed 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswsamy implied that the upcoming Super Bowl will be rigged for Kelce’s team to win, setting up Swift to publicly endorse Biden.
- Anti-Muslim bigot Laura Loomer posted, “The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open.”
- Fox’s Jesse Watters suggests Swift’s popularity was part of a government “psyop.”
- Newsmax host Mark Kaye suggested Swift is a Democratic operative because she held voter registration drives at concerts.
The absurdity reached such a fever pitch that some right-wing media figures are urging their fellow conservatives to back off from spreading conspiracy theories about Swift.
