On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. Since the announcement, right-wing media have launched sexist and racist attacks against Harris in an effort to diminish her qualifications. They’ve claimed she can’t be president because she doesn’t have biological children, labeled her “the ultimate diversity, equity, and inclusion candidate,” fixated on her laugh, claimed that she promotes “the occult,” and likened her to a “Jezebel.”
The wave of bigoted attacks against Harris got so toxic that some right-wing pundits and House Republican leaders are begging Donald Trump and his supporters to stick to policy critiques rather than racist and misogynistic invective. As Media Matters’ Matt Gertz writes, “They are all right to be worried. Harris is the biracial daughter of two immigrants and would become the first woman president, and the right is chock-full of freaks who garner audience and money through bigotry.” Unfortunately, those attempting to keep the right’s attacks focused on policy may find it difficult — the right-wing propaganda machine has been selling bigotry for a profit for decades, and it doesn’t have an off-switch.
Another pillar in the right-wing attacks on Harris revolves around spreading misinformation about her, such as recycling old attacks related to a cash bail fund in 2020 or falsely claiming she was Biden’s “border czar.” One of the most disgusting flanks in this attack is a resurrected birther smear against her, similar to the conspiracy theory told by right-wing pundits (and Trump) about President Barack Obama. This is a racist lie used by MAGA pundits to signal to their audience that people like Harris and Obama are somehow less American.
Right-wing media were caught flat footed right after Biden’s announcement as they saw their anti-Biden message honed over the past few years replaced by total chaos. They’re now throwing as much hatred and misinformation against the wall as they can, hoping something will stick.
In resurfaced audio, Donald Trump celebrated his administration’s efforts to implement the Heritage Foundation’s policy recommendations during his first year in office. During a June 2018 roundtable on tax reform in Las Vegas, Trump bragged about implementing “top agenda items” suggested by Heritage Foundation in his first year in office. Heritage Foundation is the leading think tank behind Project 2025.
The Trump campaign has recently been attempting to distance itself from Heritage and Project 2025. Trump began to distance himself from the initiative after Heritage President Kevin Roberts said that “we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
Despite Trump’s effort to put distance between himself and Project 2025, there is ample evidence that the former president is closely aligned with the initiative. This resurfaced audio is yet one more example.
As Texas and the Caribbean recover from Hurricane Beryl, conspiracy theorists on TikTok say flooding from the Category 5 storm was actually caused by the movements of an ancient mythological sea serpent called a Leviathan.
Beryl was the earliest recorded Category 5 storm to ever form in the Atlantic Ocean. A recent analysis found that the hurricane was “fueled by exceptionally warm ocean temperatures,” which are directly attributable to climate change.
Between April and July, Media Matters identified several TikTok videos that accrued millions of views suggesting that the movements of a giant sea monster were responsible for the destruction caused by Beryl, earthquakes, and atmospheric disturbances. Other videos claimed that these events were signs of a Leviathan that would ultimately bring the apocalypse.
Right-wing Chrisian media figures and conspiracy theorists have similarly attributed past natural disasters to cosmic or religious events that are beyond human control to discredit or dismiss how human-caused climate change is fueling extreme weather events.
