Unbroken

Last night on RadPod & Chill, Jim and HiFi — my cohosts — did a fantastic job of cutting through the noise with me to get to the high concept: operatives on the right and the left are coordinating to deliver us to fascism.

They are using the entertainment industry, they are using formerly respected politicos, they are using stochastic terrorism, they are using the propaganda trick — the walk-back — and very importantly — they are stealing our words and deploying them against the pro-democracy contingency in America. It’s insidious and constant. Last night on our show, I was visibly agitated at the co-opting of language and how in order to expose the fascist tactics, we are forced to use the vile words and vile narratives they plant in order to combat them.

This is a mind war, as Jim often says. Putin has been weakened by Trump’s loss, as Craig Unger explained on the most recent RadPod breaker. The traitors in the US are not even hiding their desperation to prop Putin back up on the world stage — and with millions of Americans radicalized, they are continually consuming garbage politics, garbage media, and being inflamed to commit more violence.

Why is that?

Because we’ve memory holed the coup, as Ruth Ben-Ghiat cautioned us not to do. We’ve memory holed the indictments from two months ago, and the ones before that, we forgot about the American Monsters — which I will keep reminding you about on these pages.

In a tweet subsequently deleted from an account long ago deactivated, Yale professor Jason Stanley — who wrote the seminal tome How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them — noted:

The normalization warriors are central to the fascist creep.—Jason Stanley

Is it too uncomfortable in America to look fascism right in the eye… is that our problem? Too undainty to acknowledge how far down the slide we already are?

On RadPod, we are not afraid. Jim is busy on Twitter dismantling the myths around the exploitation film Sound of Freedom — an indoctrination event for mainstreaming QAnon, while also getting racist music canceled. HiFi is suffering yet another Twitter ban for pointing out J.D. Vance’s fealty to Peter Thiel, who “funded the QAnon incubator MAGA3X” — in one of his least offensive and pointedly accurate tweets. HiFi wields words like a blunt instrument — he fights fascists with fire. Jim and HiFi are generals in an unseen war.

I try to rise above the noise, always reminding myself and others to never lose my humanity. I do not do this perfectly.

The totality of it hit me hard last night — it was a day after Chaos Agent and Professional Saboteur Vatnik #64 desecrated our body politic with a pornographic show-and-tell deployed to disturb and distract. That is, after all, her job. I was reminded by Martin Sheil and Monique Camarra to not pay much attention to the chaos agents, to not lose my psychological footing as I do this work, but that seemed like a whole new bottom coming on the heels of days when the Russian op known as MAGA is revealing over and over again that it has no bottom. Yes, these are desperate acts by desperately corrupt criminals. I know this intellectually, but corporate media continues to fail the very people they are meant to serve as it normalizes the fascist creep.

A Friend of Bette sent me this screenshot from MSNBC (the X is mine):

It doesn’t matter that the anchor was saying how dangerous this administration would be*, the mere fact of creating the gfx and showing it to millions of viewers is normalizing the abnormal, pre-grooming them as if criminal agent Trump getting reinstalled is a thing.

Those people in that image are American Monsters — they are propping up a democratic assassin sent by Putin through Manafort and Roger Stone, and they are trying to create an unreality and forcing people to live in it.

Last night after we finished filming RP&C, the video was still rolling and I told the guys I was sorry for being so weird, and then I said, “I’m broken.” The video cut out before anyone could hear their soothing words. They get it and offer me comfort, always.

What I said was true — this war has broken pieces of me. The psychological battery day in day out, the death threats, the fact that some of the operatives who denigrate my team and democracy, I actually grew up with, went to Catholic school with. Now, sweet memories of my youth are tainted by the reality of this war. I wonder what happened to them, and pray for them anyway. It gives me relief.

When I first was targeted in a coordinated malinformation campaign using what Jackie Singh calls ‘multi-vector civilian intimidation tactics’ back in 2018 when I was working on a Congressional campaign to oust Dana Rohrabacher, I was given a gift — true sorrow of knowing my life would never be the same. I began a process of recovery that sustains me every day. It has strengthened me, prepared me for these times.

During that period, I sought music for relief. I was at a punk show and ran into my friend Louis Perez III — the son of Los Lobos’ drummer and a musician in his own right. Louis is also a tattoo artist. I asked him if he had time to ink ‘Unbroken’ on my forearm. I had never felt more broken in my life, and I knew I would need that word in the future.

He made the time. Most of my tattoos are words of empowerment, and icons of feminine beauty and strength. ‘Unbroken’ is now permanently inked on me as a reminder that these monsters can’t break me. With each attempt, I only grow stronger.

This is a war that tries to break people. By continuing to write and by growing this community, doing the labor of democracy together, I am heartened and reminded always of the goodness in people.

I am reminded that when we come together we move mountains.

I am reminded that we all can’t do everything, but we can each do something.

I am reminded that it’s okay to feel broken some days, but that feeling isn’t a fact.

I am reminded that I am unbroken, and I get back to work.

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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you as well to all those who support my work with your generous coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. Some of you prefer making subsidizing donations via venmo, and it’s always greatly appreciated. If you wish to gift a membership, you can do so by donating to the ko-fi or venmo accounts, and indicate it’s for a gift, or do so here.

I am running an ‘Unbroken’ special this weekend so please consider joining our community.

Also, a private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous@gmail.com. 🥹

Two upcoming dates: Our July 30 ‘Speakeasy’ with special guest Ruth Ben-Ghiat at 4 pm PT; and Tuesday’s Happy Hour wellness checkin at 5 pm PT. We will break for indictments, so I’ll send out a last minute invite when that happens. Registration links to all events will be sent a day or two in advance.

We just have to see that the battle for democracy is broader. It's deeper.—David Pepper

I need people to see they're on the frontline. Wherever you live, if you’re doing this work, you are the frontline.—David Pepper

The message should be a fair deal… fairness everywhere.—Martin Sheil

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“I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth.”-Audrey Peterman.

“May the viral hope for truth and humanity wash away the chaos of these years.”-S.C., Bette community member

“Something Sacred never dies in almost all of us, who can hear the invitation of Truth…”-words from a Bette Dangerous community member

“Non-violent protest is a life-affirming activity as it seeks to promote a more humane society.”-Ellen Zucker

“Nothing but blue skies from now on…”-Irving Berlin

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