A Transfusion of Love
Come on people now…
There is a very specific reason I chose Todd Helmus’ quote as the first one I highlighted from RadPod’s archives in my Read Quotes - Fight Fascism tutorial, where I selected words of wisdom specifically useful to fight against the authoritarian right’s attempts to reverse liberal democracy.
Here is that quote:
TODD HELMUS, Senior Behavioral Scientist, RAND - Ep28 RadPod
“Russia, in 2016, 2018, 2020, they’re targeting both the left and the right. The interesting approach about what Russia does is they take people’s views and make them more extreme. They want conservatives to not just be conservatives - they want them to hate immigrants. They don’t want African Americans to just be suspicious in how the Western world engages with them, they want them to be isolationist and militaristic. They wanted to turn Hillary Clinton supporters into Bernie supporters. Whatever position they’re in, they want them further away. The whole goal of that - and they definitely supported Trump over Clinton, was clear - they want to make Americans hate each other.”
PAIRS WELL WITH - my report on the Ionov indictment, which showed Russia paying both left and right groups for more than a decade to cause chaos and destabilization.
So if the goal of Russian active measures is to make us hate each other - and on these pages we have identified many people in America also contributing to that goal - then what is the solution to bring us back to the middle where we find community, family, and societal togetherness?
A transfusion of love.
As my podcast partner Jim Stewartson has consistently reminded us for years, no one brainwashes themselves.
The scare tactics and the tactical brainwashing videos that have lured people into believing unreality - first stage fascism - are designed to make those under undue influence behave ugly.
It is not easy to retain grace and double down on love, but that is our duty.
Those who did not resort to ugly behavior in return will be the first who are remembered when the spells of hate begin to wear off - which is happening in real time.
Donald Jessica Trump was arrested yesterday, and the cult is evaporating. Just wait until the last under his spell see him without the wig, tan, lifts, and in bad lighting. It will be jarring, and they may realize he has been a mobster all along. When they do, be kind.
Welcome them home to the land of facts, help them feel the love and acceptance. There but for the grace of God….
All of this hate rhetoric, and vitriol, and online terrorism is designed to make us lose trust in one another, to lose faith in a shared narrative of truth.
And I will ask you this many times in coming days - are we downhearted? A million times, no!
Look what just happened in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a love story.
Look what happens when we come together and perform the labor of democracy.
The people of Wisconsin who were assisted by the people of America rebuked the malicious reversal of women’s health care rights, they rebuked the criminal activity to carve up Wisconsin in unfair ways to give power to a party that is being rebuked throughout the country.
I am so proud of my podcast team. When we got the call on Monday that Florida Fascist Ron DeSantis is so out-of-control that the leaders of the Democratic party were arrested at a peaceful protest against the six-week abortion ban in the state, we sprung into action.
Within minutes, we zipped off a press release on these pages and were live on air from a Tallahassee jail with a Florida state representative.
The labor of democracy is a love story.
When we all participate, we can move mountains.
The future is unwritten.
We are writing it together.
We must write love into the equation.
We have work to do.
David Pepper - our guest this Sunday at Bette’s ‘Speakeasy’ - is alerting us to Ohio’s intentional voter suppression of the black and youth vote by requiring documents that nearly one million voters do not have.
We have work to do.
Double down on love.
Get into action.
We got this.
A transfusion of love is urgently needed.
💘🇺🇸🤘🏼
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
Save the date! The next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, April 9, 4 pm PT, featuring ‘Laboratories of Autocracy - A Wake Up Call from Behind the Lines’ author David Pepper.
Pepper is a brilliant democracy coach, and no one will get you more excited about how you can pitch in to save ours. Please consider subscribing to join the community. I am currently running a 20% discount off annual memberships. Looking forward to meeting new members and seeing Bette’s core group this Sunday. 🤍
(From my Women’s March photo archives, January 21, 2017, Washington DC)