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Radical right-wing Moms welcome 5 top GOP 2024 hopefuls to weekend summit in Philly [1]

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Date: 2023-06-30

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Moms for Liberty is a radical and dangerous right-wing extremist group. Which means it still has a ways to go to catch up to the Republican Party—a fringe political organization that now rejects freedom, democracy (here and abroad), the rule of law, and the American dream in favor of virulent, flag-humping troglodytes like Donald Trump.

And because Republican primaries have long since devolved into a vapid beauty ugly-racist contest, several GOP presidential candidates are traveling to Philadelphia this weekend to be feted and/or vetted by the M4L group, which might be more accurately dubbed Moms for Banning Pretty Much Every Book in the Canon Except the One With All the Rapes and Genocides (aka M4BPMEBCEOWRG).

Among those attending are Donald Trump and four other GOP “candidates” who are pretending to run against him, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Vivek Ramaswamy, whose idea of running for president is promising to pardon his top competitor—and maybe hold down Attorney General Merrick Garland as Trump gives him a raging pink belly—if elected.

RELATED STORY: Moms for Liberty chapter uses Hitler quote about 'owning youth' in member newsletter

The Washington Post:

This weekend, five Republican presidential candidates … plan to take the stage at a Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia, highlighting their conviction that educational issues will mobilize their base in the 2024 election. It also signals how polarized education politics have become — and spotlights the veneration with which conservatives now regard Moms for Liberty, a group that didn’t exist three years ago but which today boasts more than 100,000 members across 44 states.

This might be the time to point out that one local Moms for Liberty chapter recently used an Adolf Hitler quote in its newsletter. And, no, it wasn’t just an oversight. They specifically credited him—which would only be okay if you literally didn’t know who Hitler was. Which, come to think of it, is possible if you’re allowed to read nothing but VeggieTales books that conspicuously omit the Veggie Gang’s lovable Dr. Josef ManLegume character.

x The Hamilton County chapter of Moms for Liberty's first newsletter, which was posted on Facebook last night, quoted Adolf Hitler. Here's what you need to know. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/vCW9wfzJyM — IndyStar (@indystar) June 22, 2023

The Post:

[T]o a generation of conservative parents first exasperated by masking, vaccine mandates and covid-driven school closures, Moms for Liberty has become the champion for a burgeoning parents’ rights movement — one that Republicans say is combating indoctrination around diversity and inclusion. In its ascent, the group has accrued tremendous influence in the GOP. Although Moms for Liberty does not plan to endorse a presidential candidate — and its founders have not asked for specific actions they’d like the next president to take — chapter leaders are meeting frequently with various campaigns, and the group is assuming a role as one of the new 2024 gatekeepers.

For those keeping score at home, that’s scary as fuck. Because Moms for Liberty itself is scary AF, and its growing influence over the GOP means you’re bound to see more anti-gay, anti-trans, fake-history shenanigans until these maniacs are voted out of office.

As VICE News points out, this weekend’s convention will feature other speakers, who are somehow even more radical than the current crop of “mainstream” GOP candidates.

As VICE notes, Moms for Liberty styles itself as a grassroots movement concerned with parental rights. But it is actually an astroturf group, with deep ties to far-right Christian organizations and other extremist groups, including the Proud Boys. Members of the group, writes VICE, have “harassed and viciously attacked school board members, parents and students, as well as those who dare oppose their book ban campaigns and efforts to undermine LGBTQ protections.”

Meanwhile, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which closely monitors right-wing extremism, has described the group this way:

Moms for Liberty activities make it clear that the group’s primary goals are to fuel right-wing hysteria and to make the world a less comfortable or safe place for certain students – primarily those who are Black, LGBTQ or who come from LGBTQ families. A Tennessee chapter of Moms for Liberty, for example, claimed that the state’s second-grade curriculum, which includes a book about Martin Luther King Jr. and another by Ruby Bridges, was “anti-White.” Their focused attack on critical race theory became a substitute for most things pertaining to Black history and culture. Other chapters have attacked the book Gender Queer, a memoir about adolescence by a non-binary author, and others that explore sexuality and gender identity. The group has shown up alongside Proud Boys at multiple protests, including in Florida and Texas.

Ouch.

Of course, Philadelphia—which helped deliver Pennsylvania for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election—is hardly rolling out the red-state carpet for these problematic mothers. Everyone from historians to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are protesting the group’s appearance.

RELATED STORY: Parents rip school board that caved to 'Moms for Liberty'

Local residents have fiercely confronted the group, and Philly Mayor Jim Kenney released a statement condemning its well-documented bigotry.

"With the Moms for Liberty summit beginning in Philadelphia this week, I want to be very clear that as a welcoming and inclusive City, we find this group’s beliefs and values problematic. We oppose this group’s policy goals, which include attempts to disregard history, ban books, and silence conversations about race, gender, and sexuality...However, in spite of our disagreement with the views of Moms for Liberty, we also take freedom of speech very seriously. The City’s response to any demonstration or public protest will prioritize the safety of participants and members of the public." “We strive in everything that we do to live up to our nickname as the City of Brotherly Love through respect and tolerance, and by honoring our city’s incredible diversity and the dignity and uniqueness of every individual.”

x Protestors block portions of Chestnut St outside of The Museum of The American Revolution where a welcome reception for Moms for Liberty begins at 6 pm. The National Organization’s 4 day summit began in Center City today. pic.twitter.com/SuMVkrDbkx — Annie McCormick (@6abcAnnie) June 29, 2023

Of course, Republican hopefuls don’t have a monopoly on this sort of nonsense. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who’s running for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination as a Republican—was scheduled to speak at the event but recently pulled out, citing a scheduling conflict.

Or maybe—just maybe—even the frothing anti-vaxxer, who once claimed people under vaccine mandates had it worse than Anne Frank and is currently tickled pink that Trump likes him, thought the group was just a bit too weird and fringe. Because anything seems possible these days, right?



RELATED STORY: RFK Jr. is running on his name, because he's sure not running as a Democrat

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