LRN60 Katie Britt and the Trad Wives
LRN60 Katie Britt and the Trad Wives
If you think this is new, you need to read this
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Hello dear readers,
I hope you are all doing well. The last few weeks were a lot, but I think this is going to be the general theme for the foreseeable future. The first week of March, in particular, was interesting. I live in a “Super Tuesday” State, so we had the primary on the 5th of March. On the 7th, we watched a hopeful State of the Union address, followed by a Republican rebuttal that was, at the very least, odd - but also a window on the future of the United States. Alabama is truly doing the most this year to try and top Texas. Tennessee isn’t far behind, but it is splitting hairs to compare “red” States. We are the test cases for a bigger picture and the only way to stop the demise of democracy is to vote for Biden in November. I realize that a lot of people are tired of voting for old white dudes and they feel like Biden isn’t that much better than Trump, but as I will speak about in this post, Trump is an existential threat to the way that we have always lived in the United States. Yes - this country still has a LOT of work to do to make it equitable, fair, and safe for all citizens, but pulling your vote from Biden because things area all going your way in this particular moment leaves out the possibility of EVERYTHING not going our way in the future. This is NOT hyperbole. If you don’t believe me - check out this TikTok from ‘Under the Desk News’…
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If that doesn’t convince you that we need to vote in November to ensure that Trump does not get elected, consider the fact that Republicans plan to use the Comstock Act as precedent to outlaw the shipment of mifepristone (source: pbs.org), full stop. Not just in ‘red’ States. For more on this - listen to this extremely informative episode of We Can Do Hard Things:
What is a Trad Wife?
If you haven’t been steeped in cult documentaries, deconstruction/fundie youtube channels, or ‘very online’ evangelical content you might have missed this trend, but don’t worry - I read about this stuff so you don’t have to! I am also a bit obsessed with this content, but that is a whole other issue I might need to seek treatment for at some point.
So what is a trad wife, you might ask? The term stands for ‘traditional wife’, but not in the sense of just a stay-at-home wife and/or mother, it means so much more. The movement is heavily connected to white supremacy, anti-black, and anti-LGBTQIA++ culture. It preferences white cis women over all other women and it had its television debut after the State of the Union address this year when Katie Britt delivered the Republican rebuttal.
This trend is not new, but it has surged online several times over the past few years. A 50’s housewife aesthetic with a large dose of racism. Fear-mongering wrapped up in the stars and stripes. Patriarchal rule. Helpmeets. All the fundamentalist elements of what the current Republicans want our country to be. They want to dispense with the separation of church and state and this is the path they are choosing to take to get there.
You might remember a visual aid I shared a few years back, but if not, here it is again:
This is the blueprint. You can see we are pretty far along at this point, but there is still time to turn this around and maintain our democracy. I think you know what I’m going to say the answer is, but just in case I will repeat it again: VOTE.
The seven mountains mandate is what they are aiming for. If you haven’t heard of it, please read up on it here: Seven Mountains Mandate. Short version: they want to influence the following realms of society and bring them under Evangelical Christian rule: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. Therefore, dispense with the establishment clause portion of the first amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” (constitution.congress.gov) This is, obviously, a big problem for citizens who do not fit into the straight, white, cis, affluent, christian, assigned male at birth, box. So - basically the majority of us. In this version of the United States, people who fit in that box would be in charge and the rest of us would be in service. And not ‘in service’ in a way that we decide, but ‘in service’ to the whims and wishes of these dudes.
This road is not the true nature of what the United States was meant to be, but a false narrative that white “christian” conservative elites have sold to the GOP in order to convince that particular political party to do their bidding. This stretches all the way back to Nixon and the thread continues through Regan to Bush 1 and W, culminating in the rise of Trump. And now we are on the brink of losing our democracy. These ‘seven mountains’ people will do anything they can to uphold white “christian” supremacy and Trump is the “star” they have hooked their wagon to in an effort to maintain and grow control.
As we move through 2024, toward Election Day, I will continue to update this space with information we should all be aware of and dispel as much disinformation as I possibly can. In the meantime, if you are not yet registered to vote, please click here to find out how you can get registered: Vote.gov. This site will also allow you to check and see if your registration is still valid. Many states have cleared their voter rolls in an effort to suppress the vote and you don’t want to get blindsided when you show up on Election Day only to find that you are no longer registered in you precinct. To learn more about your rights, as a voter in the United States, check out this page at ACLU.org.
Good News from the Stacks
Thank you for reading along this month. If you made it this far, you deserve some good news!
The social media star helping people fall in love with libraries from positive.news
Public library launches 'March Meow'ness' from nbcnews.com
Persistent NJ fifth grader adds new feature at Newark Airport: children's lending library from northjersey.com
FIGHT BACK AGAINST BOOK BANS WITH PEN AMERICA from pen.org
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