This seems to be a good time to remind ourselves that MAGA has always been a Russian-backed operation to weaken every facet of classic Western liberalism in the United States, especially our adherence to democracy. Putin and his allies found a Republican party that doesn’t want to face the changing demographics and values in the modern United States. Trump can cite “No collusion” all he wants but it is a fact that the Russians dumped money straight into the NRA, fully backed Trump in 2016, surely did it again in 2020, still uses Tucker Carlson as propaganda on Russian television, and – as Marjorie Taylor-Greene becomes more influential than even John McCain might have been at his peak, Russia uses MTG to make Putin’s case here in the United States that it is Joe Biden who is responsible for all those Ukrainian deaths.

Had we just left Ukraine to its own defense, we could have had Russia as an ally, according to Marjorie but we blew it. We helped Ukraine and now Ukrainians are dying. It is Joe Biden’s fault.

Before you guffaw and say “No one will believe her,” just this morning there is a new YouGov poll out showing that 68% of Fox viewers believe that January 6th was primarily instigated by the Left to make Trump look bad.

So, despite the fact that Marjorie’s minute-long diatribe is self-contradicting and unprincipled, it represents the thinking of many MAGA voters. Putin has no agency in this at all. The United States is responsible for the horrors in Ukraine, according to Marjorie:

Marge Greene tonight says that Putin just wanted to be our friend and ally, but we blew the opportunity by supporting Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/ZU9sKBRu48

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) July 2, 2022

MAGA was born as an updated version of long-held KGB doctrine that America could be destroyed from within if the Russians could just obtain control of one American political party. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Russians focused on the American left. By the early 21st Century, Russia was dumping money into the NRA, and the control was near-cemented in the 2016 Republican party convention when the Trump team demanded only one change to the Republican platform, that portion that opposed the 2014 Russian invasion of a portion of Ukraine. MAGA was Russian-produced then, MAGA is Russian-produced now.

In 2020 the GOP didn’t have a platform. Autocrats don’t have “policy beliefs,” they believe in power.

We would all do well to accept the fact that the leaders of the Republican party look to the Russian government and see what they want. A one-party state, run by the right people, without time for your niceties, and classic liberalism. Fascism is a much better system when the primary goal is keeping wealthy conservative white men at the top. Despite yeoman’s work by the Select Committee, things continue to fall into place to ensure that we get there, even if Trump goes to prison, see our newly freed SCOTUS. Getting rid of stare decisis will be essential to instilling a new type of American government, one that is constitutional in name only.

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Marjorie Taylor-Greene doesn’t have the intellectual ability to set out her argument in any sort of believable way, but she’s giving us the main gist here. We should never have stood up for democracy. We could have been allies with Russia (wouldn’t that have been great) but now she worries we won’t be allies for a long time. We blew it. The United States could have been lucky and been Putin’s friend, instead we chose to destroy Ukraine.

Putin couldn’t tell the story better.

New York Times: “Although abortion rights supporters say their strategy is promising, the path ahead is slow and not at all certain. Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly say that the decision to have an abortion should be made by women and their doctors rather than state legislatures. But Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed hundreds of restrictions on abortion over the last decade, and legislative districts are heavily gerrymandered to protect Republican incumbents. Litigation in state courts will be decided by judges who in many cases have been appointed by anti-abortion governors.”

“Abortion rights groups say their cases relying on state constitutions offer a viable path forward to establish Roe-like protections in states. Even in conservative states such as Oklahoma and Mississippi, they see an opportunity to overturn abortion bans and establish a constitutional backstop against further restriction.”

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While plenty of people read purely for entertainment, I truly believe books do incredible work in teaching us about others and about ourselves. In addition to the obvious exposure to folks who are not like us—learning about other cultures, religions, and lifestyles, for example—books can fundamentally teach us empathy, compassion, and critical thinking skills. Books can keep our attention beyond a clickbait headline. Books can remind us that we all possess a deep humanity that isn’t always at the forefront of, say, arguing with a stranger on the internet about mask mandates. 

Supporting authors is one of the obvious ways to keep books accessible for all. This can look like buying a book, sure. It can also look like requesting a book at your local library. It can also look like speaking out against censorship attempts at your local school board meeting. It can even include advocating on behalf of readers who aren’t like yourself—maybe your library system isn’t great about providing large-print books or audiobooks, for example. If you have the time to do some polite outreach and make requests, it could really help your overall community access free content. 

It’s also always valuable to make an effort to read books by marginalized writers. Yes, read what you want. And yes, take time to reflect on what you’re reading and where your dollars are going. When it comes to buying presents for a friend or family member, for example, considering supporting an author whose identity is historically or systemically under attack if you normally go for white, cisgender, heterosexual folks. 

There’s also a great joy to be found in community and family book events. As we’ve seen as of late, for instance, the far-right Proud Boys have taken to terrorizing kids and families at LGBTQ+ Pride Month book events. Pride Month is coming to a close, but these sorts of efforts should happen all year, and at no point do kids deserve to be screamed at or have their programming canceled.

Even if you don’t have kids, it can still be effective to reach out and show support for such programming. It can even make a positive impact to share such events on social media and drop a few words of encouragement for the staff creating them. 

I’d love to hear what you’re reading this summer or any reading challenges you’re doing. (And if you’re a writer yourself, please feel free to share your own work!)