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This is a pretty accurate & succinct summary of what happened at Oregon's state capitol yesterday. The Republican legislator mentioned at the end of the article came outside to speak with and in support of the people trying to forcibly enter the building. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-12-22/tensions-rise-inside-and-outside-of-oregons-capitol
Here's a fuller account from a local Salem outlet. https://www.salemreporter.com/posts/3322/as-lawmakers-meet-protesters-attempt-to-storm-capitol-building
Here's a thread from an excellent journalist who was onsite and captured much of the action on video. Their wry commentary also nicely captures the absurdity of the word view driving these actions. https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1341236540211511297?s=20
One thing worth noting is that the journalist linked above, like many people who cover and write about the American right (both its history and its current iteration), grew up in a conservative community. Such folks come to this topic with much up-close experience.
It bugs me when conservatives assume that critics of the American right are somehow detached elitists who do not really understand the topic from the inside. Most historians of conservatism I know, for example, grew up in conservative families and communities.
I listen to a good number of self-described "conservative" podcasts because I teach a course on American conservatism. I'm always struck by how little effort most conservatives give to actually understanding the liberal or progressive worldview. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1072597041379983360?s=20
Where many on the left strive to understand the American right on its own terms (while still being critical of it), most conservatives rest content with a ridiculous straw person understanding of their opponents. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1074095188811739136?s=20
This is as good a time as any to recommend this excellent podcast that has done much great work to offer an in-depth, historically informed analysis of the American right. https://twitter.com/MatthewSitman/status/1341103459551088641?s=20
The fact that there is no equivalent on the right, nothing even close, points to a key asymmetry in American politics.
