How the January 6, 2021 insurrection’s ideology came straight out of 1990s California politics

It has been one year since the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.  Jean Guerrero for the Los Angeles Times wrote an interesting commentary drawing parallels between the insurrection and the anti-immigrant politics that thrived in California (especially surrounding Proposition 187 (1994) in the 1990s).  Guerrero is the author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump and the White Nationalist Agenda. 

I found Guerrero’s analysis incredibly interesting and compelling.

Guerrero discusses a report released this by the University of Chicago that found that “the more than 700 insurrectionists criminally charged in the attack were not members of some extreme political fringe. They’re from the mainstream; only 7% were unemployed. Half were business owners or white-collar workers, including doctors, lawyers, accountants. The great majority — nearly 90% — were not part of extremist groups like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers.”

Guerrero proceeds:  “The insurrection is a `political movement,’ not ordinary criminal activity, though crimes can be involved . . . . And the key driver of the movement is the white supremacist `Great Replacement‘ theory.”  Guerrero sees this theory as coming straight out of California politics from the 1990s:  “The answer is predictable: About 75% of pro-insurrection adults, according to the [University of Chicago] study, have the delusion that Democrats are importing `Third World” immigrants to ‘replace’ them.”

The Great Replacement theory, according to Guerrero, is openly promoted by leading conservatives, such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson.  Republican leaders “opened the Pandora’s box of `replacement’ paranoia in California in the 1990s with scaremongering about a decline in the state’s white population and an imagined Mexican `reconquista.’ Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller, for one, grew up in California during that time.”  Guerrero discusses how the spurt of nativism took many forms, including border vigilantism and unfounded voter fraud claims, which were precursors to similar claims by Donald Trump. “During the 1988 elections, uniformed guards were hired by local Republicans to patrol mostly Latino neighborhoods, where some held up signs saying `Non-citizens can’t vote.’ In 1990, ousted San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock peddled voter fraud hysteria on his talk show.

Harold Ezell, co-author of the notorious Prop 187 — which sought to deny social services for undocumented people — launched a voter fraud task force and hot line within days of the 1994 election.”

The Chicago report warns that this movement, with its approval of the use of violence, may well “continue (or grow) with the coming election season and as Trump launches his own social media platform.”

KJ