By Will Bunch
they believe Obama Isn't an American Citizen.
they suspect Obama desires to positioned americans in focus Camps.
they believe Obama Is the Anti-Christ.
This Isn't simply the Tea Party—Welcome to the Backlash.
In November 2008, the election of Barack Obama was once imagined to bring in a brand new age of desire, optimism, and postpartisan politics. as an alternative it provoked unheard of anger at the some distance correct that finally twisted vital nationwide discussions and driven principles from the conservative fringe into the mainstream media. within the resulting months, numerous pollsters and journalists have attempted to appreciate the guts of this mob that seemed so without notice, yet none of them has effectively accounted for the hard-right movement's fast progress or defined the hidden connections among its elements. earlier.
during this gripping exposÉ, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Will Bunch unearths the secrets and techniques in the back of the campaign opposed to Obama, exploring how forces like radical armed forces teams, the Tea celebration, pro-gun zealots, and Glenn Beck have mixed outdated populist outrage with digital-age phobias to supply a wave of resentment that many have ridden immediately to the financial institution. Pulling again the curtain at the paranoid politics of a brand new iteration, Bunch exhibits how occasions comparable to the election of America's first African-American president, the commercial recession, the increase of social networking, and the phenomenon of Glenn Beck have created a perilous political second that poses valid dangers to democracy in the US.
From conspiracy theorists to secessionists, birthers to "independent" Tea Partiers, Bunch illuminates the binds between this new array of teams. Going past effortless sketch, he strips away layers of rhetoric to bare politicians like Paul Broun, who, as probably the most severe individuals of Congress, works as difficult for right-wing ideologues as he does for his economically battered parts, and teams just like the Oath Keepers, a fast-growing, ultraradical association that spreads unsubstantiated fears of Obama confiscating weapons and putting U.S. voters in focus camps. moreover, Bunch exposes the opportunists who've embraced a brand new model of apocalyptic fearmongering, which has made them hundreds of thousands yet has additionally resulted in the common paranoia that has helped gas an increase in antigovernment violence.
the outcome exhibits the genuine stakes of this political ideal hurricane, demonstrating how the anger of the some distance instantly threatens to eat the US. strong, surprising, and thought-provoking, The Backlash is a debatable examine the place our democracy is—and the place it can be heading.