Political Boogeymen (All things Koch/Soros, etc)

[Pyperkub]

One of the things we've seen over the past decade or two are the use of what I'll call Political Boogeymen to use as a justification for all sorts of fear and conspiracy mongering.

The left has had the Kochs to wave about as an example, and the right has linked Soros to just about everything under the sun.

This thread is for tracking the ways in which those political boogeymen are used to manipulate people.

[Pyperkub]

I'll lead off with this - Fox's bludgeoning of its audience with boogeyman stories about George Soros:

May 20, “Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace”: “We know what George Soros has funded. His creations have gone after you and me.”

Oct. 3, “Fox & Friends First”: “George Soros is the one slipping anti-Kavanaugh protesters cash to harass. When will the left stop these tactics?”

Oct. 2, “Hannity”: “According now tonight to FoxNews.com, many protests like the one you saw are being organized, funded, shockingly, by George Soros and a group he is backing. He’s the extremely wealthy liberal billionaire who wants to take away your Second Amendment rights, and he has a different version of what America should be, obviously.”

Oct. 2, “Fox & Friends”: “George Soros is such a dirty word to me.”

Sept. 25, “The Ingraham Angle”: “George Soros, it’s not surprising. George Soros paid for the fake dossier.”

Sept. 22, “Cavuto Live”: “I think there’s a tell in these prolonged negotiations by Dr. [Christine] Blasey [Ford]’s legal team, which by the way is … funded effectively by George Soros and his organization.”

[Holman]

I guess it's possible to Both Sides this, but I still see a difference between "Koch Brothers donations determine GOP tax policy" and "Soros is paying ISIS to pose as refugees and invade from Mexico!!"

[Pyperkub]

I guess it's possible to Both Sides this, but I still see a difference between "Koch Brothers donations determine GOP tax policy" and "Soros is paying ISIS to pose as refugees and invade from Mexico!!"

Up until their disenchantment with Trump, they were all over the place as a boogeyman to the left.

Cartoonish evil billionaires The Koch Brothers have told their allies that the groups they support plan to spend $900 million to influence the 2016 elections. That's a lot!

And this:

“Koch Brothers Exposed” chronicles the damage being done to individuals, communities and our democracy by two billionaires who are using their vast wealth to rewrite the rules of government to suit their ends. But the Koch brothers are a symbol of a greater problem of the power of money in politics—in particular, the ability of some über-rich people and large corporations to put their massive thumbs on the scale of democracy in ways that manipulate and ultimately overwhelm the will of the people.

[Holman]

Well, sure. But the difference is that the Kochs are poster children for the effect of Citizens United, actually spending a shitload to gain political influence. In the real world of reality where facts are facts and money does what money does.

If the Right were only calling out Soros for using his money to do things they don't like, it would be comparable.

[Holman]

Here's a good thread on the almost classical antisemitism underlying Soros-bashing.

[Pyperkub]

And they boogeyman theory goes all the way up and through the GOP