Amanda Marcotte - Troll Nation: How the American Right Devolved Into a Clubhouse of Haters

Copyright 2018 by Amanda Marcotte

Foreword Copyright 2018 by David Talbot

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Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-3745-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3746-4

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Foreword

By David Talbot

The world is burning, and yet the firelight illuminates the way out. The times are dire, even catastrophic. Nonetheless we can sense a grand awakening, a growing realization all around the globe that people have the power, to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools in the prophetic words of Patti Smith.

But in order to rouse ourselves from the nightmares that hold us in their grip, we need to know more about the forces that bedevil us, the structures of power that profit from humanitys exploitation and from that of the earth. Thats the impetus behind Hot Books, a series that seeks to expose the dark operations of power and to light the way forward.

Skyhorse publisher Tony Lyons and I started Hot Books in 2015 because we believe that books can make a difference. Since then the Hot Books series has shined a light on the cruel reign of racism and police violence in Baltimore (D. Watkinss The Beast Side); the poisoning of U.S. soldiers by their own environmentally reckless commanding officers (Joseph Hickmans The Burn Pits); the urgent need to hold U.S. officials accountable for their criminal actions during the war on terror (Rachel Gordons American Nuremberg); the covert manipulation of the media by intelligence agencies (Nicholas Schous Spooked); the rise of a rape culture on campus (Kirby Dick and Amy Zierings The Hunting Ground); the insidious demonizing of Muslims in the media and Washington (Arsalan Iftikhars Scapegoats); the crackdown on whistleblowers who know the governments dirty secrets (Mark Hertsgaards Bravehearts); the disastrous policies of the liberal elite that led to the triumph of Trump (Chris Hedgess Unspeakable); the American wastelands that gave rise to this dark reign (Alexander Zaitchiks The Gilded Rage); the energy titans and their political servants who are threatening human survival (Dick Russells Horsemen of the Apocalypse); the utilization of authoritarian tactics by Donald Trump that threaten to erode American democracy (Brian Klaass The Despots Apprentice); the capture, torture, and detention of the first high-value target captured by the CIA after 9/11 (Joseph Hickman and John Kiriakous The Convenient Terrorist); and the deportation of American veterans (J Malcolm Garcias Without a Country). And the series continues, going where few publishers dare.

Hot Books are more condensed than standard-length books. Theyre packed with provocative information and points of view that mainstream publishers usually shy from. Hot Books are meant not just to stir readers thinking, but to stir trouble.

Hot Books authors follow the blazing path of such legendary muckrakers and troublemakers as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jessica Mitford, I. F. Stone and Seymour Hersh. The magazines and newspapers that once provided a forum for this deep and dangerous journalism have shrunk in number and available resources. Hot Books aims to fill this crucial gap.

American journalism has become increasingly digitized and commodified. If the news isnt fake, its usually shallow. But theres a growing hunger for information that is both credible and undiluted by corporate filters.

A publishing series with this intensity cannot keep burning in a vacuum. Hot Books needs a culture of equally passionate readers. Please spread the word about these titlesencourage your bookstores to carry them, post comments about them in online stores and forums, persuade your book clubs, schools, political groups, and community organizations to read them and invite the authors to speak.

Were engaged in a war of ideas, a war for the hearts and minds of the American people. For too long, this war has been dominated by Fox News, right wing talk radio and the bestsellers that they manufacture. And by the corporate-sponsored discourse of the liberal mediaincluding the New York Times and NPR-blessed authors and pundits who keep their social commentary within acceptable boundaries.

Its time to go beyond this packaged news and propaganda. Its time for Hot Books... journalism without borders.

David Talbot, 2018

Introduction

Troll

1. to fish for by trolling

2. a: to antagonize (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content

b: to act as a troll

Merriam-Webster.com, 2017.

The national tragedy that was the election of 2016, in which a conspiracy theoryminded half-literate racist demagogue named Donald Trump managed to defeat the eminently qualified Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, created its own mini media industry asking the question why? How had this human troll, with his mugging face, orange coloring, and pussy-grabbing ways, managed to beat someone who had a long career in public service and had clearly done her homework?

A number of theories were floated, including claims that white working class America was reacting to poor economic circumstances, even though the economy was far more stable than it had been when Barack Obama won in 2008 and job numbers were largely looking good. Some imagined it must have had something to do with Clinton herself, that she had somehow run a uniquely terrible campaign and was solely to blame for the loss. But the evidence for this is lean on the ground.

The sad truth is that Trump owes his victory to a very dark turn in American conservatism. Unlike right wing ideologues of old, who at least tried to portray themselves as stabilizing and constructive, the right in the era of Trump is a movement of annihilation. They are bigoted, sexist, and mean, and often dont even try to dress these destructive impulses up in the garb of tradition or religion.

They delight in cruelty for its own sake. Building something positive has no real value in this new right wing. Pissing off perceived enemies, such as feminists and liberals, is the only real political goal worth fighting for.

They are, in other words, a nation of trolls.

Trolling is a term that started on the internet, to describe people whose main purpose online was irritating other people. Its the sort of thing that people of all political stripes used to engage in, a casual bullying for its own sake that was low stakes. But as the boundaries between real life and internet life have broken down, and as the internet has become the primary form of political communication, trolling morphed into something of a right wing philosophy.