Ilyse Hogue - The Lie That Binds

Praise for The Lie that Binds

In vivid detail, Hogue lays out exactly how the radical right infected our democracy and our institutions to reverse social progress and in doing so, teaches us how to most strategically fight back. This is a must-read for every legislator who is serious about protecting their constituents civil and reproductive rights.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, NY, Founder and Author of Off the Sidelines
The Lie that Binds is an unflinching look at the true origins of the right wing obsession with keeping half of the population in their place. From the very beginning, the purpose of anti-choice movement was to maintain and consolidate power in the hands of a few white men. Hogue sticks to the facts and lays out the only effective path forward. Fight like hell!
Zerlina Maxwell, author of The End of White Politics , MSNBC Political
Analyst, SiriusXM host
This is a must read account of how the Radical Rights quest for domination ultimately led to the country electing a race baiting, misogynist in Donald Trump. Hogue unravels for the reader decades of careful machinations of a movement hell bent on keeping women in their place and using abortion as a weapon to do so. To all feminists who dream of overthrowing the patriarchy: start here.
Alyssa Mastromonaco, NYT Best Selling author & co-host of Crooked Medias #Hysteria podcast
Hogue makes a powerful and disturbing contribution to the literature on historical links between the domination of women and protecting white supremacy. The culture war the evangelical right mounted around abortion has its origins as a wedge issue to protect a privilege rooted in racial segregation. Women of color and low income women are the most vulnerable to the abuses of both. It is an important read that reminds us that the original sins of our founding will harm us all until they are repented.
Maya Wiley, NBC News and MSNBC Legal Analyst
Hogue lays bare how far-right extremists have taken over our government all while hiding in plain sight. This untold history details years of insidious schemes that enabled a creeping right-wing corruption of our political system, court system, and information systems and ultimately gave us a reality TV star in the White House. This book speaks to the true endgame of the forces opposing reproductive freedom so that we know exactly how to arm ourselves and, ultimately, win our country back.
Joe Lockhart, CNN political analyst

Book Design & Cover Design: Adam Dines
Copy Editor: Alex Abbott
Managing Editor: Troy N. Miller

Copyright 2020 by Ilyse Hogue & NARAL

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission from the author.

First Edition

Published by Strong Arm Press

www.strongarmpress.com

Washington, DC

ISBN-13: 978-1-947492-51-6

Acknowledgments

This book was many years in the making and was built on the amazing trove of research from the NARAL Pro-Choice America research team who doggedly monitors, aggregates, and analyzes raw content from anti-choice, right-wing, and alt-right media sources on a daily basis. The work is hard, and it can be disturbing and depressing. Were grateful to them for all of the valuable insight they provided for this book and contribute to the political and cultural analysis of our world.

This project stands on the shoulders of dozens of incredible researchers, experts, and thought-partners who illuminated key aspects of this story and helped shape our own understanding of this critical history. Our research is one piece of a much larger puzzle, and without the ongoing work of our friends and allies, we would not be able to see the full picture. Thank you all for sharing your expertise, for pushing us to think bigger, and for helping us to connect the dots. Were thankful for everything youve done and were committed to continuing this work with you. We understand its far from over.

Special thanks to Loretta Ross you have consistently challenged us to expand our analysis of our opposition, shared your own wisdom and experience with us, shaped our thinking, and encouraged us to tell this story. Your efforts to bring people together, strengthen our collective work, and to push us all toward a stronger shared analysis of the threats we face were all critical in jump-starting this project. Were grateful for your continued friendship and thought partnership. Thank you for your work to ensure the progressive movement is consistently growing, reflecting, and innovating.

This project was made possible with support from the Open Society Policy Center. Thank you to the OSPC team for your partnership as this project developed. With your support, this work has grown far beyond what we originally hoped, and, we hope, will have a much greater impact.

Deep thank you to the NARAL Pro-Choice America Board of Directors, for continually believing in the idea that we need to understand our opposition better in order to formulate long-term strategy for durable change. Hannah Groch-Begley, the founding member of NARALs opposition research team, once told Ilyse, the best conclusions come from following the research where it leads you. The NARAL Board and staff has stayed true to this axiom in developing the department, the discipline, and the products of the research.

Thank you to all the friends, colleagues and contributors whose direct work made this project possible and without whom we might not have brought this project over the finish line: Becca Lewis; Mutale Nkonde; Dr. Megan Squire, and the team at CounterAction, who contributed insights and expanded our knowledge of digital threats to our democracy; Bushra Sultana Ahmad; our editors, Kathleen Collins, and Michael Eberhart; Evelyn Schlatter, Melissa Ryan and Charlotte Clymer, who shared their expertise and waded through early drafts; Adam Dines, our designer; Sally Rifkin, Gabriela Rico, and Caroline Resnick, who contributed research; Andy Barr and Sophia Tesfaye, who helped us wrestle the massive amount of research into a consumable narrative; and Spencer Collet, our diligent fact-checker. Thanks to Angelo Carusone for being a thought-partner and co-conspirator, always helping think through how this knowledge fit into the larger puzzle. Thanks to Elizabeth Schoetz whose remarkable commitment to excellence and to NARAL created space for this process.

At times, as with all long projects, we began to feel like we were rolling a boulder uphill and our confidence faltered in believing we could ever bring the project to completion. Three special people got us through those moments: Ryan Grim, at Strong Arm Press, who always believed this was a story that needed to be told and made himself available as not just a publisher but as a thought-partner and editor. Kelly Sackley, whose endless spreadsheets kept us on track when it felt overwhelming and whose prolific enthusiasm buoyed us on our dark days. Judy Estrin, who contributed endless hours of volunteer time to review drafts and interrogate us to make sure we were making the most precise points possible. Judy, your friendship, mentorship, and commitment to this story insured that we had not just a product to show, but one that met a standard of excellence that you set.

Ilyse wants to thank her husband, life-partner and father of her children, John Neffinger. For many early mornings of solo parenting while she found time to write. For coaching her through writers block and crises of confidence. For always being a cheerleader and a best friend. For always making her greater. She wants to thank her parents, Ynette and Jim, for teaching her early on to never shy away from the hard fights if they were the righteous ones. For teaching her to always tell the truth, even when people didnt want to hear it. And for always loving and supporting her no matter what.