"Still, most MAGA influencers proved not quite ready to criticize Trump directly, which led them to spin bizarre theories about what could have really resonated with independent voters.

As an example, podcaster Liz Wheeler said Republicans would have won if only the Justice Department had arrested more deep-state operatives from the Biden administration.

Surely that would've saved Kansas!

AMONG ALL THE HORRIBLE developments for Republicans that took place Tuesday night, perhaps the most alarming for online MAGA was the collapse of Texas Republican candidates.

The state has been a bastion of the modern conservative movement, not just reliably red and with leadership willing to gerrymander the ---- out of congressional lines, but also the right's favorite contrast to hedonistic California.

So when it became clear that Democrats were romping there, it led to an onslaught of white identity politics that could make the movement even more radioactive to voters. Like Johnson, personalities at the Blaze blamed nonwhite voters for sabotaging the Texas GOP."

;;

After seeing some racist graffiti, LBJ remarked to Bill Moyers that:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

... in condemnation of politicians who did just that.

"Late that night in a hotel room, Johnson explained to his young staffer (and future press secretary) Bill Moyers exactly how he believed Southern elites weaponized racial bigotry to divide the working class and maintain political and economic dominance. Moyers later recounted the conversation in a 1988 article..."