Letters to TheRighting

AMERICAN POWER IS NOW ON THE DARK SIDE (November 13, 2024)

I am, like so many of your readers, torn between holding my breath and ignoring the news for four years, and cringing as I watch the march of folly in all its raving detail.  I can’t get past the fact that over 70 million people voted for a known fraud and criminal.  This indicates they have lost faith in our justice system and rule of law.  Decency has taken the last train for the coast.  I feel like I’m watching a great ship slowly sink.  There remains hope that American democracy will survive, but this hope is attenuated by the ubiquity and power of the right-wing media that you so helpfully observe.  It took American power to pull the world out of the last right-wing madness in the 1940s, but now American power is on the dark side.  George Orwell would feel vindicated, yet horrified.

Hunter Bane

VOTING FOR TRUMP: SOMETIMES LESSONS NEED TO BE LEARNED THE HARD WAY (November 9, 2024)

Thanks for what you have done with The Righting. It was one of my key “intel” sources, a “light” overview of what’s happening out there in the Right Wing Universe, without getting sucked down the whirlpool into total despair. That I can read your well researched, well edited, human curated info in TEXT feels like a superpower these days.

As a child and especially a youth, sometimes I only learned some important lessons the hard / painful way. The most profound lessons were when my parents and teachers warned me of consequences, but didn’t (or couldn’t) stop me. I came to understand that their advice was usually well intentioned and sound and if I’d listened, I would have avoided a lot of pain.

That’s my mental model for what happened in the 2024 US presidential election. Those who voted for Trump 2 didn’t think, didn’t learn from Trump 1, didn’t read / listen / learn from smarter experienced folks… DIDN’T CARE.

There were legitimate complaints and issues that Trump identified and promised to fix, but we should have learned from Trump 1 that he doesn’t have any real plan other than what’s best for him personally and what strokes his ego.

So now come sthe hard, painful consequences and lessons of a really bad choice. The “good” news is that Trump’s policies will impact those who voted for Trump, and those folks WILL learn many hard painful lessons as Trump inevitably screws over segment after segment of the population and businesses.

The bad news is that the hard painful consequences of that bad choice will now affect us all, even those of us that have learned to make more reasonable choices, looking at the greater good, choosing the least worst option in leadership.

I pray we get the chance to eventually fix this.

Steve Stroh

“I LOVE THE RIGHTING” (September 17, 2024)

It’s really good to know what the wackos on the right are saying.  Thanks for reading their sh*t so we don’t have to!!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK (August 6, 2024)

Thanks for bringing us all the projection, complete detachment from reality and weirdness from the MAGA cult. Don’t know how you do it, but keep up the good work.

David Lehnherr

READER REACTION TO WND SUGGESTION THAT TRUMP BELONGS ON MOUNT RUSHMORE (July 8, 2024)

(He belong there) behind bars with all his crimes engraved on the monument as a reminder how stupid and gullible Americans can become!

Guy Kaldis

READER REACTION TO FREE BEACON HEADLINE: “JILL IS FORCING SLEEPY JOE TO RUN AGAIN” (Feb. 23, 2024)

If that is true, thank you Jill.

Eli Kosky

KUDOS TO “KISHKAS” (Feb. 9, 2024)

It was a fun moment to see that word (in the introduction to the Feb. 9 newsletter). It   reminded me of eating cholent on shabbat waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when. This confirms my choice of The Righting as one of the “right-leaning” things I read to keep up.

Glenn M

CORRECTING THE ERRONEOUS “TRUMP IS SENILE” HEADLINE (Feb. 9, 2024)

You had it right the first time.

Jerry J.

Holland, Michigan

THOUGHTS ON TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (Jan. 24, 2024)

Your lead-in today mentioned “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”  I know the Trumpists use it as a slur against others, but I can’t think of a more apt expression for their own attitudes.  They need to look in a mirror.  And perhaps those of us on the left need to suggest to them that they should do so.

In similar fashion, the term “politically correct” has been intended as a right wing insult against those of a progressive mindset.  This is another case where they should look in a mirror.  The “right wingers” live in their “politically correct” (belief in the Lost Cause, among many other positions they hold) world and it’s when others challenge what they deem as “correct” in their “political” milieu that they freak out.

Thanks for considering my thoughts.  Writing is therapeutic for me in this chaotic, semantically challenged world!

Bob Cluck

Reston, VA

CAMPUS PROTESTS MAY CAUSE LEFTIES TO VEER RIGHT (Dec. 7, 2023)

As I read these articles today regarding the about-face in the social climate on university campuses I notice that I mostly agree with them (assuming they’re accurate). I also wonder if all of this will move center-left voters to the right. I never believed in one issue voting, but this makes a compelling if scary case for me…and my adult children seem to agree. These right wing tabloids are not nearly as amusing to me as they once were.

Susan Zabriskie

TRUMP, THE PUTIN PUPPET

Up to now, the Kremlin has won the disinformation war. They infiltrated the far-right of Republican party. Donald Trump is an important puppet of Putin. They managed to convince Hamas it was time to attack Israel, giving the Russians a change to crush Ukraine. They infiltrated the Brexit movement the U.K. and won. They infiltrated many universities in the world.

GOOD ISSUE (November 15, 2023)

Today was a good issue (“Trump is not a Nazi,” 11-15-23) especially the anti Jew articles and links, especially the one with photos of the rally and the French news report on their march last week.

PRIDE PARADE FEARS (May 31, 2023)

From Southwest Missouri, there is fear that the Pride Parade featuring drag performers, may be shot at. That’s an imediate concern. Wish Target was a bit closer, I’d go just to support them.

H. White

HOW ABOUT “THE LEFTING?” (April 12, 2023)

I would find it quite informative to receive a “Lefting” consolidation of daily articles from the left. Just to compare how the issues/topics are parsed. And I wonder, is there really no longer a middle? Or is the Left the middle and the right in the twilight zone? Nevermind, a discussion for another time. But it would be nice to get a feed of left and even radical left news/punditry.

Name withheld by request. Toronto, Canada

Thanks for the suggestion. We’ve toyed around with that idea. But we’ve found that the overtly Left-leaning press doesn’t seem as prolific or colorful as their counterparts on the Right. But we’ll keep exploring.

THE “SOUL-SUCKING, JOYLESS CHORE” OF PUBLISHING THERIGHTING (March 17, 2023)

I cannot imagine what a soul-sucking, joyless chore it must be to wade through all the dreck to find these gems. At least it would be for me – I can’t imagine doing what you do. But thanks for the lighthearted way in which you present it, and the real nuggets of “wisdom” that you present in The Righting.

TheRighting is an invaluable service to the rest of us who can only tolerate watching Fox News, etc. (for a reality check) for perhaps a few minutes per week. Seriously…THANK YOU!

Name withheld by request

WORSE THAN A WHITE NATIONALIST (November 29, 2022)

Please stop calling people like Nick Fuentes “white nationalists.” That’s a term adopted by white supremacists such as Fuentes (who dined with Trump Nov. 22) to make themselves sound less threatening and dangerous.

Pam

WATCHING THE FASCISTS (November 11, 2022)

Thanks for doing this, Howard. Impt to keep an eye on these fascists.

Eric S., Austin TX

THANKS FOR WRITING THERIGHTING (September 28, 2022)

Can’t thank you enough for “The Righting.” It gives me a compressed look at my party’s retched right wing. I am a proud RINO and believe that acronym has taken on a new meaning and one I am proud of. RINO’s fight for all that is good in the Republican party and your work in bringing to light the degenerates that have taken over my party are mission critical. Odd that I am thanking a self proclaimed lefty, but good on you!

Jeff, Virginia

TRACKING THE LUNATIC RIGHT (September 9, 2022)

Thanks for taking the time, Howard. My TV turns on to Fox and I record Tucker Carlson, but I’ve never been able to watch more than 10 minutes. Still, it’s necessary to know what the lunatic right is up to. ‘Preciate what you do.

Eric, Austin, TX

HERE’S WHO’S FUNDING THE ANTI-EV NONSENSE (August 22, 2022)

The anti-EV (electric vehicle) stuff isn’t about right-wing sentiment. It’s about the Koch/Exxon/et al network paying for anti-EV content. Every piece of anti-EV content I’ve seen in the past 10 years has been from a professional with clear links to the fossil fuel industry (with the only exceptions being criticisms from the left about how government should support public transit instead of EVs.)

WND is just a low-level click-chaser, not part of the organized conservative disinformation machine, but RealClear, the original source of the WND link in the Aug. 22 newsletter, has had contracts with Koch, and bears all the hallmarks of being a Koch network node. I’ve written on the RealClearEnergy vertical quite a bit over the past couple years since their funding was disclosed, based on the primary docs here.

Phil Newell

Associate Director, Science Defense

Climate Nexus

THE MADNESS OF RIGHT WING “JOURNALISM” (August 17, 2022)

Thank you so much for “Righting” this for us. I am a liberal and I heard about you on KCRW-FM (Santa Monica, CA). I read all (the links) but struggle to get through each one simply because I can’t believe the madness and hypocrisy that pervades right wing “journalism.” It’s terrifying. Thanks for having the stomach for it and for shining what we hope is an antiseptic light.

Bronson Page

THOUGHTS ON A MANCHIN-SINEMA 2024 TICKET (July 29, 2022)

If that happens, call me a Canadian.

Eric H.

MOM HAS BEEN IN THE GRIP OF THE RIGHT FOR SEVEN YEARS (July 26, 2022)

My 88 year-old mother has been in the grip of these people for the last seven years and it has destroyed our closeness. When before I was her beloved only daughter, I’m now her “liberal daughter from California.” It’s heartbreaking, and these liars are the ones have done this. Thanks for all you do to lift up their rock and shine some light.

Sue

THERIGHTING IS TOUGH TO SWALLOW BUT NECESSARY (July 14, 2022)

It’s a little like a dose of castor oil mixed with Buckley’s cough syrup every morning, but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep up. Thank you for your service!

The Rev. Jan Nunley

Peekskill, NY

THERIGHTING HELPS A READER AVOID FOX NEWS

Howard, keep writing – I read and forward constantly – this is the best ever – I can know what nonsense is out there but don’t have to look at Hannity or Carlson .

Kim Duncan

THIS READER JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE (July 7, 2022)

I’ve been subscribed for a while and have appreciated the information. I’ll be unsubscribing this morning mostly because the crazy has gotten so predictable (obviously, no fault of your digest).

I think part of the issue is a feeling of helplessness in understanding that there are Americans that actually believe this stuff. With that in mind, one idea would be to balance the crazy with info on efforts/opportunities to counter its effect (I’m not sure how to do that but thought I’d throw it out there).

So, thank you for past information and best of luck with all.

Roger Denton

BEING A GOOD AMERICAN IS NOT A BINARY CHOICE (July 6, 2022)

It’s sad that the right sees being a “good American” as a binary choice. either you love America or you hate it. This is un-American thinking. Your kind of America is strong only when propped up by mythology. Mine is strong enough to face the truth and remain proud of our quest to be better. You all see the quest to be better as weakness. It’s actually the best kind of strength and what has sustained the American experiment for nearly 250 years.

Bruce Nichols

BRING BACK PUBLIC EXECUTIONS? (May 23, 2022)

I am reminded with some amusement of a fact I once read: Public hangings in London were discontinued after too many people reported having their pockets picked during the show. The penalty for pickpocketing at that time was, yes, death by hanging. So much for your lead story today (America Should Bring Back Public Executions, American Greatness, May 23, 2022).

Charles F

LOVE YOUR PREAMBLE TO THE DAILY NEWSLETTER (May 20, 2022)

They are worth the price of admission!

Dick, Oakland, CA

LOVED THE HEADLINE ABOUT MASK WEARERS AND FLAT EARTH SOCIETY (April 25, 2022)

Oh I will keep on reading. Thank you for keeping on Righting. I have to admit that a lot of it is too depressing for words but today is hilarious. Thank you for the LOL. At least the top part of the feed. Some of the stuff about Jew hating colleges and BLM killing blacks is still a downer. But the part about the Flat Earth Society* – priceless!!

Debra C, Maryland

*Debra is referring to the April 25, 2022, Newsmax article Flat Earth Society Offers Membership Discount to Mask Wearers.

YOU ARE OUT OF STEP WITH REALITY (April 13, 2022)

I get the feeling that your viewpoint is that all the crayons in the box should be the same color and all the voices in the choir should sing the same. No harmonies, no beautiful colorful art just the same same same. Don’t you realize that our differences make us stronger and make us more creative? You are out of step with reality.

Sandy E.

DESPERATE GOP (March 18, 2022)

The increasing desperation and insanity of the GOP take my breath away. I keep reading, so please keep writing!!!

Fred Glienna

WHO SHOULD BE TRUMP’S GHOSTWRITER (December 8, 2021)

Any ghostwriter should/must see the Roman Polanski film “Ghostwriter” before signing a contract and get paid upfront, given Trump’s capacity to stiff employees and dishonor contracts. Perhaps it should be Louise Penny, since she both writes fiction AND has collaborated already with Hillary Clinton.

Fred Glienna

RUBBISH (December 8, 2021)

How can you publish this absolute rubbish with a straight face?

Jane C.

Because almost half the country believes what’s written in TheRighting every day and it’s important that mainstreamers understand this belief system.

EASTMAN IS GOING SOUTH (December 7, 2021)

He’s going down! #TraitortoDemocracy (In response to American Greatness article (“In Defense of John Eastman)

Debi G.

ABOUT THE FORMER PRESIDENT…(December 7, 2021)

You fools believed the biggest clown in town, BIGGEST LOSER, worst U.S president in history, scam-con artist, insurrectionist, draft dodger, chickenhawk, treasonous, false prophet-leader, etc. He took his followers for all that he could suck from you…to put in is private shell companies.

Ronnie H.

HE MAY BE RIGHT ABOUT THE FAR RIGHT (October 10, 2021)

Is the National Review the “Far Right”? Surely it’s better to call “The Righting” headlines from the “Conservative” Media. And what about “For the Rest of US”…. Isn’t that somewhat demeaning. Who are you, that you’re not the “Far Right?”
Can’t some of us be heterodox and interested in the ideas in the likes of the National Review, without being “Far Right” or part of “The Rest”?”

Peter F, Hong Kong

Peter, you raise some good points. We’ll look into making some changes. Thank you for your point of view.

CLUELESS ABOUT WHO’S WHO IN CONSERVATIVE MEDIA (October 8, 2021)

Jennifer Rubin is no longer a conservative voice and trashes conservatives and so does Michael Savage god you guys are clueless to what is going on with the right!!

CRAZY STORIES FROM THE RIGHT (September 21, 2021)

Is it me, or are these stories getting crazier and crazier every day?

Thanks for the job you are doing!

Claudio F.

“TRUMP MAGA HAT IS GREAT TOILET PAPER” (September 1, 2021)

You (Trump) are a LOSER, BIG LOSER, GREATEST LOSER, whiner, cry baby, sociopath, nationalist-dictator wannabe, liar, cheater, bankrupt king, cartoon clown, scam artist, terrible business and politician, ignorant, selfish, egotist, narcissistic, covid jerk, insurrectionist, traitor, draft dodger, fraud, incompetent, malfeasant, reality fake actor, Trump merchandise flop, dunce, loser fake author, university deceiver, Republican (czar, authoritarian, confederate, far right, White supremacist), etc. Just go away or bury your big head in a sand trap so no one in public can hear your rambling and disgusting rhetoric. You are the worst President in US history with the 45th being the biggest disgrace and shameful. You think you are so privileged and entitled to the presidency, but you sincerely are not. PLEASE JUST DISAPPEAR THE ULTIMATE LOSER YOU ARE! The Trump-Loser MAGA hat is great toilet paper! All of the Trump-merchandise is great to celebrate in style by dumping on it.

Ronnie H

ON CRITICS OF BIDEN’S HASTY EXIT FROM AFGHANISTAN (August 17, 2021)

It’s astounding how these simpletons seem to forget that BUSH started it, and TRUMP made the deal that released thousands of Taliban zealots.

They can’t seem to remember their history, these knucklehead rightists.

I am no fan of Biden’s, but there clearly was no correct move.

THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO!!!!

Fred G.

Y’ALL SHOULD GET A REAL PRODUCTIVE JOB (July 28, 2021)

(In response to PJ Media article asking if the CDC has any credibility)

You know what, you’re “right.” After the orange dictator wunnabe eviscerated the CDC and practically every other federal agency, the trust level is low. But now that people are there trying to clean up his/your mess and do the “right” thing, expect the trust level to increase.

Y’all should get a real productive job instead of squeezng $ out of under-thinkers and sowing negativity.

David W. B

JUST SAY NO (April 5, 2021)

What original ideas do people on the Right come up with? None, Zero, all obstructionist nay-saying. Takes no creativity to say “no” to everything.

Mary O.

EXPOSING A FACT-FREE, PARELLEL UNIVERSE (Dec. 19, 2020)

Dear Editor:

I am concerned about your mental health. Reading your newsletter everyday is making question my own belief system and sanity. You are exposing a fact-free, parallel universe to the one that I think I inhabit. If I continue to expose myself to this universe, let alone immerse myself in it as you must be, then line between conspiracy and coherence will be challenged. I wish you renewed strength everyday.

Against my better judgement – Bring it on! How do I support you efforts? Cash? Bourbon? Prozac?

Steve

Lansdale, PA

ENOUGH! (December 18, 2020)

Dear Editor

Vile filth. Please stop sending it (the newsletter) to me.

(Unsigned)

You have been unsubscribed.

DARK WINDOW INTO WORLD OF NEO-FASCISM (Dec. 10, 2020)

Dear Editor:

TheRighting is a useful window into the dark, often obscure, and thoroughly crazy world of contemporary American neo-fascism, and I appreciate both the idea and the execution of it! Thanks for putting it out!

Also….can you post a list of links to, say, 15-20 nonprofits, university projects and maybe any NGO’s who actively push back against the poisonous lies these people, er, extrude? It might get them some attention, or help, if not donations, and it’d make scanning TheRighting less of a demoralizing downer to be reminded that not everyone is trying to reduce us all to paranoid raving about how hard it is to be an enraged dead-end failure…

A fan in Virginia

Yes Virginia….there is an effort underway to post such a link. Working on it over the Christmas holiday. Look for it early 2021. Sincerely….your humble editor.

THERIGHTING MAKES HIS DAY….WORSE (Dec. 10, 2020)

Dear Editor:

Keep up the good work, though I have to say that your newsletter is probably the low point of my day each day because it highlights the great divide in our nation.

Thank you for the work you do.

(Unsigned)

LIMBAUGH’S NAME STAINS MEDAL OF FREEDOM (Dec. 10, 2020)

Dear Editor:

Please correct your description of Rush Limbaugh in your “Who’s Who” section. Trump gave him the Medal of Freedom. He is NOT a Medal of Honor recipient. He is actually a draft dodging pig f***er whose name stains the Medal of Freedom that he did receive.

Otherwise, keep up this good work. I send your link to many of my friends. They always respond that they cannot believe that anyone attaches any credibility to the crap printed in these right wing sources.

A reader in Falls Church, Virginia

OUT OF TOUCH (Dec. 9, 2020)

 Dear Editor:

Your publication is so out of touch with reality it’s laughable.

 Sandy E.

 GLAD THE WORK DOES NOT TRAUMATIZE YOU (Dec. 9, 2020)

 Dear Editor:

This email today (Dec. 9, 2020), with its jabbing insults and vivid imagery could be lifted right out of an 1850’s newspaper.

 I am currently reading “Abe” by David S. Reynolds and am amazed at the similarity of the sensational language used by today’s political writers to the editorials written during the ramp-up to the Civil War—by both sides.

 About 60 years ago my father, a news editor, got a letter from a very old and very unhappy reader calling him a “slime merchant,” a by-gone term and a wonderful example of such language. He passed it around the newsroom and everyone was so amused they decided to rename the paper’s local baseball team and had caps embroidered with the new name, The Slime Merchants.

 So glad this work does not seem to be traumatizing you 🙂

 Karen K