Butterfly sanctuary's closure due to right-wing threats is just another sign of MAGA madness

The National Butterfly Center near Mission, Texas, is closing indefinitely due to rampant right-wing weirdness of the sort that inspired a gunman to shoot up the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in 2016. This time, the trouble stems from an unfounded—and utterly bonkers—theory about child sex trafficking being undertaken by folks who’d previously committed the bulk of their efforts to boosting their lepidopteran brethren.

There’s no question that child sex trafficking is a serious problem, but there’s a segment of right-wingers who appear to believe it’s the world’s only real problem (other than vaccines and masks, of course), and they see it happening everywhere. Everywhere. Even at nondescript pizza joints and nonprofit butterfly sanctuaries.