Secession fantasies continue

Neofeudalism redux: more playing into the hands of the Russian support for syncretic RW groups in the US. For the US, it is an act of violence and the GQP is fomenting it at the state level for a Trumpist constituency. Imagine that moment when they rationalize secession to keep the US at 50 states because of DC statehood.

Secession fantasies are once again rumbling on America’s fringes, where a small but growing cadre of disaffected nationalists say they’ve had it with the U.S. and want out.

While secession movements are nothing new in the U.S., experts say the energy feels different now. It’s partly because, for the first time in recent history, the movements are drawing support from state-level GOP officials and right-wing media personalities with huge platforms, who are entertaining these fringe ideas.

“I think the issue is beginning to attain a prominence and a seriousness which is of a totally different kind than the last several election cycles,” said Richard Kreitner, author of “Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union.”

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Polling from Bright Line Watch, conducted by researchers from Dartmouth, University of Chicago and University of Rochester in early February, found that a third of Republicans nationally were in favor of secession as a solution to the deep divisions in the U.S.

The biggest and loudest of the current movements is “Texit,” spearheaded by the Texas Nationalist Movement. Supporters first began floating this idea about two decades ago in response to what they saw as unfair taxation rates and overreach from the federal government.But this is the first year that their core mission—seceding from the U.S. in pursuit of independence—will be put to Texans for a vote. “The Texan Independence Referendum Act,” or House Bill 1359, introduced by State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, will determine whether there should be a referendum on the issue. Legislators are expected to vote on it by May, when Texas’ legislative session ends.

While the “Texas Nationalist Movement” appears to be gaining steam, elected officials and extremists elsewhere. such as Wyoming, Mississippi, and Georgi, are watching closely. Disillusioned Trump supporters online are building on the “Texit” movement and advocating for “Rexit,” a red-state exit from the U.S. And county-level separatist movements—a different phenomenon than secession but still rooted in deep divisions—are also underway in at least three states.

The renewed energy behind these secession and separatist movements —specifically the “Texit” movement in Texas—comes during intense polarization, raging culture wars, a surge in political violence and in the wake of a conspiracy-driven insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. A poll last month from Quinnipiac University found that 76% of self-identified Republicans believe the lie that the 2020 election was plagued by widespread fraud, which offers some insight into how many people question the legitimacy of the Biden Administration.

www.vice.com/…

Smaller scale version:

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