Right-Wing Radicals Make Plans. Can You Cover Them?

Reporting Right

May 29, 2024

Top Story: How to Cover the Radical Right’s Democracy-Destroying Plans.

Editors discourage us from writing stories about people making plans.

Lawsuits that haven’t been filed.

Police complaints that haven’t been made.

Plots that may or may not materialize.

“Wait til the news actually happens,” we are told.

But democracy-destroyers have thrown a wrench in this old way of doing news. They plot dangerous initiatives …sometimes fifty years in advance … to overturn Roe v. Wade, destroy diversity initiatives, and rewrite the Constitution and then they actually go ahead and do them.

In fact, if those seeking to erode away at our democracy have an evil superpower, it is undoubtedly their maniacal brilliance at plotting against America and then living out their plots.

By the time, we tell our readers what the Radical Right has done, we aren’t empowering citizens with information. We are walking them back through all the steps that got us here—the steps we didn’t really report on.

How do we change that? Here are some tips.

Tips for Getting Ahead of Plots Against Democracy

Understand the Playbook.

Radical Right-wingers who ban books in Florida, promote Christian Nationalism in Louisiana, and seek to outlaw birth control everywhere aren’t one-offing things. They have a long-term plan. You should make sure you know what it is by reading books like THIS and THIS and watching docs like THIS.

Know the Players.

Radicals have a powerful network of planners, who work for ALEC, The Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA and many other radical activist groups and think tanks. You can learn about many of them HERE.

Look Around.

Because the Radical Right is so efficient, it does a lot of replicating. If you see something in a nearby state or county, it’s likely coming your way soon. Keep tabs on what’s happening to your neighbors. Report that.

Contextualize Small Steps. While Democrats are often criticized for talking too much about their process, Radical Republicans are noted for having a process that works. If you know the plan, the steps, and the goal, you can tell your readers a lot.

Don’t Forget Project 25! If your readers don’t know what the Republicans’ next new take-over plan is, that’s your fault. Tell them. Be specific. And let them know how it will impact them personally.

Plans that Need to Make the News

We’re Reading

This great article in The Michigan Advance designed to tell local readers why Project 25 is so scary — and how it will hurt them.

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See You Next Week!

Our Staff

Executive Editor Kyle Spencer

Managing Editor Christen Gall

Our Board of Advisors

Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability

David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy

Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations

Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.

Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War

Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War