When a killer expounds on his derangements, it poses a special challenge. We have to take his words seriously without, at the same time, taking them seriously; to understand their import without paying them respect. In the case of the mass murderer of Buffalo, New York — I see no reason to use his name — applying that distinction requires thinking more clearly about the politics of immigration.
Since the massacre on Saturday, Americans have been talking, as the shooter probably wanted, about the “great replacement theory.” The 200-proof version of the theory, to which he reportedly subscribed, is that Jews are trying to destroy the old white majority of the country via immigration, and they are doing it to create a political order more to their liking. It is a vile and stupid stew of racism and antisemitism, as should be obvious to almost everyone.
Public argument has dwelt less on the actual shooter than on such Republicans as Fox News host Tucker Carlson and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who stand accused of selling a diluted version of the same ideology. Carlson has said that “the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters, from the Third World.” Stefanik claims that granting “amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.”
