New York resident Mark Longo discovered the squirrel, adopted it, and featured it on a social media account that attracted a following. Longo didn’t have a license to personal wild animals, which is required beneath New York regulation. The state’s Division of Environmental Conservation mentioned it obtained nameless reviews about Peanut and a raccoon in Longo’s custody being saved illegally.
The division took the animals from Longo after a state worker was bitten throughout the investigation, then euthanized them to check them for rabies—the checks turned out to be destructive—and the correct went wild.
Proper-wingers love to advertise narratives about authorities overreach and emphasize alleged abuses of presidency energy—significantly beneath Democrats. These extremists have much less of an issue with authorities overreach when it’s conservatives like Donald Trump pushing to take broadcast licenses for what he deems unfair protection, tear-gassing protesters, or encouraging police brutality towards Black and Latino individuals.
Typically this spectacularly backfires. Proper-wing media figures like deceased racist radio host Rush Limbaugh liked to make use of the ATF raid on the Department Davidian compound in 1993 as a rallying level for this argument—till right-wing terrorist Timothy McVeigh used the incident as justification for his lethal bomb assault on Oklahoma Metropolis.
However Peanut represents a lot decrease stakes, so figures together with billionaire Trump sugar daddy Elon Musk started to advertise the case. Musk amplified memes concerning the squirrel and wrote, “The government should not be allowed to barge into your house and kill your pet! That’s messed up.”
Donald Trump Jr. then absurdly related the story to weird lies about Democrats taking custody of kids “if parents don’t go along with minor children wanting to permanently mutilate their bodies through ‘gender affirming care’.”
As is the case with tales like these, the correct’s quasi-official propaganda organ, Fox Information, grew to become the unofficial Peanut community.
The cable information channel repeatedly aired clips concerning the squirrel and framed the story for example of Democratic overreach—noting the state’s Democratic management and the presidency of Joe Biden. Greg Gutfeld, host of “Gutfeld!” on the community, argued that the state brokers who confiscated the animal handled it as if it have been Osama bin Laden. Gutfeld went on to assert the incident was an instance of Democrats specializing in the incorrect points whereas purportedly neglecting crime and homelessness.
The New York Put up, which, like Fox Information, is owned by conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch, additionally pumped out a stream of squirrel content material to proceed feeding the right-wing narrative.
Elected officers from the Republican Celebration, like Utah Sen. Mike Lee, then appeared on Fox to level again on the story—creating an echo chamber and validating the difficulty. The official Twitter account of the GOP-led Home Judiciary Committee joined in by tweeting, “Justice for Peanut.”
This can be a stage of concern that conservative media and their Republican allies don’t exhibit for ladies who die as a result of abortion bans, kids murdered at school shootings, or determined migrant households exploited by traffickers. As a result of these victims don’t serve a right-wing narrative of grievance.
Win or lose on the polls, most conservative concepts are losers with the American public. The overwhelming majority of individuals wouldn’t like a rabies-infested animal being saved by an unlicensed proprietor operating wild of their residence constructing or neighborhood.
So as an alternative of providing up trustworthy dialogue or debate concerning the story, conservatives flip a squirrel right into a mythological martyr and amplify the dishonest storyline through media propaganda. And Gorsuch, one of the crucial highly effective individuals on the earth, is invoking a lifeless squirrel whereas advancing conservative insurance policies that can damage individuals—and squirrels as nicely.
