When I was reading up on the Jake Knotts story it occurred to me that I was wrong to worry that the forces of globalization and mass commodified culture had obliterated the Southeast’s aboriginal racist cracker subculture. It seems to be remarkably resilient and adaptive right here in the early 21st century. Reading Knotts’ rant against Nikki Haley he seems to be grasping for some version of Haley as the stalking horse of the global jihad. Only her parents weren’t Muslim, just brown skinned and Sikh. So, in his mind I guess, sort of close, but no cigar.
So instead his scare tactic is that her Turban-wearing father is writing letters talking about how great Haley is and sending them to the side of the planet where the brown people live.
As Knotts told listeners last night, “We’re at war over there.”
