- cross-posted to:
- news
- nottheonion
- cross-posted to:
- news
- nottheonion
Revealed: former colleagues claim Kevin Roberts told them he killed a neighbor’s pit bull around 2004
The man behind Project 2025, the rightwing policy manifesto that includes calls for a sharp increase in immigrant deportations if Donald Trump is elected, told university colleagues about two decades ago that he had killed a neighborhood dog with a shovel because it was barking and disturbing his family, according toformer colleagues who spoke to the Guardian.
Kevin Roberts, now the president of the Heritage Foundation, is alleged to have told colleagues and dinner guests that he killed a neighbor’s pit bull around 2004 while he was working as a still relatively unknown history professor at New Mexico State University.
…
Two other people – a professor and her spouse - recall hearing a similar account directly from Roberts at a dinner at his home. Three other professors also said they heard the account at that time from the colleagues who said they had heard it directly from Roberts.
None recall Roberts – who worked at the university as an assistant professor from 2003 to 2005 – ever saying that the dog he allegedly said he killed was actively threatening him or his family.
I’m preeetty sure that’s just the name of the breed but there are some serious racial undertones and associations going on:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0305959
https://notoleranceforantisemitism.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/pit-bull
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pitbull
That first link hits the nail on the head.
The link pointed out how in recent years the association has gotten weaker, especially since so much “positive pit bull posts” have been circling apparently. But its not inherently a dog whistle to bring up a literal breed of dogs, anymore than it would be to mention Rottweilers out of the blue.
Yes, but the perceptions and dog whistle remain.
Is everything a dog whistle to you? Do you even know what a dog whistle is?
No, not everything is. Ffs. Thank you for such an engaging and thought provoking response.
You too :)