Juliette Kayyem is a former employee for homeland security operations during the Obama years, an Ivy League academic, and also an author.  Two days ago, The Atlantic published her essay, titled "The Bad and Good News about Trump's Violent Supporters" — and despite her being a noticeably talented wordsmith, her points were entirely unsupported and antithetical to reality.

Right from the start, Kayyem says:

The bad news is that much of this talk is sincere. It is intended to intimidate the people investigating Trump's many abuses of power, and to galvanize and organize his true believers — some of whom already proved on January 6, 2021, that they will commit violence in his name.

If her claim were true, that January 6 was the rampage the media describe it to be, federal agents would be arresting real criminals rather than Christian pastors.  In fact, the only violence committed was that against unarmed Ashli Babbitt, who was shot at point-blank range by a federal employee.

Kayyem also cites a tweet from the National Rifle Association, featuring Justice Clarence Thomas and an "indignant" quotation from a recent legal opinion:

SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED pic.twitter.com/OtWC4vGKqC

— NRA (@NRA) August 9, 2022

Then, she switches gears, turning into even more of a conspiracy theorist.  She claims that the MAGA movement is in "decline" and simply a "smattering of people [who] respond to the overheated rhetoric of Trump and his allies."  Did she not see what just happened in the Arizona primary?

Arizona is a battleground, largely because there is a massive faction within the Republican Party that is the Establishment Swamp — leftover cogs in the McCain machine working together with the Democrats to drown out conservatives.  Despite all that, Trump-endorsed and MAGA candidates achieved an incredibly high success rate.  In one legislative district, a slate known as the Freedom Team — who ran on a very pro-America message — earned a significant amount of the vote, securing the nominations in three of the three races.

Nice work to LD-17 Republican Primary nominees! @Wadsack4Arizona- Senate @RJ4arizona - House@CoryMcGarr - House

Now is the time for conservatives to UNITE and kick out-of-touch Democrats to the curb pic.twitter.com/EIWpCKsdoz

— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) August 7, 2022

The reality is, MAGA is alive more than ever before.  We understand the need for writers like Kayyem to self-soothe, but printing undeniable falsehoods only stands to further damage the reputation of what should be prestigious (albeit left-leaning) publications.

Correction: An earlier version of this misdated the article in The Atlantic.

Image: Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized for compatibility)