What Next: Ginni Thomas Wanted a Revolution

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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is a fervent right-wing activist. She was also a supporter of the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, as evidenced by a batch of texts shared with the congressional committee investigating January 6th. The Ginni Thomas texts create a conflict of interest for Justice Clarence Thomas as he hears cases pertaining to the insurrection. But the Supreme Court is not expected to do much to dispel notions of bias. Why? Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Slate's Mark Joseph Stern has been keeping an eye on Ginny Thomas for a while now.
0:12.3	It has not been difficult.
0:13.8	She's outspoken.
0:15.5	So she used to run a Facebook page that was public.
0:21.7	This was back in 2018.
0:24.0	It was a dark place, truly.
0:26.1	I mean, I did feel like, in part, I was an anthropologist.
0:30.3	And in the Trump years, I would have thought she'd be celebrating all the time.
0:34.0	That she'd be like, yay, thank you, President Trump.
0:36.6	You know, you did this.
0:37.6	You did that.
0:38.6	I'm so happy that your agenda is finally happening.
0:41.7	But instead, it was all rage and paranoia all the time.
0:46.6	And frankly, I think that's what first drew me to her page because it was not what I would
0:52.0	have expected from someone who was like a lifelong lobbyist for the GOP who was getting
0:57.3	access to the White House.
0:59.1	Because she'd won.
1:00.1	Yeah, she won.
1:02.2	When Mark says these posts were angry and strange, he means Ginny Thomas would post stuff about
1:07.9	how the parkland shooting survivors were a special kind of stupid.
1:12.9	Then she would post a meme calling Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan prostitutes.
1:17.2	And it wouldn't really matter except that she has the ear of some of the most powerful
	...

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