Fear & Loathing Wins In Smithtown, Long Island
A gonzo tale of a Populist Republican powerplay that will come to a city or town near you.
Beasts are everywhere. It’s a good thing I have my trusty guide with me. We step out of our vehicle and onto the parking lot in St. James over by Patio Pizza. I am hoping my guide carries our own pizza in her coat. I’m a little fearful pushing through the crowd ahead for a slice.
Patio Pizza has become the symbol of the new right-wing populist movement thanks to a Donald Trump tweet. The pizzeria owner and family are well-regarded in St. James. But for others, it has become the home of the disassociated disenfranchised, stubborn, upper-middle-class as the world changes around them—their white skin glimmer in the glow of populist rhetoric and propaganda.
The sound of excitement in the crowd that has gathered is palpable. It is eager, like the federal tax hammer on capped SALT deductions. Yet, the entire parking lot also emanates some an undercurrent of menace. Something lies beneath the surface.
As we approach Patio Pizza, it is clear I’ve fallen within a gathering of beasts, and they are ravenous. They look like they will about eat anything to fill the void. The air near the entrance is smoky and acrid from too many vapes. One can almost discern the thumping from within the chest of the right-wing populist movement looking to topple the old guard of Republicans on Long Island. They are all here to await the results of their attempt to ouster the Smithtown Schools Board of Education incumbents.
I hide my notebook and stop jotting notes. That would scare the delicate rabble who plugged into Facebook anger and resentment like a Matrix sequel. It is a self-destructive process where the brain atrophies under the constant barrage of partisan rage and rhetoric.
No, the things in my notebook would destroy their delicate equilibrium of malls, Billy Joel songs, local school board drama, and the neverending search for things to outrage them. They have been constantly indoctrinated by Facebook groups like the very questionable Save Our Schools, the Trump cheerleading unit called Long Island’s Loud Majority, The Grand Old Party of Smithtown, Smithtown Moms, and numerous other groups, all co-opted by a concerted effort by opportunist Republicans to sow and ferment dissent, anger, fear, and chaos. Don’t believe me? Read onward, good citizen!
One of the main culprits for this effort is Robert Cornicelli, who failed to ouster Republican GOP head Bob Ellis in 2019. He is Chairman of the Grand Old Party In Smithtown with a LI News radio show called “In The Ring With CPT C” that constantly pumps out a toxic stream of noxiousness. He is in many of these groups, continually sharing his own shows talking points and videos. They are basically a stew of ultra-right-wing broad strokes of extreme-biased propaganda and conspiracies, all given in a severe matter-of-fact voice, despite wearing clown shoes. Facts have nothing to do with it.
Cornicelli also has a company called: Patriotic Consulting Inc.
Under their website Public Relations page is this nugget: “effectively target certain segments of the public with similar opinions - "Groups". Groups of people, especially on Social Media, tend to share the same sentiment so their targeting will be different than audiences that have differing opinions. Patriotic Consulting can also bring widespread opinion and behavior change to audiences with staggering opinions by crafting a set of messages that appeal to similarities within the audience.”
Another populist, William Mountzouros, is trying viciously to topple fellow Republican Rob Trotta in the 13th Legislative District. His primary bid was ended by the court system two weeks ago and removed him from the ballot. His campaign coordinator is, guess who …Robert Cornicelli. He is also an officer in the Grand Old Party In Smithtown.
He was actively beating the drum that the Smithtown School District current Board of Education is anti-police, and pushing any and all posts that fed into this election battle.
SUFFOLK COUNTY PBA
Suffolk County’s Police Benevolent Association also is actively gaslighting the public. Mike Simonelli, the Suffolk County PBA Treasurer, posts a constant barrage of race-baiting and culture war paranoia onto the Smithtown middle class, often even under the PBA banner. It is then repeated by the other operators in many groups, utilizing Facebook’s convenient echo chamber. As a member of the Smithtown Schools Equity Team, who had sought to make sure local police were a part of the process, he turned around to misuse materials as “evidence” of a culture war and anti-police sentiment. The bombastic rants would give people the belief that this was actually what the Smithtown School District would be teaching in the classroom or guiding teachers.
Some say that Simonelli deliberately misrepresented the posts as official reading materials. In response to that criticism, he backtracked with a Facebook post, citing:
“To those trying to put words in my mouth, I never said the school district has implemented critical race theory into its curriculum…however, with the equity team having a Curriculum Sub-Committee (which I am on) and whose stated goals are to “influence the representation in literature; curriculum and instructional resources; and Textbooks” — if one were to use critical thinking, the next logical step would be for these anti-police, critical race theory concepts to spread from the equity team and into their proposed curriculum. So I am sounding the alarm before that comes to fruition!”
What a guy! The only alarm he was sounding was that he is ALSO running for office. Simonelli is the Conservative Party candidate to run for office in the 13th Legislative District. I look forward to his “Integrity, Trust, Then Stab In Back” ticket!
I guess then their janitor can take over the Suffolk County PBA social media accounts.
Forgetting his antics, even his presentations crumble under scrutiny. Some things he points out are such a reach; the attempt is just purely for political theatre. For example, The Child Mind Institute is a gold standard used by schools and corporations across the country. There isn’t one critical piece on them in the news cycle, even from fringe right-wing websites. Yet, according to Mike’s spin-cycle explanations, it is the apocalypse for Smithtown’s teachers to use it as their own reading material for their own guidance.
His citations are just hyper-partisan spin and fumes as he went through to cherry-pick anything that would fit the agenda. Is this shameless duplicity or just plain old buffoonery? Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. Either way, people just ate it up. Primed for agenda preparation and dissemination, our primetime players spread it to all the groups. Then later, the key terms like anti-police, socialism, cancel culture, radical left, Marxism, socialism, and critical race theory echo from group to group.
Nobody is saying that the Smithtown Schools Board of Education is squeaky clean. They have made many mistakes and been infuriatingly obtuse, harboring resentment towards the very active parents last summer over the COVID items. This said, they have needed to navigate the craziness of COVID and try to walk a tightrope of assuring children, teacher, and staff safety, dealing with many panicked parents with many questions. They do all this under in a predominately right-wing town with a predominately right-wing public. The problem is the Smithtown BOE lost sight that the PARENTS in Smithtown are ALSO trying to navigate COVID, manage their upturned lives, and their children. The situation between the board and parents was allowed to fester.
There were valid reasons and valid issues at hand with the Smithtown election.
The problem is how opportunists swooped in to co-opt the election and turn it into a ridiculous ideology war where the loudest voices win.
Some people seem generally distressed by what was going on in their town. Perhaps they were tagging along from the “Open Smithtown Schools 5 Days” group that popped up last summer that was soon filled with anti-teacher and anti-union dogma, school board blame, partisan politics, and Covid misinformation. They rebranded to be called Smithtown Parents Watchdog Group: Holding our Board of Education and Administration Accountable. It was administered by someone with 15 years of experience in Public Relations who then pushed the new candidates, WHO just happened to be group co-organizers.
The Smithtown Parents Watchdog group derailed early on into partisan politics before it turned to a breeding ground of anti-teacher union and Smithtown Board of Education conspiracy theories:
THE BIG REPUBLICAN PUSH OVER THE EDGE
Most fascinating is the part Republican Michael J. Fitzpatrick, State Assembly, District 8, plays in this drama. Fitzpatrick and those from his office seemed to push the Smithtown BOE situation to new heights giving a nudge and later, a bald-face push to get some from the Smithtown Watchdog Group to run against the incumbents. Every parent who spoke to his office was all told that the Smithtown Board of Education is pro-union, and would put teachers first over the safety of children.
In a voicemail recording (CLICK TO LISTEN), Fitzpatrick himself goes onto inject his own opinion against unions and also is “angry and perplexed” about why Smithtown Schools won’t go to a 5 day a week schedule. I guess he is a COVID expert in his spare time. Who knew? He deliberately ignores that many other school districts in Suffolk County did the same thing as Smithtown.
In fact, according to Newsday’s NYSED sourced data, only 103 schools in Suffolk County were in-person learning. Over double (224) were on a hybrid schedule, like Smithtown. Fitzpatrick served up a doozy, and angry parents in the Smithtown Watchdog Group drank that milkshake all up.
Fitzpatrick, incidentally, is a longtime supporter of populist Congressman Lee Zeldin. The Smithtown School District seems to be part of a bigger plan in motion that riles the constituents, pumps up the fanbase, and using chaos and uncertainty to their advantage.
Fitzpatrick used politics to exploit the situation, and the Smithtown Parent Watchdog Group was ripe for the picking. This is just the start of how Republicans will vie for the support of an angry and isolated middle-class to gain seats. Lee Zeldin has eyes on the New York Governor’s race. Robert Cornicelli, incidentally, is planning to run for Zeldin’s congressional seat. Coincidence? Not a chance.
“Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” - George Orwell
Basically, we have a scenario of aggressively populist Republicans painting others as willing to invite the radical-left into their idyllic Shangri-la. It is the Tea Party, all over again. This time, it is a Pizza Party. Hurrah!
Some news organizations, like Politico, have started to chase down a “shadowy group” called Save Our Schools, who are supporting the Board of Education opponents and printing materials. It is all part of a populist pop-up network that pushes hyper-partisan messages with loaded language to energize their base by stoking emotion and evoking a reaction.
Newsday has focused on the specifics, the results and ran letters about the fall-out.
The bigger picture here is that some Republican party members post-Trump are using the same tools to split and divide. The bigger problem is it is likely that the rest of the party will follow.
The revolution isn’t being televised. It is courtesy of exploiting social media’s influence delivery system.
One of the more ironic items of all this is that Smithtown BOE opponent supporters are NOT happy to be painted in broad brushstrokes by the media or those reacting to the antics. They don’t seem to like the partisan judgments and criticism they are getting. That’s right. They are suddenly sensitive under this magnifying glass when for months they did much of the same.
Luckily, all the people gathering here at Patio Pizza are excited. After all, politics is the new fan sport.
One 18-year-old kid with a Long Island Loud Majority t-shirt has some middle-aged drunk come up to him, screaming in his face that he just had his foot stepped on. Suddenly, all pretense is stripped away. The drunk is still jabbering at people as another man pulls him back.
“Not now, man,” someone says. “Leave it for when we get the vote results!”
But is it too late? Did something change? Perhaps this middle-aged man pulled off his own skin to show the flaming skull beneath? Did someone finally see the naked desire for power? Did it finally let them know that they have been had?
Nobody seems to realize they are the trapped passengers of this Machiavellian partisan freight train going non-stop until 2024.
There is nervous laughter in the crowd.
The tension is cut by recalling who the enemy really is. No, not themselves. Who needs pesky accountability? No… the enemy is the current Smithtown Board of Education. Teacher unions. Black Lives Matter. Colin Kaepernick. Democrats. Equity. The Progressive Left. Racial Equality education. AOC. People still wearing Covid masks. Whatever.
At heart, it is just ugly. A right-wing political effort disguised as a paranoid racial threat to children’s education. A golem bogeyman stitched with avarice, envy, ignorance, and gullibility. Then you have the people that invited it all into the Democratic process.
There is stirring. The numbers are starting to come in.
There are cries of fear into the night. No! Racial equality is coming! Children will have to have an actual curriculum! Oh my god, they will need to look past their white suburbia bubble! Oh, the humanity!
As we await the final word, the crowd visibly deflates under pressure. Perhaps it wasn’t a Loud Majority, after all? Maybe, it was just another example of a loud minority fearing other minorities? How fitting would that be?
Would the precarious teetering of sanity finally tip? Would people realize they have gotten lost in the bad vibrations? Have the nefarious undercurrents have finally come out and now lie plainly on their faces? Could everyone now see this naked power grab for what it truly is? Would all pretense suddenly fade to ash, as if a fair-skinned Thanos came out, snapped his fingers, and then drove off in his Audi SUV?
Maybe then these people will go home and take a long hard look at themselves?
No, let’s be honest. Many in this crowd would go back to the Facebook machine as the process starts all over again. Facebook and social media have replaced the mirror these days.
Finally, we get the numbers.
They cheer. Reality comes crashing in thanks to the heavyweight of white middle-class insecurity, partisan politic junkies, Republican Party social climbers, social media algorithm addicts, and a majority of duped Smithtown citizens who were just afraid and looking for someone to blame.
The three opponents won. They had successfully toppled the incumbents.
I wish I could speak more, but these cheering beasts have turned their heads and finally found me. There is no room for passengers on this pickup truck caravan. My guide has taken off, leaving me in a cloud of dust. My time is short. My notebook shakes in my hand.
Ronald Reagan himself may look down and smile upon us, but even he would quaver with fear and dread to our predicament.
These will be more troubling times as we ramp up to upcoming elections. Long Island remains a powder keg. They will light another match soon. The Facebook groups and social media posts are already pushing announcements of an “Unmask The Children” rally.
Power is what runs this engine. Fear and loathing are the gas. Social media will keep the fuel pumping as long people remain sucking on the exhaust.
It’s all part of a pattern of using critical social issues and schisms, no matter the damage, as long as it advances the cause. The greedy are already rubbing their hands in anticipation and making sure they are on the ballot.
Simonelli is his own insider. He was on the SCSD's Equity Team. It's my understanding that he took suggestions for reading materials from COMMUNITY participants and passed them off as coming from the school board. Since Simonelli is running for office this year, it's clear to me that this was all a publicity stunt to further his own political career (at the expense of the children).
I grew up in St. James. Patio Pizza was my spot, at least twice a week. This depiction matches the culture of this town, of the district of Smithtown, and of Suffolk County. It is a powder keg, for sure! The culture is aggressive, often on the verge of violence, and racist, from coded to blatant. It is misogynist, homophobic, and transphobic, from coded to blatant. They are the loud minority, and they are organizing.