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[Thread] 1.
President Trump achieved something formidable, he won a Presidential election and he won the backing of significant layers of mainstream opinion and power. This includes his achievement in strengthening and bolstering populist politics also on the US left....
President Trump achieved something formidable, he won a Presidential election and he won the backing of significant layers of mainstream opinion and power. This includes his achievement in strengthening and bolstering populist politics also on the US left....
2.
... President Trump is more than simply the schmuck and the loser that he looks this morning.
People were worried that Trump was a fascist and that he could threaten American democracy. It turns out that he wasn't and he couldn't....
... President Trump is more than simply the schmuck and the loser that he looks this morning.
People were worried that Trump was a fascist and that he could threaten American democracy. It turns out that he wasn't and he couldn't....
3.
... But what we have learned is that such things are possible. We now know how to imagine them. We now know what it looks like when weighty layers of mainstream opinion flip easily behind totalitarian-style politics. And the totalitarians can now imagine it too....
... But what we have learned is that such things are possible. We now know how to imagine them. We now know what it looks like when weighty layers of mainstream opinion flip easily behind totalitarian-style politics. And the totalitarians can now imagine it too....
4.
... Trump didn't have or build, a fascist movement. He didn't know that he needed to build one or what one looked like. Or perhaps he didn't want to build one.
Such a movement needs leadership, it needs people at the top with clarity who know what they're trying to build...
... Trump didn't have or build, a fascist movement. He didn't know that he needed to build one or what one looked like. Or perhaps he didn't want to build one.
Such a movement needs leadership, it needs people at the top with clarity who know what they're trying to build...
5.
... A fascist movement needs the creation of a formidable - well regulated - armed presence on the streets which can challenge and frighten the armed institutions of the state - and which can hope to peel off sections of them....
... A fascist movement needs the creation of a formidable - well regulated - armed presence on the streets which can challenge and frighten the armed institutions of the state - and which can hope to peel off sections of them....
6.
... There are bits of both in today's America but they're not well enough developed and they're not organised enough to constitute an immanent threat.
Perhaps the populist threat - which is the beginning of a totalitarian threat - is now largely spent...
... There are bits of both in today's America but they're not well enough developed and they're not organised enough to constitute an immanent threat.
Perhaps the populist threat - which is the beginning of a totalitarian threat - is now largely spent...
7.
...But perhaps we're in the calm before the second populism spike with no vaccine possible.
There are people who will have learnt something form yesterday and who will be inspired to build a movement which can really threaten American democracy. That's what I'm worried about.
...But perhaps we're in the calm before the second populism spike with no vaccine possible.
There are people who will have learnt something form yesterday and who will be inspired to build a movement which can really threaten American democracy. That's what I'm worried about.
