Read on Twitter
Striking how the outside-the-system vigilante wing of the far-right are being arrested and charged with serious crimes while inside-the-system elected officials who encouraged vigilante violence are living their best lives & have faced almost no social or political consequences.
What’s the professional price for endorsing violence against your political opponents and calling deadly school shootings ”‘false-flag’ operations”? A seat on the House education committee and continued support from many big donors. https://georgiarecorder.com/2021/01/28/big-campaign-donors-stick-by-election-denier-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene/
Drawing on research by @daschloz & @sam_rosenfeld, @ThePlumLineGS notes ”the GOP and conservative movement have allowed the boundary between fringe and mainstream to remain ‘porous’ going back through Joe McCarthy’s anti-communist crusades in the 1950s.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/28/marjorie-taylor-greene-republican-extremists/
Now, there are greater incentives for extremism & fewer costs. ”Donors are cheering on her continued false claims that Trump won, illustrating the perverse incentive facing newer members of Congress who find viral stardom in denying a legitimate election” https://georgiarecorder.com/2021/01/28/big-campaign-donors-stick-by-election-denier-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene/
How to create different incentives? As in other countries facing democratic erosion, broad pro-democracy movements can be a powerful check on anti-democratic forces. See @andrewmarantz’s prescient article highlighting @EricaChenoweth’s essential research. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/23/how-to-stop-a-power-grab
My research on the 1960s civil rights movement also found protest movements can powerfully bolster democracy. For more on that research, see this thread. https://twitter.com/owasow/status/1265709670892580869
US is now easily 3 of 4: ”Levitsky & Ziblatt lay out a four-part test for identifying authoritarian leaders: rejecting democratic institutions, denying legitimacy of political opponents, tolerating or encouraging violence and curtailing civil liberties.” https://bookshop.org/books/how-democracies-die/9781524762940
Context from @jasonintrator ”It’s not helpful to think of fascism as a regime type or a set of coherent beliefs. Fascism is usually a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in face of supposed humiliation by immigrants, minorities & leftists” https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/1/29/22250294/trump-american-fascism-jason-stanley
. @seanilling: What’s the biggest lesson for people like Cruz or Hawley…?
@jasonintrator: That there are no restraints, no punishments, no accountability. That you can go much further than you ever thought possible in seizing power in the United States. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/1/29/22250294/trump-american-fascism-jason-stanley
@jasonintrator: That there are no restraints, no punishments, no accountability. That you can go much further than you ever thought possible in seizing power in the United States. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/1/29/22250294/trump-american-fascism-jason-stanley
