Seeing a lot of right-wingers awfully upset about antisemitism at the moment who didn’t seem to be nearly as bothered by “very fine people on both sides”, the normalization of the Great Replacement theory, the proliferation of QAnon… 1/🧵 …George Soros memes, Trump trafficking in dual loyalty tropes, Trump calling Israel “your country” to American Jews, Trump threatening American Jews: “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — Before it is too late!” … 2/

Driving through DC at night is beautiful. The Capitol and Washington Monument are majestic. The Lincoln Memorial. The Kennedy Center. The Potomac River. So much history. So grand. So much greatness and promise.

And then I think what it will feel like if Trump wins. 1/🧵 However if felt the first time around will feel ten times worse. It will feel like our values and ideals reflected in those epic buildings and grand architecture have been a lie. That America’s narrative of freedom, complicated as it is, was all just myth. 2/

I love the Federalist Papers. But you know who REALLY loves the Federalist Papers? The right-wing legal movement. They cite them constantly in their briefs.

That’s strange though. Because the Federalist Papers are very clear the president is NOT a King. I mean check out #69.👇 “The President of the United States would be an officer elected by the people for FOUR years; the king of Great Britain is a perpetual and HEREDITARY prince. The one would be amenable to personal punishment and disgrace; the person of the other is sacred & inviolable.” 👇

Patriotism has often provided a lot of people with meaning and purpose. But young people, who grew up with Iraq and Afghanistan, with the financial crisis, with Trump, I can understand why that is difficult for them. They are too far separated from a lot of the great things…1/ …America has done. And WAY too far separated from events like WWII, or even the moon landing, that have a sort of mythical and profound spiritual importance to people, even to people like me who didn’t live through them.

I think this probably explains some of the apathy…2/

Please think about your fellow citizens who are Jewish this Passover. Some thoughts:

Every one of us is endangered by authoritarianism in America, which, in my opinion, is the most serious threat to Jews in this country, and the most dangerous to democracy. Meanwhile...🧵 …antisemitism on the far left has exploded. For many progressive and liberal Jews, this has been particularly alarming because some of our purported allies clearly are not. Many of my fellow Jews feel betrayed.

What’s clear is, Jews in America are taking it from all sides...2/

I don’t want to make too much of this, particularly because Johnson hasn’t denounced MAGA. Not even close. But if Trump wins, one way we could save our democracy is if the same Republicans who enabled Trump’s rise find the courage to stand up to him... 1/🧵

https://twitter.com/sbg1/status/1781297863768633523

I know that’s not satisfactory to some. But some things are so important that “who was right first” matters far less than “who is in the right now.”

In my opinion, how we can get people to come into the right and into the light is something that should always be on our mind. 2/

These are serious times, and they call for serious leaders. Leaders who will defend our interests and protect our allies. Leaders who are on the side of democratic nations, who oppose dictators rather than those who are both intimidated and infatuated by them. 1/🧵 There are a lot of people who will point to this attack on Israel and blame Biden. “It happened on his watch,” they’ll say. “It happened because Biden is weak and Trump is strong.”

These are the same people who blame Biden for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is nonsense. 2/

Will you look back at this period with regret because you didn’t do more to fight for democracy and for YOUR COUNTRY? Will you hide behind excuses that you’re only one person, so what can you do? Or will you channel all your fear and anger and dread into ACTION? Into HOPE? 1/🧵 Each of us can be a hero in this story. Each of us can lift up the people in our lives to make a huge difference. Each of us can rise to this moment like the Greatest Generation did to fight for what’s right.

And unlike them, we don’t have to actually fight or risk our lives. 2/

It’s important to reflect on where we started and where we are.

We started with Trump entering politics pushing Birtherism, the racist lie that Obama wasn’t a legitimate president.

When he ran in 2016, he ran on a platform of “locking up” his opponent… 1/ 🧵 Now, it’s 2024, and we’re at a point where Trump is threatening the life of his opponent, the current president. And of course, don’t forget January 6th, when he sicced a mob on his Vice President and the entire Congress.

So in other words … 2/

Everyone should read this @NewYorker article about Timothy Ryback’s book entitled, Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power.🧵 newyorker.com/magazine/2024/… I mean, we’ve all heard the comparisons between then and now. Demagogues who divide based on hate and fear. Leaders who try and seize power illegally. The establishment refusing to take the threat seriously until it is too late. I’ve written on another dynamic before BUT … 2/

https://twitter.com/danielmilleresq/status/1743468254440358066

You know who else purged the civil service: Orbán, Erdoğan, Chávez, Milosevic, Ayatollah Khomeini, Pinochet.. There was also this guy in Germany in 1933 who purged the civil service months after taking power. Follow @DemocracyFwd as they break down #Project2025's extremist plans.

https://twitter.com/DemocracyFwd/status/1768390092106957121

“Civil servants were fired en masse, and Fidesz allies were installed in vital roles, like election supervision. Hungary’s state broadcaster was brought under the control of a new media board — and its editorial slant began to mirror Fidesz’s positions.” 2/vox.com/policy-and-pol…

My favorite law school professor would conclude his lectures with stories that would beautifully encapsulate everything we had just learned. At the end of our last class, he told us a short, powerful story that’s stayed with me ever since.🧵

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1767625524279378085

I’m paraphrasing and condensing and it’s been more than 10 years… but in his customarily mild mannered way, he went over what he taught us that semester…2/

Trump winning could be a death blow to our democracy. Here are ten things you can do RIGHT NOW to make sure that doesn’t happen.

#1. If you’re in a swing state, organize a civics group to talk about the importance of maintaining our democracy...🧵 Invite people from across the political spectrum. Don’t make it partisan. Democracy is NOT partisan. There are many platforms that can help you do this (i.e. Meetup) and if you need any advice, feel free to reach out to me as I’ve done this before. 🧵

It’s tempting to abandon MAGA voters. But we cannot. One reason is simply out of self interest. However delusional you think MAGA is, it can get A LOT worse. You don’t want your fellow citizens going to even darker places. That’s how truly evil things happen.🧵 This isn’t just about winning elections, although that’s a big part of this. How tenable is it long term to keep winning elections by tens of thousands of votes in a handful of states?

Now, you might not think you can’t do anything about this. But I disagree. 2/

Because of what’s happening in my own country, I feel inexorably drawn to the history of the Third Reich.

It’s not because I think Trump is Hitler. He’s not. It’s because that period (1933-1945) taught us so many important lessons about human nature that are relevant today. 1/🧵 You can only learn about human nature when people are put to the test. And that time period put people to the test like no other.

I’m no expert, but one thing that strikes me about the Nazis is just how much of their evil seemingly happened because of non-evil people. 2/

There’s gonna be a plethora of future scholarship about the peculiarities of the American fascist movement. (i.e. “Trumpism before Trump: The Tea Party” Or “Trumpism and white Christian nationalism: a symbiosis.”)

But the question is. Will it be written by Americans…1/ …a couple years from now or foreign scholars surveying the damage in 2042 or something?

The answer to this question is entirely up to us. Do we allow this fascist movement to define our future or do we relegate it to one part of one chapter in our future history books? 2/

It’s a frightening time to be sure. But I say this with real conviction: we will NEVER be ruled by this wannabe Hitler. Our country for all its flaws and imperfections, is a great one. And it’s much much bigger than this small man. 1/🧵

https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs/status/1736370701219590503

This isn’t hopium. It’s not me rationalizing away the very real threats before us. I just believe the people who want progress in this country and who want to preserve and strengthen our democracy are more principled, more numerous, and more dedicated than these MAGA cultists. 2/

I didn’t live through the 60s/70’s. But it must have felt like America was at a breaking point: A deeply unpopular war, political violence and assassinations, a lawless president…

It feels like we’re careening toward a similar point. But the institutions that saved us then…1/ …including the judiciary (i.e. SCOTUS forcing Nixon to hand over his tapes, the Pentagon Papers case), the press (i.e. Watergate) and a functioning Republican Party (i.e. the GOP ultimately standing up to Nixon) have been deeply corrupted.

Our odds of prevailing this time…2/

Words have lost all meaning. Is Israel committing genocide? No. That is absurd. The Holocaust was a genocide. The Hutus tried to EXTERMINATE the Tutsis. The Khmer Rouge killed almost a quarter of Cambodia’s population. Many others.

Criticize Israel at the top of your lungs…1/ …Advocate for a ceasefire. Say the Occupation is illegal and must end NOW. But don’t make Israel into a monster. That is objectively untrue and you’re GOING TO GET JEWS KILLED. Do you realize this? Do you care?

Even apart from that, do you know how absurd you sound…2/

I’ve spent the last 7 years doing everything I can to fight back against the madness in America. It’s been empowering to know I have skills as an organizer, lawyer, and writer that can help.

But this is the first time I’ve felt like I don’t know what to do… 1/ I can’t wrap my arms around this. It’s too big. Too chaotic. Too many people even in my social circle have different opinions about what the problem even is.

I’m not giving up. I love my country and I refuse to let people who don’t turn it into into something unrecognizable. 2/

Look. If Trump wins, we’ll get through it. Most people on earth live in unfree regimes and survive.

But it will be a truly fucked up situation the likes of which we cannot imagine. Losing our Constitution will be the least of our concerns. Our country may not survive… 1/ So when you see a journalist write about Biden’s shoes or obsess constantly about his age, when you see a former Trump official WHO KNOWS BETTER shill for Trump, when you see a pundit engage in bothsidesism for clicks or ratings, when you see a group talk… 2/