When I served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Putin's propagandists made the crazy claim that Obama sent me to Moscow to foment revolution. They cited this academic article from 2006 as "proof" that I was a professional "revolutionary." journalofdemocracy.org/articles/trans… THREAD 1/
Now, pro-Trump conspiracy theorists are making the same crazy claim about me, only this time my objective is a color revolution against the U.S. government! And now they too are citing the same @JoDemocracy article as evidence! Coincidence or coordination? 2/
Glad to be expanding readership of the Journal of Democracy -- one of the most important journals in my profession -- among Trump fans. But writing as an academic about democratic breakthroughs or color revolutions does not make one a professional revolutionary. 3/
And on academic footnote -- revolutions only occur in autocracies, against dictators. (There is a big academic literature on this subject.) The United States is still a democracy. 4/
To state the obvious, I do not support revolutions or coups. Im a militant defender of democracy. American voters - not Putin or anyone else - should decide who will be president next year (but our 2 million soldiers, CIA agents, diplomats, etc. get to vote too). 5/
As I wrote a few months ago, "Trump and Biden must pledge publicly and unequivocally that they will accept the results of an election, broadly judged to have been free and fair." So should Trump & Biden supporters. 6/ END THREAD.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
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