Thread by @PaulaChertok

Read this. One of the first to recognize the Frankenstein monster in Trump, Kagan chillingly & soberly lays out where we are, and who to pressure to save the country from falling into the fascist abyss.

Our constitutional crisis is already here washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… ht @maddow

@maddow Kagan: The US is heading into its greatest political & constitutional crisis since the Civil War.…mass violence…breakdown of fed authority

The warning signs…obscured by the distraction of politics, the pandemic, the economy & global crises, and by wishful thinking and denial.

@maddow ⚠️Kagan:
—Trump will be GOP's 2024 nominee
—He'll have massive campaign money
—Republicans are preparing to ensure his victory—by any means necessary
—Charges of fraud in 2020 are now primarily to establish the predicate to challenge future lost elections
—Other Rs will do it too

@maddow “Stop the steal” has given way to an "organized nationwide campaign" to ensure Trump supporters control state & local elections
—Recalcitrant Rs removed, hounded out
—GOP legislatures taking control over certification process, e.g. revoking SOS's cert, imposing criminal penalties

@maddow GOP is setting the stage for chaos. Imagine:
—mass protests across states, both parties claim victory & charge the other w/ unconstitutional power grab
—violence

Like Lincoln after the South seceded, Biden would find himself navigating w/o rules or precedents. GOP cries tyranny.

@maddow Today’s arguments over the filibuster will seem quaint in 3 yrs if the American political system enters a crisis for which the Constitution offers no remedy. When Trump loses & Biden must navigate w/o rules or precedents, making judgments about what constitutional powers he has.

@maddow Kagan: Most Americans have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it. As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralyzed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian.

@maddow Kagan: The political & intellectual establishment underestimated Trump:

GOP appeased him, underestimating
—his popularity
—his hold on followers
—his ability to hijack the GOP
—how far he'd go to retain power, even by violent coup

(+Dems overestimated how many Rs had integrity)

@maddow Kagan: Checks & balances were inadequate b/c the Founders did not foresee nationalized parties or a national cult of personality. They didn't establish safeguards against national-party solidarity transcending states interests b/c they could not imagine such a thing was possible.

@maddow 🔥Kagan: Checks & balances in the Constitution depend on 3 sep branches of govt each zealously guarding their own power.

Instead we have GOP members of Congress & even the judicial branch refusing to check a president of their own party.

#ConstitutionalCrisis #EndTheFilibuster

@maddow Kagan: What makes Trump historically unique is not policy, passions or paranoias. It's that millions of Americans feel Trump's Trumpiness is a response to their fears & resentments, creating a unique leader-follower bond.

A bond resembling tribal propaganda brainwashing imho

@maddow Kagan: Trump's charismatic leadership has given millions of Americans a feeling of purpose and empowerment, a new sense of identity.

This is key. The bond is impenetrable b/c propaganda hooks people's emotional brains. GOP know it's stronger than policies, even if based on lies.

@maddow Kagan on cult of personality paradox: Because Trump in all his Trumpiness is the movement, the more he's attacked, the more his bond w/ followers strengthens.

And criticizing his narcissism, cruelty, incompetence has a boomerang effect, providing ammo to discredit elites, media.

@maddow Kagan: Movements based on ideas & policies can shift allegiances. Not so with a movement built around a cult of personality.

The problem: democracy requires ideas & "republican virtue"—basically civic-minded norms & good faith principles. Trump cult GOP abandoned these long ago.

@maddow "Ambition is a powerful antidote to moral qualms."—ex-GOP Kagan skewers GOP for this constitutional crisis: Republicans defended Trump, fashioned doctrines to justify his rule, replaced ideology with nationalism & populism, and revealed a "hostility to core American beliefs."

@maddow Kagan: The "zombie" Republicans go thru the motions of governing, mouth pursuit of GOP goals, but have leached away power to Trump. "The party’s main if not sole purpose today is as the willing enabler of Trump’s efforts to game the electoral system to ensure his return to power"

@maddow 🔥Kagan: Trump & GOP are outside the bounds of constitutional & democratic competition, in the realm of illegal/extralegal efforts to undermine the electoral process.

Zombie GOP also uses its institutional power to shield Trump & followers from the consequences of their crimes.

@maddow Kagan on GOP illegitimate "pincer" assault: Leaders run interference for the Trump cult in the sphere of legitimate politics, while other Repubs cheer on the Jan.6 perpetrators, turning them into martyrs & heroes, encouraging future illegal acts. All "fundamentally disingenuous."

@maddow 💯Kagan: Even Trump opponents play along. Romney & Sasse continue conducting business as usual, even tho they know Trump’s lieutenants in their party are working to subvert the next election.

"The result is that even these anti-Trump Republicans are enabling the insurrection."

@maddow Kagan: Revolutionary movements usually operate outside a society’s power structures. But MAGA is inside the structures. It dominates cable news networks, conservative mags, 100s of talk radio stations & online platforms. +Access to financing from the rich & the RNC donor pool.

@maddow "we are in a time of hope and illusion." Those who said Trump wldn’t try to overturn the last election now say don't worry about the next. Rs have been playing this game for 5yrs, gaslighting Trump’s intentions & gaslighting when what they insisted was improbable came to pass.

@maddow This part's of Robert Kagan's piece is almost unbearable to read: The high likelihood of GOP winning the House, how much MORE powerful and unleashed the fascism will be once Trump runs, is back on social media, the endless megaphone, the media attention. I mean, kill me now.

@maddow Ironically, Kagan sees hope here, perhaps illusion, in the 7 Rs who convicted impeached Trump for inciting insurrection. Burr, Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, Romney, Sasse, Toomey displayed "republican virtue," he says, so can again—to pass not filibuster election/voting bills.

@maddow Kagan says @SenatorRomney & Co. can fashion themselves as Constitutional Rs willing to form a national unity coalition for the sole purpose of saving the republic in an emergency. Cooperation w/ Dems strictly ltd to Constitution & elections.

Hope is nice
#EndTheFilibuster nicer

@maddow @SenatorRomney Kagan's essay is brilliant & necessary.but engages in the very illusion he condemns. For ex, he believes Trump & the GOP are still distinct threats. And blames Dems for professing to see no distinction, preferring to use Trump as a partisan weapon.

🤔Pretty defensive here imho.

@maddow @SenatorRomney My allergy to "both sides" language aside, Kagan's appeal to "virtue" is good. He urges the 7 Rs not to look away but have the courage to do whatever necessary to save democracy ASAP. Better to "go out fighting than to slink off quietly into the night" (and condemned by history)