The question isn't whether MAGA Van Guy is nuts, since he clearly is. That's not the President's fault. The better question is whether the WH and the Trump media complex is pushing the crazy juice so hard that it's making unstable people more likely to be violent. /1
I've said many times that "lone wolf" guys who pledge to ISIS or to white supremacy or to anti-abortion violence are kooks who went looking for a cause. They have to go find the propaganda, and when they do, they mainline it. /2
The difference here is that really hateful stuff is coming in waves not from foreigners or fringe groups, but from WH-sponsored rallies, from widely-cited internet sites that have zillions of followers, and from a four-hour window of hot crazy known as "Fox in prime time." /3
No one in politics or wingnut media made this guy send bombs. Period. What they did, instead, was superheat the political environment and flood crazy bullshit into the information space so regularly that unhinged guys like this think they're being patriots by sending bombs. /4
We can all hope that this will make some of those people think hard about what they're doing, but it won't. And I doubt this guy is going to be the last guy to do something like this, especially as the administration unravels more over the coming months. /5x

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More from @RadioFreeTom

Feb 14
Unrelated to the specific kerfuffle in my TL, here's a thought.

If you are inclined to believe that snotty blue checks don't engage people, do not complain when said blue check engages everyone as best he can.

There's one of me, many of you responding. /1
If you're telling me what to answer, what subjects to cover, or that you think I'm just here to "stir the pot" or other accusations of bad faith, I'll just block you to clear out the TL. I've had enough of that, thankyouverymuch.

I do my best to respond as much as I can. /2
My life would be a lot easier and more fun to just respond to the attaboys or just ignore all comments entirely, but that's never been my approach.

If you don't like the subject, then mute the thread, stop following, or turn off Twitter. You are grownups and have that power.
/3
Read 4 tweets
Jan 24
This was a group of very senior guys, GO/FO level some of them, and I snapped off a few shots of them. My man General Crackdown in the middle was not happy, as you can see.
I pulled the fill roll and made my mom stick it in her bra while was approached by an officer. /1
He, uh, told me to hand it over and come with him. I told him I didn't speak Russian. He switched to German. I told him I didn't speak German, either, but probably shouldn't have admitted I knew it was German. /2
My mother had no idea where she was in Moscow but I told her: "Film in bra, head away from me, I'll catch up."
The officer gave up and I started speaking English *loudly* and waving like Gomer Pyle and walked away. Mom and I made it to the Metro. /3
Read 4 tweets
Jan 17
@MelissaJPeltier @ericowensdc @ScottDguy @RachelBitecofer @tonyserrata @djosephdixon @harrisonjaime @DavidPepper What too many people on the left (in my not humble opinion) is that being *right* about a lot of Trump voters is not a platform. Republicans for years have branded themselves as "the party of everyone not specially favored by the Dems" and this was genius.
Trump blew that up. /1
@MelissaJPeltier @ericowensdc @ScottDguy @RachelBitecofer @tonyserrata @djosephdixon @harrisonjaime @DavidPepper And for a time after 2017, the *Dems* were making a great play for "being the party of everyone except this weird rightist coalition." This was the right play: to make the Dems the party of "we'll make everyone's life better."
But it's so hard for them to just keep doing that. /2
@MelissaJPeltier @ericowensdc @ScottDguy @RachelBitecofer @tonyserrata @djosephdixon @harrisonjaime @DavidPepper For those asking "What's the REPUBLICAN platform, huh?!" you're missing the point. They've gone back to being "not identity-driven and boutique issue Democrats who will hector you like self-righteous college students."
They don't need a platform to do that. /3
Read 4 tweets
Jan 13
In this piece, @Jbarro notes my frustration with people who will not vote to save democracy because they're worried about inflation. I take the point, but I have *always* felt this way about voters reacting to stuff that presidents don't control. /1

joshbarro.com/p/obsessing-ov…
In fact, one of the reasons I became a Republican in the late 70s was that I grew up in a blue collar area where people thought it was the responsibility of the President to find a job for every wage-earner, which isn't the way it works. (And I heard that a lot.) /2
I pleaded with people: You have mayors, state reps, governors. State government. You have to vote at the national level for things of national importance and solve local stuff at the local level. But nope. /3
Read 9 tweets
Dec 22, 2021
I read this piece recommended by @JVLast on how participating in the 1/6 insurrection ruined three lives. I read it trying to summon compassion, as he suggested we all do.
And yet, I'm struggling. /1
@JVLast There's a lot in the piece about protecting people from the consequences of free speech, vulnerable and gullible people. But the only way I can agree with that is to just give up on human agency and accept that a paternal state should have kept these people out of trouble. /2
@JVLast I don't know how to do that. I've always lived with pride in a country that never fears free speech, especially not if it's just nincompoopery writ large. (I don't even like hate speech codes.) So to feel compassion, I have to think of these people as no better than children. /3
Read 6 tweets
Dec 15, 2021
I've been busy all day, but catching up on the Great Mask Outrage confirms to me that
- Americans are terrible at risk assessement
- The goalposts for public health mandates have, for some people, now moved from "temporary emergency measures" to "because you might get a cold" /1
The people who are implying I am a heartless cad (which I am, but not on this) weren't here when I was taking rafts of shit from MAGA world about masking up, locking down, and getting vaxed. All of which I have affirmed with vigor.
But emergencies are not permanent. /2
Wear a mask in the shower if you want to. But it is *bad public policy* to create mandates that the public eventually just tunes out, for reasons ranging from symbolism to incoherence. I just drove through four states that all had different requirements, include *town* rules. /3
Read 5 tweets

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