Thread by @benwikler

Just finished watching Vice. You should see it. You'll laugh more than you expected. You'll end it reeling and furious.

There's a very strong case to be made that Trump isn't even the worst president of the 21st century. That dishonor belongs to Dick Cheney.

The story of Cheney—and particularly of the Iraq war—is so stunningly ugly that it partisans to tell it accurately. Hard to imagine it'll be told—that it's being told—properly in high school history classes. Kids, go see Vice.

If you lived through the Bush years and were paying attention to politics, @vicemovie will take you back to the bad old days. But it'll also restore a certain sense of perspective to you about the Trump years. Things could be worse. They were, quite recently.

@ViceMovie takes you to very dark places. And then, amidst the carnage, near the end, you see Obama get sworn into office. The footage races ahead—to kids in cages, to a Trump rally—but that moment when Obama's sworn in reminds you that things aren't linear, or inevitable.

There are many truly terrible things that Trump has done. One thing he has not yet done is invade a country of 25 million people and cause the death of 2% of the civilian population.

https://twitter.com/TheNewGenou/status/1083966590977216514

One thing I appreciated in @vicemovie: the climate throughline. Reagan ripping the solar panels off the White House roof. Cheney’s energy task force. I often think the 2000 election will turn out the most significant of our lifetime, because Gore would’ve acted on climate.

Sometimes people say “Look at Trump’s use of lies, shamelessness, and fear. Imagine how bad it could get if someone smarter and more disciplined used those techniques.” Ladies and gentlemen, meet Richard Bruce Cheney, former secret President of the United States.

Re climate politics and Vice: Read this. "An unambiguous thesis of the film is that the extreme political partisanship that exists today over climate change has its roots in the deeds of Dick Cheney." And the evidence is very strong.

michaelmann.net/content/vice-c…

One unmistakable theme of @ViceMovie is that the damage wrought on America by the conservative movement didn't happen overnight, or in one presidential term. It's been the slow, deliberate work of decades.