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I was going to go through Timothy Snyder’s rules for dealing with a tyrant one by one.
But Trump is accusing his political and legal opponents of baby murder and an attempted coup.
I need to skip to Rule 17.
But Trump is accusing his political and legal opponents of baby murder and an attempted coup.
I need to skip to Rule 17.
This is the language that precedes political violence and despotism. It should have alarms blaring. And I’m not sure what scares me more, his words or the level of indifference from the media and a lot of the public.
Of course, these dangerous words aren’t a new thing. Trump and his lackeys have been trotting these particular ones out for a while now. We’re getting used to his “enemy of the people” talk. And he’s been talking about invasion and infestation since day 1 of his campaign.
At this point, it’s not enough to say this language precedes violence. The violence is already here. He’s just ramping it up. Justifying and inciting more of it, against more people.
His body count went up again yesterday.
As Sarah Kendzior summed it up, “It can happen here, it has happened here, and it is happening here.”
Every time he uses this kind of language, he’s shouting that it’s happening here.
Every time he uses this kind of language, he’s shouting that it’s happening here.
And how is the mainstream press responding? With a level of cowardice that renders their reporting - even their fact checking - completely misleading.
Their cowardice and white-washing have been a problem since day one of his campaign, and they’ve only grown in proportion with his rhetoric and defiance of the law. To the point that they’re refusing to cover the most important story of our time.
If the press won’t sound the alarm for us, it’s on us to sound it. And I don’t mean on here. Talk to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors… if you think you can start that conversation, start it.
