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That is ONE of the reasons Trump is president. Voter suppression is a big one. 40 years of propaganda.lies from a corrupt, corporate&billionaire-funded right-wing apparatus is another (and contributes to picking bad candidates). /1
Then there is corporate infiltration of the Dems using their wealth and power, and the resulting bad candidates. Also the resulting failure to use the power of government to protect We the People and make our lives better. /2
Under Obama people's lives did not get better. Banksters were bailed out. Obvious criminals were not prosecuted. Corruption was not punished. Corporations were not held accountable. /3
Halfway through Obama's presidency people were getting fed up. I remember Clinton, the "Explainer-in-Chief" at the 2008 convention, urging people to give it just a little more time. Things will get better... so they voted for Obama again. /4
Back to that 40 years of propaganda. Republican appeals to racism had been working, getting them in office so they could pass tax cuts for the rich. They created a racist "base" that demanded racist solutions instead of just more corporatism. /5
Finally a big one: Russia. Add to all of those the power and resources of a national intelligence apparatus - intelligence gathering, propaganda, blackmail, etc. - working to elect Trump. /6
So here we are with a lawless, white nationalist, authoritarian in charge. He is stripping away everything that the country was supposed to be about. Of course the US had its bad side, but the public shared and tried to achieve certain higher values. /7
That's gone. Rule of law is gone. I don't know if we can get them back. The next "election" is already under widespread attack. Potential candidates being "investigated". Voter suppression laws being passed. (Even voter registration effectively outlawed in some states.) /8
Far-right propaganda and lies are spread by a well-funded apparatus. Polls showing the public is being reached by the lies... /9
And any remaining powers-that-be that might be able to put the brakes on this are not seeing the threat, or too timid or intimidated (or blackmailed?) and are not stepping up to the challenge to pull us away from the slide to authoritarianism. /10
Maybe, just maybe we can find a way past this. I don't know. It requires the people with their hands on the levers of power to pull those levers as hard as they can ASAP. We'll see... /11
