Thread by @PaulHRosenberg

Once upon a time, GOP actually *believed* in "law & order": as Nixon's crimes exposed, support dropped. But no longer!
Why? Asymmetric polarization. What's that mean? How did it happen? Funny you should ask: 1/14
salon.com/2019/11/24/rep…

First, to show how parties have changed, see @jenmercieca on party's impeachment hearing framing: Dems with "law & order" frame, GOP with "conspiracy" frame: 2/14
theconversation.com/law-and-order-…

Conspiracism can work for Trump/GOP, fending off the accumulation of evidence, due to the asymmetric polarization US has seen since Watergate: 3/14

Polarization is best understood in terms of @Peter_Turchin's structural demographic theory, whose book, "Ages of Discord" amazon.com/Ages-Discord-P…
I wrote about in October 2016. salon.com/2016/10/01/bre…
Key points noted here: 4/14

The asymmetry can be understood in terms of @karen_stenner's "The Authoritarian Dynamic".
amazon.com/Authoritarian-…
Authoritarians respond more dramatically to deteriorating conditions described by SDT: 5/14

And, in fact, "The Long Southern Strategy": amazon.com/Long-Southern-…
Salon interview: salon.com/2019/07/01/the…
describes how that was directed & accelerated by the GOP here in the US. Co-author @AngieMaxwell1 comments: 6/14

And conservative legal activism has played a significant role in this process as well: 7/14

Originalism is a mythic faith symbol, as @espinsegall has argued: amzn.to/2ReS8e3
and its meaning flipped as the GOP gained judicial, but its mythic identity function--key to mobilizing authoritarian support--stayed constant: 8/14

And the key to how THAT worked was the unification of evangelicals with GOP over abortion: 9/14

In a similar vein, @AngieMaxwell1 offers a broader more nuanced view: 10/14

But there's no doubting the key symbolic role *Roe* came to play over time--based partly on the originalists' lie that it just invented a right out of nothing: 11/14

That's the essence of the arc I describe in my story. But there's a lot more, in addition, including this @espinsegall observation re Trump's pardoning of war criminals: 12/14

Which is supported by historical examples, described by @disorderedworld in his book,
“Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy.”
amazon.com/dp/B07H44BMM6/…
He added a supporting comment: 13/14

I conclude by quoting Woodie Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd The Outlaw":
“As through this world I travel
I meet lots of funny men.
Some will rob you with a six gun,
and some with a fountain pen."
Read the whole story here: salon.com/2019/11/24/rep…
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