Thread by @jedshug

Our era is a case study of how racism leads to authoritarianism.

Racism is the easiest quid pro quo between crook-demagogues and a racist base:

The crook offers a racist agenda in return for carte-blanche for any crimes, election rigging & corruption.

The deal between devils.

I know this may sound obvious.
But this deal between devils helps us understand this week, when so many in @GOP are so shameless in making statements both they and their constituents know to be false.
I've been thinking about this paper by @ewzucker Hahl and Kim all week:

@GOP @ewzucker 3/ I didn't mean to make this a thread, but oh well:

Here's their huge question and their big answer:

Why would a constituency of voters find a candidate “authentic" even though they know he is a “lying demagogue" (tells lies and appeals to bias/private prejudices)?

@GOP @ewzucker Answer:
Lying is a feature, not a bug.
(1) “Common-knowledge” lies are flagrant violations of norms;
and
(2) when a system is suffering from a “crisis of legitimacy” for a constituency, that constituency is motivated to see a flagrant violator as its authentic champion.

@GOP @ewzucker 5/ The constituency who sees a system as illegitimate wants a leader who will blow up those illegitimate norms.

That constituency will see a leader who shares their values AND also flagrantly lies as a more authentic norms shredder...

@GOP @ewzucker 6/ The more willing that leader is to lie for the cause, the more sincere that leader is willing to fight for their cause.

Lying about basic facts signals a deeper commitment to the bigger agenda: blowing up an illegitimate system:

Draining swamps. Building walls. #MAGA.

@GOP @ewzucker 7/ A racist base more than just tolerates lying.
They reward it.
The lies are signals of the leader's commitment to overturning an "illegitimate" system (and fighting that system's elites).

As some leaders are rewarded for lying (Trump), others learn to follow.

@GOP @ewzucker 8/ Shocked by just how far @DevinNunes, Jordan, Ratcliffe, @EliseStefanik, Sen. Kennedy, etc, would go to flagrantly lie?

They've learned not only that there is no cost to lying...

They see huge rewards with their racist base.
It's a signal they authentically fight their fight.

@GOP @ewzucker @DevinNunes @EliseStefanik 9/
"A Deal Between Devils"
I turned it into a blog post. Maybe it's a book project on racism, "authentic lying", & corruption:
Jim Crow (which isn't just the South and isn't gone), Mussolini, Nazi Germany, Japan, Stalinist Soviets, and South Africa.
shugerblog.com/2019/11/25/a-d…