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Last night's debate was an abomination, but our entire debate system is a total disaster that fails to advance ideas while manufacturing controversy and made-for-TV spectacle.

They're hurting our politics and leading to candidates like Donald Trump.

themuckrake.com/main/terrible-…
Our debates are professional wrestling. Rehearsed lines and putdowns by actors prepared to gift cable news highlights and ratings-boosting feuds.

There's no emphasis on actual issues, no advancement of ideas, just a big Monday Night RAW-style spectacle that hurts society.
We deserve better than these terrible debates. We deserve substantive discussions, nuanced ideas. And what's more, we NEED those debates, because this flashy, meaningless spectacle has led to a political crisis where spectacle matters over actual debate.
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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
All Donald Trump is capable of is fomenting cultural rage and pathetic displays of faux personal importance to mask vast, vast insecurity.

You cannot count on him to do anything productive. This isn’t a man who can organize a response to a pandemic or calm a market in crisis.
Trump is incapable of organizing anything because his own insecurities prevent him from forming community and, like other authoritarians, he’s afraid of experts who know more than him. That’s a perfect combination for worsened pandemics and a total loss of market confidence.
All Trump can do is point a withered finger at a scapegoat for his mistakes. While coronavirus spreads and the market craters he’ll panic that his insecurities are exposed and cultivate anger at shadowy conspiracies and vulnerable minorities. This cycle is set in stone.
Read 4 tweets
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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
Authoritarians are ALWAYS incompetent. Because they’re insecure they don’t trust experts and actively ferment rivalries between their sycophants. They spend their time covering up their own mistakes under a mountain of disinformation and the threat of violence.
Authoritarians don’t decide to practice authoritarianism or enable fascism. It’s their inherent, dangerous insecurity. As situations like a pandemic or a crashing economy spiral out of their control they lash out to shift blame and will destroy anyone to save themselves.
Authoritarians will destroy the world inch by inch, crush every living human one by one, doom the entirety of civilization, because their toxic insecurity and boundless, endless need turns them into a black hole that will swallow up society.
Read 4 tweets
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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
Again, just so it won’t surprise people, as the pandemic grows and it’s obvious Trump mishandled it and put lives at risk, the Right will blame immigrants, vulnerable populations, and “traitors.” They’ll attack civil liberties to hide guilt.

This is his authoritarianism works.
This is where it’s going. It’s where all crises go with authoritarians, because they’re incapable of actual governance and are wildly incompetent. Their only talent is harnessing anger and framing vulnerable populations for their mistakes, which leads to violence.
Be ready. The extreme right, particularly the Info Wars crowd, tests the message out, floats the narrative before its accepted wholesale. If the coronavirus emergency worsens and Trump continues to flail, they’re not going to simply accept responsibility and throw up their hands.
Read 3 tweets

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Julie Kelly
@julie_kelly2
Last night’s debate was another disaster for Democrats and NeverTrump. As they turn on each other, let’s take a moment to gawk at their split and wait for more fireworks. Their public humiliation couldn’t happen to two more deserving groups of thugs: amgreatness.com/2020/02/24/the…
And he meant the Dem debate, not his reflection in the mirror
Read 6 tweets
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Brennan Center
@BrennanCenter
Last year we published a report that looked at the diversity of our courts. We found that though our courts make decisions that affect the lives of millions of Americans, they rarely look like the people they serve. Now, we have an update on our findings. brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…
Even though people of color make up 40% of the population, only 15.5% percent of state supreme court seats nationwide are held by Black, Asian, Latino, or Native American justices. This is up from 15% last year.
Black people are at least 10% of the population in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas but these states don’t currently have a Black justice seated.
Read 11 tweets
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Cory Morningstar
@elleprovocateur
I interrupt a terribly exhausting writing exercise to share a valuable lesson in how media serves capital.

A lesson in #Spectacle

Feb 21, 2019: 'Kicking Ass for Her Generation': Applause for 16-Year-Old Greta Thunberg as EU Chief Pledges Billions to Curb Climate Threat"...
"...—after weeks of climate strikes around the world inspired by the Swedish teenager—that the European Union has heard the demands of young people..."

#Spectacle

btw - here is the link:
commondreams.org/news/2019/02/2…
"In the financial period beginning in 2021, Juncker said, the EU will devote a quarter of its budget to solving the crisis."

Win! Victory! "Greta Thunberg, literally changing the world"
Read 19 tweets
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Robert Reich
@RBReich
Last night's debate began the inevitable process of eroding Joe Biden's spot as front-runner.
His interaction with Kamala Harris revealed his (1) baggage on race, which may become a problem for him in the primaries.
(2) Slowness in responding clearly and convincingly to a challenging question, which may suggest a weakness in future debates.
Read 5 tweets
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Joseph Stalin
@StalinIsBack
1/8 My favorite #quote by #JosephStalin, which explains the scientific, #DialecticalMaterialist explanation of true freedom in material reality, not just as an abstract ideal. #StalinIsBack #StalinLives #JVStalin #Stalin #StalinQuote #StalinQuotes #Truth #MELS #MarxismLeninism
2/8 Having an #objective, #rational, #ScientificSocialist, #Dialectical, & #Materialist viewpoint allows us to accurately see & evaluate & analyze #Truth & #Reality as they truly materially exist in this universe.
3/8 An idealistic, dogmatic viewpoint, which capitalists have, however, makes one irrational enough to 'see' freedom where freedom stays trapped on a piece of paper while people are oppressed in their actual lived lives.
Read 586 tweets
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Hillary Clinton
@HillaryClinton
With 15 days to go, Hillary and @ElizabethForMA hit the trail in New Hampshire. Tune in: hrc.io/2eEd8Ix IWillVote.com
"It is great to be in the state that’s going to send Hillary Clinton to the White House!” —@ElizabethForMA in New Hampshire
"Hillary Clinton fights for us. It is now time for us to fight for Hillary.” —@ElizabethForMA hillaryclinton.com/volunteer
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