Thread by @JYSexton

All right. People are asking why so many are in denial about Trump possibly committing genocide.

Let's have a big conversation about American myth and why so many people fail so badly with Trump.

Here's what I learned writing AMERICAN RULE.

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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…

Let's start with two words: white supremacy.

America's founding was explicitly tied to white supremacy. Everything from the Founders themselves to the laws. That fact is irrefutable and really hard for people to wrap their heads around...particularly white people.

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So many of the people responsible for understanding Trump, in the media, experts, political experts, all of them, view American history through the lens of American exceptionalism, which is an engineered and weaponized myth that's been used for political purposes.

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Even though these experts understand Trump is dangerous and incompetent and unstable, the moment he became president they transferred to him an unreasonable respect and trust of the presidency.

The office, the seal, the title. They believe any president HAS to be worthy.

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This unreasonable respect of the office of the presidency is why they talked about "adults in the room," why they always think Trump will "pivot" or "grow into the role.

They believe in the inherent myth of the American political system.

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Now. The delusion of believing the American myth is tied to your own identity. The experts who define the conversation have been successful within the flawed meritocracy. Because they have succeeded they inherently believe the system must be worthy.

It's a cycle.

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Let's talk about the genocide aspect.

Genocide doesn't have to be carried out with weapons or in camps. It can be as simple as denying life-saving supplies based on political retribution.

That's what Trump is doing RIGHT NOW with Blue States and governors.

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Even as Trump continues to break every law and trouble every institution, there are still people who'd rather deny the thing HAPPENING BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES.

Why?

Because to admit it is to have to reconsider themselves and the entirety of American myth and history.

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A quick aside: MAGA isn't about making America great again.

It's about reinforcing the American myth that America is exceptional, it's about telling people they don't have to reconsider history or their role in it.

It's permission to continue living within the myth.

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You don't have to be a Trump supporter to believe in MAGA.

MAGA is a state of mind. It's living in a murderous delusion that America has always been exceptional and that you don't need to reexamine yourself or the world around you.

MAGA goes way beyond Trump.

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Okay.

To admit Trump is at least talking about genocide by denying supplies, you have to start understanding that America has committed genocide MANY TIMES OVER.

America's history is riddled with genocides caused and supported by America.

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There is the genocide of the Native People. Of African-Americans while enslaved. Of women and LGBTQ+. Of people who died during the AIDS Crisis. Not to mention abuses of human rights that have consistently taken place throughout our entire history.

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You also have to look at what Americans have done with genocidal behaviors in the Philippines, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam. Then how we've supported fascist leaders in Congo, Chile, Guatemala, all around the world.

America has been genocidal over and over again.

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To wrap your head around the fact that Donald Trump is openly flirting with committing genocide, you have mentally allow yourself to recognize that America has committed these genocides and aided these genocides all around the world. It's a big, big step.

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But that's not all.

You also have to recognize that the British Empire has done it. That many of our allies have done it. That we have watched genocides occur around the world, that we have aided them, assisted them, permitted them, excused them.

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You also have to recognize that America inspired movements like fascism and Nazism. That Hitler and other Nazis took their cues from us, from our sterilization programs, from our genocide of Native Americans, from our Confederacy, and from our laws.

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You have to look at one of the worst crimes in human history, the Holocaust, and see American fingerprints. You have to start questioning how corporations let these things happen, how they assist them, how they fuel them.

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Suddenly, American history cracks into pieces. Everything you've known has been a lie. And what about you? As a person? The things you've held and believed.

Suddenly, you're looking at presidents, wars, everything in a completely different light.

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The truth is that Donald Trump is especially dangerous. He's unstable. He's an authoritarian. He's one of the biggest threats we've ever had.

BUT. He's in the American tradition. Others have been like him, they've only seemed better because they operated better in public.

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Trump is a moment of clarity. He embodies and make transparent so many of America's worst and most dangerous flaws.

He's like a Rosetta Stone that helps translates our history and reveals the truth of what American myth has hidden. We have to seek that truth.

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When you find yourself wondering how any of this happened, or why news coverage seems so divorced from reality, remember that we're watching the American myth splinter before our very eyes.

We're watching propaganda reach its terminal point and losing its power.

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What Trump is carrying out is the beginnings of a politically motivated genocide, even if he does or doesn't understand.

Start from there. Look backwards. See how American myth has hidden these crimes and others.

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themuckrake.com/main/genocide