In dealing with a pandemic, a democratic leader would base success on how many lives are saved.
A would-be oligarch, on the other hand, bases success on whether he maintains power.
That's the clue to what's happening.
#1: Trump has been systematically dismantling the federal government.
He gives “federalism” an oligarch’s twist: He doesn't just want to transfer power to the states. He also want to transfer power to industry.
To that end, he cynically employs basic fascist tactics.
Because he has only a few tricks in his bag, he's using those tricks in this pandemic.
And they don't work against a virus.
🔹They place his reelection needs above the health needs of the country and
🔹They want to dismantle the federal government.
The result is that the federal government is not equipped to handle a pandemic and has thus made a series of epic errors.
politico.com/news/2020/03/3…
See also: propublica.org/article/taxpay…
h/t @HC_Richardson
The problem is compounded because Trump appoints and hires people based on the person’s degree of loyalty to him instead of expertise.
Instead of coordinating a central government response, Jared is tapping private industry.
Oligarchy, or a mafia state, happens when government leaders also control the nation’s industries.
His concern was to protect the stock market (which he conflates with the economy) because he believes that a strong economy will get him elected. (He needs his donors flush with cash.)
He lost his gamble. Now he's terrified that the virus will pop the bubble.
He reached into his bag of tricks.
There are not many tricks in the bag, so by this point, we’re familiar with them and can recognize them.
They are, however, effective in maintaining power.
As Yale professor @jasonintrator said: Trump “cynically uses a set of fascist tactics to gain and maintain power.”
For more, see:
Trump is a natural at drenching the population with a rapid-fire succession of news-grabbing, diverting spectacles.
Goebbels explained: “The mass mind is dull and sluggish, and for ideas to take root, they must be constantly re-seeded and repeated.”
slate.com/news-and-polit…
(Yup, they stole from a charity and now can't sit on boards in New York.)
nytimes.com/2019/12/10/nyr…
And when you hold free-wheeling base-thrilling press conferences filled with lies.
How?
🔹Tell people not to believe experts⤵️
🔹Unleash such a firehose of lies that people get so confused they eventually conclude that the truth is unknowable.
A few examples from the tireless @ddale8⤵️
Note that he is throwing out garbage on purpose, to confuse people. Confusing people in a pandemic is a terrible idea— but the tactic here is to govern by spectacle (yes, it is a tactic).
🔹A leader who only knows how to use fascist tactics isn't equipped to deal with a pandemic, and
🔹A would-be oligarch will base his success on whether maintains power, not how many lives are saved.
It's a different situation. "History doesn't repeat itself, but it oftenrhymes" (attributed to Mark Twain)
Trump is emulating what Hungarian scholar Bálint Magyar calls a “mafia state."
I'll put two links into the next tweet.
I also wrote about this last year in an NBC Op Ed piece:
nbcnews.com/think/opinion/…