Thread by @AbdulElSayed

Fascism is a word so often misused, that it immediately elicits eye rolls from serious ppl.

But it has a meaning: ultranationalist, dictatorial gov’t that deploys fear of the other, both inside & outside the nation, to consolidate power.

Trump is accelerating fascism.

1/

Think about the way Trump talks about #BLM protests as an “anti-American” Force, not out to promote racial equality, but to tear down American “heritage.”

His deployment of CBP paramilitary on the streets in #Portland is a profound escalation acting on that narrative.

2/

Consider the fact that he continues to call #COVID19 the “China virus” and stoked conspiracies that it had been developed in a lab in Wuhan to reinforce the narrative that they are the enemy abroad.

3/

Consider that he commuted the sentence of #RogerStone, a man who lied to Congress to protect him—effectively sending the signal to his partisans that if they help him in 2020, never mind the law, he’s not above disregarding it to protect them.

4/

Consider his continuous war against all but the most extreme right-wing media like OANN. Even Fox—that’s dared confront him & his excess in recent days—has since “sold out”.

Remember the Muslim Ban & “immigrant caravan” that excuses putting kids in cages.

5/

Consider his elevation & promotion of his own familymembers in foreign & domestic policy matters over the experience of long-serving career civil servants that he calls the “deep state.”

Remember Ukraine & the praise of Putin & Kim Jung Un & Erdogan.

6/

Consider his war on #DrFauci & the CDC because they are unwilling to conform to his attempts to propagandize the #pandemic.

Consider that the only time he was willing to wear a #mask in public it was while flanked by military top brass.

7/

Remember that he used the military to clear public property of a peaceful protest so that he could have a photo with a bible in front of a church.

8/

I write this because #fascism is like climate change—it doesn’t happen all at once.

It happens slowly, so it’s hard to ascertain in the moment.

Each insult to our democracy is just a tad worse than yesterday’s, so it’s hard to track the enormity of the backslide.

9/

By our nature, ppl are optimists. We buy dodges & excuses because we want to believe them. We don’t want to have to look at the worst possible outcome.

“Well, they have been protesting for quite a while” or “well, it did come from China” well-meaning ppl tell themselves.

10/

But as a kid who spent summers in the military dictatorship (Egypt) my parents immigrated from, I have too much experience with & fear for where we’re headed: Lawlessness by dictator, paramilitary force, collapsing institutions.

What we have to lose is too precious.

11/

Our democracy isn’t like a real ship, fastened with bolts & screws—instead it’s like one of those miniature ships in a bottle. A bit of glue at best.

It relies on leaders respecting the way that the pieces are set just so. If you shake the bottle, it can collapse.

12/

Trump & his accolytes are shaking as vigorously as they can.

They *want* to destroy it—that way they can tell us that they’re the only ones who can put it back together...

only to shake it again.

After all, #fascism relies on being “the only ones who can protect you.”

13/

There is no exaggeration in saying that this is the most important election in US history.

That’s because it’s an election to decide...if we want to have future elections.

And if that sounds alarmist, go back to tweet 1/ and read this again.

14/

It’s not enough to win by a small margin.

Trump has already called mail-in ballots attempts to “rig” the election & is using paramilitary forces to clear peaceful protest in #portland.

These are ingredients in a bigger, more sinister recipe.

15/

He must be defeated handily. It has to be ineluctable, undeniable, and unchallengeable.

We have to win EVERY swing state and some states no one thought could flip.

He has to be so badly embarrassed that the idea that he can “protect” anything is discredited.

16/

So please, whatever it is you intended to do, give, offer to the cause...double it.

There is too much at stake to hold back now. Don’t look back and say “I wish I would have...”

Look back and say “I’m glad I did.”

17/

But it doesn’t end there. We’ll have to spend the next decade reestablishing the norms he’s violated. Because however dangerous he is, he is shining a light on the cracks in a system that could be more swiftly dismantled by a more efficient, more ruthless version to come.

18/

It’s on us to fix those cracks—to address the insecurity that’s led us here:

a failing corporate healthcare system, unaffordable housing, profound inequities, failing schools, a vicious gig economy, voter suppression, disinvestment in rural & urban communities...

19/

A public convo splintered by major corps splitting us to sell ads, warmongering abroad, crumbling infrastructure, militarized policing & the prison industrial complex...

That’s tomorrow’s work.

Today, let’s protect our democracy. Because yes, it can happen here too.

20/20