"An elderly man, pale and weak in mind, body, and morals, stands on a stage in front of an adoring crowd. He appears before them in disguise—orange make-up and dark bronzer attempt to give his pale skin a color that suggests youthfulness."
"A cotton candy-like confection of bright blond hair-stuff covers his head, suggesting an angelic vitality. His voice is loud, he talks rough, suggesting strength and a powerful toughness. His suit is tailored to cover up his aged and deformed body."
"Shoe lifts give him height but also make him tilt forward awkwardly—and clumsily. His loyal audience doesn’t see with their own eyes but with his. Likewise, they don’t hear him with their own ears. They hear only what he wants them to hear."
Things I've seen that show me people still don't get what 2024 is about:
"We've already seen what Trump is like as president, it will be like that."
"He can't do that."
If Trump wins, his 2nd term won't be anything like his first. It will be much worse. Laws won't stop him.
Democratic erosion scholars call this "competitive authoritarianism"--it's the way that most democracies go authoritarian now--coups with the veneer of still being democratic:
I've tried to explain this before: Trump thinks he was too nice the last time he was president. He's pissed that his generals & staff prevented him from doing what he wanted while president, made him leave the WH when he lost. He wants unlimited power.
WARNING: anyone thinking of paying anyone to vote a certain way OR anyone accepting money to vote a certain way is violating 18 US Code 597 and will be punished with fines and/or two years in jail.
Like, just FYI. There are actual laws against accepting money for votes.
Reminds me of when I teach political campaigning and we talk about GOTV strategies and I have to tell my students that there are actual laws and most of their ideas for getting folks to vote are illegal.
Here are three explainers that might be helpful for thinking about why Trump's Big Election Lie worked on his followers, why they still believe it, and why even this mountain of evidence may not change their minds.
One of the biggest weaknesses of fascist leaders is they refuse to listen to advice. They’re afraid of appearing weak. They don’t want to acknowledge that other people know more than they do. They’re cognitively irresponsible, they want the authority to declare reality.
One thing you learn when you become an expert in something is how little you know compared to how much there is to know. When you speak to a lot of experts you learn how many other things there are to know and how impossible it would be to be an expert in more than one thing.
Subject matter experts are valuable, we’re much smarter together than we are in isolation. Autocrats never want to admit that. They treat experts as threats to the autocrat’s authority (they are) & try to punish experts or force them to comply with the authoritarian’s “truth.”
You might wonder why Trump would take the time to make an all-caps tweet stating his (apparently very strong) negative feelings about the world's biggest pop star. Trump treats all women as objects (he reifies them): all women are either treasured objects or hated objects.
Women are "treasured objects" when they make Trump look good. Women are "hated objects" when they refuse to capitulate to Trump & make him look bad. He gets in his feelings bigly when a popular, attractive, successful woman defies him. He's truly the smallest man who ever lived.