Thread by @brooks_rosa

1/ Here's how Trump & his team work:
- Announce something outrageous and illegal. Followers act on it. Critics scream & go to court. Court says "stop."
- Trump team announces some new variant, also outrageous and illegal. Same happens.
- Trump Team does same thing, over & over -

2/ Each time, critics challenge his words/acts. Each time, his followers (in & out of gov't) act on his directives. Each time, court challenges conclude at least some of what he's doing is unlawful. But each time, he retreats on one outrage and advances on another....

3/ Trump keeps "losing" and having to retreat. But meanwhile, he is winning, because each time, some damage is done: his directives cause real harm that cannot be undone by subsequent roll backs.

4/ That is what he is doing now and will do through the election. Example: legally, can he delay the election? Of course not. Will this stop him and his allies from trying it? Of course not. Will whatever he does cause just enough confusion to prevent some voting? Yup.

5/ Trump formula: repeat x 1,000, on every single issue.

Expect it. Prepare for it.

6/ Don't be lulled into complacency by the people saying, "But he can't do X, it would be clearly illegal!"
They are right, but also miss the point. Trump does not need to prevail in court to achieve his goals - he just needs to keep chipping away, causing chaos & fear

7/ Slowing things down on the margins, changing a few people's behavior on the margins, causing confusion on the margins, hurting a few people on the margins. Over time, it adds up

8/ Presidential elections are often decided by the slenderest margins in swing states. That's why we can't just dismiss Trump's outrageous statements. Need to build a counter-strategy premised on recognizing how and why Trump's approach often succeeds, despite illegality, etc.

See also this earlier thread:

https://twitter.com/brooks_rosa/status/1289192173502492673?s=20