Thread by @1JoshGreenberg

THREAD

RESISTANCE STRATEGY: A FAILURE OF IMAGINATION

I cannot stop writing on this topic—because my conversations with leaders suggest that many still have not fully grasped how to confront the depth of the adversary that we face.

1

Yesterday, House Majority Whip James Clyburn stated that he does not envision a free and fair election. So, our leaders certainly seem to understand all that is at stake.

Nevertheless, the strategic response continues to lag behind reality.

2

If Clyburn’s remarks are not an emergent wake-up call for resistance leaders to adopt new, more comprehensive strategies, then I don’t know what is.

3

We have to understand what is happening here.

Trump is attempting to trample on all of our institutions.

Therefore, responses confined to the traditional institutional framework risk being insufficient in the end.

4

We need to absorb these implications—and adopt strategy that fully responds to Trump’s intentions.

5

While legally-based strategies remain an essential component in our response to Trump, they only go so far when the rule of law itself is under threat. Such strategies remain entrapped in the very institutional paradigm that Trump is trying to destroy.

6

If the rule of law no longer exists, it will no longer be possible to use the rule of law to reign Trump in (not that doing so has been possible to date, either).

7

Crucially, we also need to defeat him by (a) delegitimizing him in the media and (b) blunting his ability to stoke violence—all using entirely peaceful methods.

In short, we need to pursue strategies that counteract Trump’s power in his multiple spheres of influence.

8

A good investor always hedges her bets. She diversifies her risk.

But current resistance strategy does not. It pours all of its eggs into the election basket.

9

So much money is being poured exclusively into election-based strategies that we have probably reached a point of diminishing returns in this area. It is therefore critical to diversify into other strategies.

10

In essence, current resistance strategy suffers from a failure of imagination.

Why? Two reasons:

Reason #1: The Democratic Party and other political institutions are made to win elections—and that's all.

11

They are just like machines in an automobile factory that are designed to produce cars—and nothing else.

These political institutions are not designed to deal with larger social implications, including the more violent eventualities of our political crisis.

12

Reason #2: War is a foreign concept in this country. No one can fathom that America could face war.

Likewise, no one can fathom corresponding interventions. Peace efforts are an equally foreign concept.

13

For 244 years, our political system has relied on elections for the transition of power. Consequently, no one can imagine operating in anything different than the electoral sphere.

But who says this year will be a repeat of history?

14

There is one fact that can never be forgotten: while often informative, the past does not predict the future.

We may not know what the future holds. But we must use our analytical tools to forecast the future and then strategize to address the forecasts appropriately.

15

Failure to do so amounts to strategic myopia.

Forecasting is exactly what we do (or are supposed to do) in addressing the pandemic.

There is no reason not to do the same for our current social and political crisis.

16 - END