Thread by @JillPiggott

#Independents & #progressives who aren't sure they're going to #VoteBiden should spend 20 mins finding out what's really at stake from 3 top (former) #Republican strategists. Their answer is EVERYTHING. /thread
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@SteveSchmidtSES 1>#Republicans have no platform. Literally. They are officially a cult of personality.

2>#RNC made lawless use of the people's house, the most powerful symbol of the state. Trump's in effect saying he IS the state, he IS the law.

Schmidt: 3>Trump campaign & #RNC know using the #WhiteHouse & WH staffers for the convention is illegal & did it anyway. Trump doesn't just demand loyalty. He demands his staff break the law as proof that HE is the law. "The light's gone from flashing yellow to flashing red."

.@TheRickWilson Trump's lawlessness is made possible by #Barr b/c he'll squelch any IG reports. Trump's joke about killing someone on 5th Ave is no longer a joke but fact. There's nothing he can do that Barr & Senate #Republicans won't protect.

(I'm thinking you #SusanCollins.)

Wilson: "This is a terrifying precedent." Trump has repeatedly gotten away with breaking the law & the GOP hasn't held him accountable or rebuked his abuse of power.

Schmidt: There should've been a resignation following use of #Marine guards at Trump's RNC immigration ceremony.

Schmidt: "You have a lawless administration that has decided that they can do anything they want to do b/c they are in charge. And that has never, ever, ever been asserted from the office of Pres of the US before." Trump acts purely for "the low purpose of self-interest."

Wilson: Trump's just trying to run out the clock so he can't be held accountable for his crimes after he leaves office.

.@StuartPStevens "The difference bwn this & #Watergate is that #Republicans didn't know what was going on in Watergate. Republicans know what's going on now."

Stevens: "To me, most long-lasting impact of Donald Trump is not going to be Donald Trump. It's the realization that a major American political party has completely collapsed & that there is nothing they will do on any point of principle to stand up for their oath of office."

Stevens: "I worked for a lot of these people" (#Republican elected officials) "& I have no other conclusion that I can reach than that they lied to me. They lied when they said what they believed in & they haven't stood for what they said they did."

Stevens: #Republican elected officials "have completely failed the fundamental duty they had as custodians of this fragile concept of #democracy & I think it's absolutely shameful."

Schmidt: "What makes a #democracy possible is a tradition of the rule of law, a tradition that says no one is above and no one is below the law." When you establish that the political leadership of a country can break the law, "there will be more lawbreaking."

Schmidt: "The lawbreaking will eventually move into the space of infringing on people's rights--right to speak, right to pray, right to assemble--in the interest of the leader." That''s what happened when Trump & #Barr cleared out the square bwn the WH & the St John's church.

Schmidt: "The violence of the State was loosed against peacefully protesting people so the Pres could go hold a Bible upside down.... What comes next is the offensive abuse of power, using the power of the state to crush dissent and opposition."

Schmidt points to the fact that the #Republicans no longer have a platform. Literally. Parties always before wrote a platform & adopted it at the convention. It sets the agenda not just for the president, but Congress. In 2020, the GOP has NO platform.

Schmidt: "The #Republican party platform is now built on 1 idea: obedience to Donald Trump."

Wilson: These abuses won't just continue, they'll accelerate, and get more & more exaggerated. "The campaign is a preview."

Wilson: The administration & campaign are bragging about assembling "dossiers" on anyone who opposes Trump, including members of @ProjectLincoln. You will see "retribution against opponents of the Trump party."

This echoes the way state power got turned vs people in E Europe.

"All of the violence Trump is warning us about is literally happening right now."

Stevens: Trump is stoking division & hatred "because he's a #racist," & history shows that when a major political party unleashes bigotry & intolerance, "it's very hard to get it undone."

Stevens: Trump won primarily because non-white voter turnout went down in 2016.

Trump and Pence ("one of the smallest men in America") know that to win, they have to get every white vote they can. That's the reelection strategy & why they're trying to stoke white fear.

Stevens: "We're in for a very, very dangerous time. Because Trump is a #gangster, and gangsters will do anything to keep that government contract."

Everything's on the line. Everything. #VoteBlue

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