Thread by @JoshuaCypess

1/ The point of my singloid tweet was to emphasize that Dems winning big in Nov 2020 will *not* be the end of the war vs. Trumpism, rather it would win a major battle, just like D-Day in WW2

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1301503621608210433

2/ I'm using WW2 European theater metaphors b/c many people know the events (as opposed to the Pacific & I want to avoid the nuke metaphor)

I could also use the (first) US Civil War or Revolution except I don't know the battles that well, sorry.

3/ But Nov 2020 is crucial for saving American Democracy and liberty. So maybe it's like Gettysburg (1863), but more like Saratoga (1777), which I know from the important speculative fiction novel "For Want of a Nail"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_o…

4/ I won't speculate about what a GOP victory in Nov. would mean b/c it would be such a massive calamity that I don't want to spread panic & depression.

However, even if Dems win, this Second Civil War (or Third, given the nature of the American Revolution) will still continue.

5/ And that was my main point: the battle we are in will continue way past Nov., it will be in this hot phase we're currently under until IY"H Biden is sworn in.

And after that will still be major unrest from the Red Hats for a while. They are unlawful in nature & they want war

6/ The #RedHats need to be defeated & it will take a while. They fill our police departments, many major companies, and they aren't "hidden" (this isn't a conspiracy theory) - they are un-shy Trump (ym'sh) supporters

They wear their uniform proudly. They put signs on their lawn!

6.5/ Pause while I put away groceries. Talk amongst yourselves.

7/ My brother wanted to add to the WW2 metaphor the Nov 2018 midterms. I'd say that was the Battle of Stalingrad b/c the win there set the stage for the eventual victory in 1945
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of…

8/ I don't know when VE Day can be declared. The de-Trumpification of the government & many municipalities, may take years. The closest analog is Reconstruction following the US Civil War... which was 'incomplete' to put it mildly
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstru…

9/ We're in this moment b/c of the demographic shift in the country has allowed the non-white population to finally exert significant power. They are joined w/ sympathetic white allies - college educated & urban & suburban whites.

10/ The GOP saw this happening. 1964's Civil Rights Act (CRA) was when the White-Supremacist plurality of America - those who supported slavery & a race hierarchy - saw the mortal threat to their view of the country, and the reaction led to a racist hegemony for decades

11/ In the first election after the CRA, the white supremacists (WSS) chose Goldwater as their nominee, who was crushed in a landslide (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Unit…)

Goldwater was a clear WSS (he voted against CRA) & his defeat is instructive

12/ Why did the WSS choose Goldwater if not to repudiate civil rights? And they learned their lesson b/c Nixon won in 1968 using the "Southern Strategy" and there was an actual Slavery Enthusiast as a 3rd party, George Wallace, that won 46 electoral votes

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Unit…

13/ The Republicans controlled the White House from 1968-1992 with a weird, minor, blip of the Carter years. When Clinton won in '92, the WSS retaliated w/the 'Republican Revolution' in 94 following Gingrich, the gravedigger of US democracy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republica…

14/ Gingrich knew, following the success of Clinton, that the WSS days were numbered. The whole WSS Party (the GOP) knew they were illegitimate and enshrined that in the stolen 2000 election.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Unit…

15/ 2008 the WSS probably realized that it was probably for the best that the Democrats would need to clean up their destruction of the economy & world under Bush, but 2012 was a renewed wake-up call: a Black man was able to win an honest election! Oh Noes!

16/ The GOP post-2012 'autopsy' was the point when they could have turned away from white supremacy but 400 years of American history weighed on them too hard.

Too many Americans construct their identity to WSS. That needs a major cultural change to fix
nytimes.com/2013/03/19/us/…

17/ So while many accept that the 2020 election is similar to 1860 b/c if Lincoln hadn't won, slavery was likely to have been permanently enshrined in the Constitution.

Only this year did I learn about the Corwin Amendment
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corwin_Am…

18/ This 1860 Amend. would have permanently enshrined slavery in the Constitution.

It passed the House 133-65 & Senate 24-12 & was (unnecessarily) signed by Pres. Buchanan! It was on the way to the states for ratification when Lincoln was elected & the South declared war

19/ I never learned this in AP US History. I didn't know that if Lincoln had lost, slavery would have been permanent.

I learned about the Corwin Amendment from this incredible thread abt a set of 'failed amendments'

https://twitter.com/threadreaderapp/status/1274087761746812929

20/ I haven't been able to verify the accuracy of the research too well, but the poster @TheViewFromLL2 seems to know her stuff.

It was eye-opening. We were very close to a horrible fate in 1860. And that definitely feels like the stakes in 2020.

21/ Another historical parallel is the 1948 South African election which led to apartheid. Apartheid wasn't inevitable, but it came about through similar fractures in their society & fear of the upcoming non-white majority
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Sout…

22/ The larger subject of how we will have de-Trumpification, de-White-Supremacy-ication, Reconstruction following a (PLEASE GOD) Biden win, will need to wait.

I have hope, though. Why? B/c in 1940 the US was very pro-fascist, that ended after the horrors of WW2 were exposed.

23/ That will it for now.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. @threader_app please compile.