Thread by @TimothyDSnyder

0/25. Lying about disease kills us and our democracy. Quotations from "Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary," published this week. #OurMalady

1/25. "In January, (the federal government) failed to do what was so obviously necessary: acquire a test for the new coronavirus and apply it on a massive scale in the United States." (#OurMalady, p. 85)

2/25. "As the year began, Americans were denied the basic knowledge they needed to make decisions on their own, or to press their government to take action." (#OurMalady, p. 86)

3/25. "(In January and February 2020), Mr. Trump praised himself while ignoring the warnings he was given." (#OurMalady, p. 86)

4/25. "On February 24th, Mr. Trump insisted that the coronavirus was under control. This was not true." (#OurMalady, p. 88)

5/25. "In early March (Mr. Trump) said that anyone who wanted a test could get tested. That was a lie. By the end of February the United States had only tested 352 people." (#OurMalady, p. 88)

6/25. "The time lost in stupefaction and mendacity, the first two months of 2020, could never be regained." (#OurMalady, p. 88)

7/25. "In any catastrophe, especially one of their own making, tyrants will find a mixture of blaming others and excusing themselves that includes an enticing element of what we want to hear." (#OurMalady, p. 89)

8/25. "In early 2020, people naturally wanted to hear that there was no coronavirus in the United States. But we cannot be free and deluded." (#OurMalady, p. 89)

9/25. "People lose life and liberty if they cannot identify a threat and make preparations." (#OurMalady, pp. 89-90)

10/25. "Not wanting to know means asking for oppression." (#OurMalady, p. 90)

11/25. "Not wanting to know about disease means asking politicians (...) to manipulate you with the emotions that accompany mass death." (#OurMalady, p. 90)

12/25. "It would have taken just a bit of effort, and just a bit of courage, to admit that there was a problem, and to organize tests and tracing. Since these were lacking, a hundred and fifty thousand Americans died needlessly." (#OurMalady, p. 90)

13/25. "This is how tyranny works: the truth tellers are banished as the sycophants huddle close." (#OurMalady, p. 91)

14/25. "Once Mr. Trump made it clear that his priority was to see low counts of infected Americans, the simplest way to please the tyrant was not to count." (#OurMalady, p. 91-92)

15/25. "Mr. Trump's unwillingness to test did not mean that we were healthy, only that we were ignorant." (#OurMalady, p. 92)

16/25. "China does bear responsibility for ignoring the reality of the outbreak. Yet American policy was to repeat China's mistakes, after China had made them, and for a far longer time. For that only Americans can be blamed." (#OurMalady, p. 95)

17/25. "The fact that we can all be infected, and the consequence that we can all be tested, take courage to face. Mr. Trump lacked courage, and too many of us followed his lead." (#OurMalady, p. 95)

18/25. "Once politicians embrace ignorance and death, their next move is to bluster and blame." (#OurMalady, p. 96)

19/25. "Politicians who summon mass death with their own actions, as Mr. Trump did, will present it as inevitable, not their fault, the work of enemies, and then apportion the death in a way that suits them." (#OurMalady, p. 96)

20/25. "Rather than extending health care to all, a tyrant will watch people die, and try to stay in power by riding the roiling emotions of the survivors." (#OurMalady, p. 96)

21/25. "A tyrant sees malady as opportunity, presenting himself as the rightful arbiter of life and death." (#OurMalady, p. 96)

22/25 "Mr Trump's behaviors followed the authoritarian pattern: denial of reality, the claim of magical immunity, the harassment of reporters, the transformation of a problem he caused into a loyalty test for others, the cultivation of fear as a political resource" #OurMalady p99

23/25. "In the end, authoritarians have little incentive to halt a pandemic, since they can thrive in an atmosphere of manipulated fear. The idea seems to be not to count Republicans who die, nor Democrats who vote." (#OurMalady, p. 100)

24/25. "Democracy is needed for public health, but a public health crisis in a weak democracy such as our own can be used to bring it down." (#OurMalady, p. 100)

25/25. "If fewer people vote in November 2020 this will be a crisis not only for democracy, but also for public health. If lies about illness lead to authoritarianism, we can expect more illness and more lies." (#OurMalady, p. 100)