An authoritarian in power, a party that has no principles, extremists willing to use violence and murder as a weapon, and a country in denial about its situation.
Last night at the debate Trump continued to refuse any possibility he might lose a free and fair election, undermined the possibility of a real result, and sent a message to his violent followers to "standby."
This is a fascist movement. It's not politics as usual.
3/
Any hand wringing among Trump supporters who want to believe it was innocuous need to open their eyes.
Extremists heard Trump loud and clear. They've already taken to the streets, brutalized people, and they are on stand by, per his orders, to continue this project.
4/
The Proud Boys are only one of these groups. They're a paramilitary street gang that goes above the law, engages in violence and intimidation, and often receives help from law enforcement and white supremacists.
They're fascists and this behavior is well documented.
5/
The violence we're seeing in the streets is a precursor to a fascistic takeover.
It destabilizes the political climate, plunging it into a violent cycle where might makes right and normal rule of law is interrupted or capitalized on in order for fascists to take power.
6/
Already the American Right has rallied behind vigilante killings, some going so far as to call the perpetrator a patriot and liken him to the Founding Fathers.
This isn't the end point. It's the beginning of a new cycle of violence, murder, and oppression.
7/
The fascist playbook is simple and we see it playing out.
Men unrestrained by shame or conscience create crises, destabilize the political environment, capitalize off unrest and fear, and begin to take over via the use of force and intimidation.
8/
Capitalizing off the unrest and created crisis, the fascists show force and a willingness to endanger themselves and other citizens to reestablish "order."
Only the "order" is changed, perverted, it's riddled with corruption and cruelty and violence.
9/
The fascistic plan is to seize power during moments of crisis and uncertainty, to use the mayhem to their advantage and to cut off democracy at the knees in response to a "pressing threat," or the possibility that "dangerous traitors" might gain control first.
10/
We like to imagine fascism is an aberration to Western Europe in the 20th century, but it's part of the human experience.
America has suffered so much proto-fascism through these extremist groups who "see a crisis" and enact preemptive violence and control.
11/
Countless slaughters have occurred in the US because extremists were lost in conspiracy theories about plots and plans and reacted with violence, bloodshed, and wanton destruction.
This is our history that we hide from, that we don't like to reckon with.
12/
We currently live in a climate ripe for fascism. The conspiracy theories that fuel it, that lead to this violent extremism, are aired around the clock on Right Wing media.
People are being told their lives are at risk based on pressing threats and white paranoia rages.
13/
The message being delivered by Right Wing media echoes fascist propaganda exactly.
Their country is being stolen, their identities erased. There's a pressing threat that could kill them and their culture if they do not fight back.
It's word for word fascist propaganda.
14/
We've already seen the results of this fascist propaganda. Young men believing themselves soldiers in an invisible war against this racist conspiracy take up arms. Slaughter people.
We've refused to connect the dots because we don't reckon with white supremacy.
15/
The manifestos left behind, the reasons these terrorists give for their crimes sounds just like fascists.
They believe their identity is under attack and in a state of crisis.
It's a war and the consequences are eradication.
16/
It's no coincidence the rallies and movements regurgitate Nazi slogans, fascist chants.
Fascism wasn't destroyed. It went underground, where it festered and fed off our diseased society and failing system.
It has emerged, full-bore.
But it's even worse than that.
17/
The poison of Right Wing media has also radicalized the population at-large who don't understand their being persuaded by white supremacist propaganda.
It's created the possibility for large-scale violence that is even beyond the terrorists.
18/
Now, white Americans believe they are under that existential threat, this crisis, and have taken up arms, attacked protesters, shot them, hunted them, ran them over.
They're prepared for a war of their own making and violence on a massive scale.
19/
The actions of Trump supporters are in large part dry-runs for larger scale operations.
These caravans are expeditions, the violence mostly simulated but preparing them for Red v. Blue style conflicts that could turn bloody on an unimaginable scale.
20/
These caravans mirror sectarian violence outbreaks and genocides that have taken place around the world.
Those genocides were also inspired by media propaganda, weaponized conspiracy theories, and authoritarians desperate to grasp or maintain power.
It could happen here.
21/
What we saw in Kenosha isn't the end, but the beginning. Once the Right embraced street violence and murder, it became inevitable that it would continue.
And it's not just kids in the street. There are people licking their chops at the prospect of this reign of violence.
22/
You must understand, Trump's authoritarianism is working with extremist plans to destabilize the country in order to provoke larger actions that would lead to white ethnostates.
They've been preparing for just this environment for decades now.
23/
We have already seen multiple trigger points that show us fascism and democratic failure are possible.
Shared society is breaking down, and there are groups that have been preparing and training for this. They see November and beyond as their chance.
24/
Understand this.
These are terrorists. They're our al-qaeda, our ISIS.
They have cells around the country with international connects. They're devoted to capitalizing off this instability and using this window of violence.
We are susceptible and we are at great risk.
25/
Trump has given these terrorists and extremists a green light to carry out their violence and plans.
We'll see more crises, more than likely we'll see the election erupt in violence, chaos, these footsoldiers interrupting polls and intimidating voters.
This is where we are
26/
This is a five-alarm fire.
The President of the United States is a fascist and is ideologically aligned with men who want to burn this country to the ground so they can reconstruct it as a white supremacist nightmare state.
What we saw last night is only a preview.
27/
For more information on how and why this is happening, I'm starting a lecture series that breaks down the relationship between American mythology, politics, and this fascistic threat.
We're running out of time and we cannot lose this fight.
28/28
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JD Vance is a historic piece of shit who sold out his family and people to make a buck and gain power. He’s in bed with techno-fascist billionaires and is one of the foremost advocates for a literal fascistic ideology that seeks to take MAGA to the next level of oppression.
It’s bad enough that Vance is such a colossal asshole and that his ideology is literally fascistic, but he is capable of taking the MAGA baton and turning it into a force the likes of which most have yet to even imagine.
Terrible, terrible day for the country.
If our media returns to fawning over Vance because they want to hate poor people, I’m going to lose my everloving mind.
This is serious, serious business. And we all got a whole lot less safe today.
For years MAGA has promoted a culture of violence and oppression.
Now, in the wake of the shooting, calls to lower the temperature disgustingly obscure that fact and also undermine the need to protect millions of Americans from authoritarianism.
This isn’t a “both sides” issue. One side has waged an authoritarian war on democracy predicated on violence. The other has said people deserve safety and dignity and shouldn’t be hunted and systematically erased.
This false equivalency is disgusting. And telling.
The Center in America has now revealed what it truly believes. Fighting authoritarianism is “ugly” and “dangerous.”
It’s much easier and more pleasant to wring hands and welcome the authoritarianism and make nice with it. The media and political class enjoys that privilege.
Absolutely disturbing but unsurprising that they’ve managed to equate a movement’s constant fearmongering and calls for literal violence and murder with people saying, hey, maybe this other side calling for literal violence and murder is dangerous.
I just want people to remember that the reason this environment is so charged is because 1. One group has spent years openly talking about carrying out a bloody, reactionary revolution and 2. There are literal human beings whose lives and fates are on the line.
When you say, “Hey, let’s all take it down a notch,” you’re spitting in the face of women, people of color, immigrants, gay and trans people.
The stakes are actually as high as they can be. But there is one side constantly pushing a bloody resolution.
Trump has used Christianity’s persecution complex and obsession with apocalyptic danger to his advantage, crediting imaginary battles between Good and Evil.
Now, they have a ready-made situation that will inflame those fears and necessitate more extremism.
The ground was prepared for the MAGA Cult when evangelicals merged with the GOP a half century ago. Now, Christian Nationalism and the MAGA Cult are logical evolutions of a religious-backed push for power.
Churches around America today are undoubtedly framing the assassination attempt through Christian ideology, some adhering to dogma and others telling a story that forwards Donald Trump as a messiah figure God personally saved on behalf of Christendom and America.
The response by GOP figures to say God saved Trump will not be isolated. Rhetoric will only become more and more apocalyptic, throwing gas onto an already raging fire of Christian Nationalistic radicalism.
People need to wrestle with this and get familiar with it in a hurry.
We have not been living in a traditional political reality for some time. The Cult of Trump has been building in power and influences for nearly a decade now and growing off the Evangelical Right’s mythologies for nearly a half century. It’s easy to tell where this is going.