The liar literally hijacks our time.
The liar hijacks the national conversation.
We're puppets and the liar pulls our strings.
This particular lie (that Trump can fix the election via state legislators who can redirect the electoral votes) served Trump in multiple ways.
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This particular lie transformed Trump from a loser in the polls to an untoppable strongman who can fix an election. See my Just Security piece: justsecurity.org/72609/dont-bel…
I say "transformed" because when people melted down and gave it credence, it lifted Trump's stature.
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People are still stuck on this, and still insisting that we find ways to guard ourselves against this nonexistent threat.
Meanwhile, we're not talking about his failures. We're not talking about the NYT reports about his taxes.
Win for Trump.
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We are able to recognize the threat Trump poses to truth and democracy, but we don't have the tools to withstand the mind control tactics.
Totalitarianism, after all, is when the government controls your mind.
Trump lost the debate but a corrupt Supreme Court will keep him in power.
@TimothyDSnyder explains exactly what Putin is up to with this kind of propaganda.
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Putin tells Russians: Yes, your government is corrupt but ALL governments are corrupt. He tells them that Western "democracies" pretend to be democracies, but they are not. They, too, are corrupt.
He can't make Russia like the west, so he seeks to make the west like Russia.
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As @selectedwisdom explains, a goal of Active Measures is to get people to lose confidence in democratic processes.
Destroying democracy with a Pinochet-style military coup is very 20th century.
21st-centurry would-be autocrats have a less bloody, and less dramatic method.
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You can see the interplay between Russian propaganda methods and the fear created by the state elector lie (which also relies on the idea that the Supreme Court will throw the election to Trump.)
I am now persuaded that the debate came down to this moment ⤵️when Biden told the audience to vote, their votes will count, if Trump loses, he leaves.
If voters believed Biden, Trump loses and democracy wins.
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Here is Trump's unhinged reply implying that there will not be a peaceful transition⤵️
Any "win" that Trump squeaks out will be the extent to which he persuades people that the election will be a disaster.
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It's clear that once more, Trump's interests and Russia's interests align. Both have a stake in persuading people that American democracy is a fiction. Both want to persuade people that democracy doesn't work and it can't work..
Make no mistake: Trump is dangerous. He will do anything in his power to make sure the election is a disaster. He has minions helping him.
I don't believe he will concede. I believe we are in for a rough ride.
But if we vote him out, we will get him out.
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There, however, are ways we can minimize how dangerous he is, and how draining he is.
We have to learn better how to confront a would-be autocrat so that when someone comes along who can do the Trump act better, we can be better equipped to handle it. terikanefield-blog.com/re-educate-the…
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I am going to revise something. I said we are in for a rough ride.
That may not be true. I don't have a crystal ball. This could go any number of ways.
For all we know, Trump may dissolve into a puddle after the votes are counted. He doesn't seem well.
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Fabulous quotation. The overlap is easy to see.
Racism is based on a lie, which generates more lies.
Fascism (the leadership principle) is based myth: A strongman embodies the mystic destiny of the nation, and his instincts are superior to the elites.
The prosecution has everyone confused because they are framing the case as "election fraud" and "election interference" so everyone is trying to connect the crimes we know about to "election fraud."
This would be clear: "It is election fraud. Here is how the evidence will support a charge of election fraud." Then show how the behavior supports election fraud.
For years I was perplexed by what I was seeing on left-leaning Twitter, political blogs, and partisan reporting.
I had the feeling that, in its way, what I was seeing was comparable to Fox: Lots of bad information and even unhinged conspiracy theories.
2terikanefield.com/invented-narra…
Of course, if I suggested that, I was blasted for "both-sidesing."
Then I discovered an area of scholarship: Communications and the overlap between communications and political science.
Another contradiction: when people demanded indictments RIGHT NOW (in 2021 and early 2022) the reason was, "Everyone knows he's guilty! Look at all the evidence!"
We saw the J6 committee findings.
Trump isn't saying "I didn't do it." He's saying, "I had the right to do it."
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We all know what he did. The question is, "Do people want a president who acts like Trump?"
A lot of people do.
People show me polls that a guilty finding would change minds.
I say rubbish. Use common sense. He lost in 2020 and he lost the popular vote in 2016. . .
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. . . because it is designed to keep people hooked. People need to stay glued to the screen for hour after hour.
But to hook people, you need to scare them. The Facebook whistleblower testified that content that produces strong emotions like anger gets more engagement.
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Fox does the same thing. There is a few minutes of news, but the facts get lost as commentators and TV personalities speculate and scare their audiences.
Before you yell at me for comparing MSNBC to FOX, read all of this:
If I write another blog post addressing the outrage cycle here on Twitter and in the MSNBC ecosystem, it will be to explore why so many people who believe they are liberal or progressive actually want a police state.
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Today alone, a handful of people who consider themselves liberal or progressive told me that the "traitors need to be arrested and prosecuted."
In 2019, back when I wore myself out tamping down misinformation, I explained the legal meaning of treason.
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Back then, I now realize, people asked politely: "Can Trump be prosecuted for treason (over the Russia election stuff).
I explained that wouldn't happen.
Now it's different. It's more like fascist chants.
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