The myth of Trump's invulnerability has persisted since 2016 and into 2020. Some are still speculating that "this could be in Trump's favor". The powerful have such a track record in exploiting chaos that sometimes we wonder if anything can hurt them. This is self-gaslighting.
I can't see any universe in which this is "good for Trump". First of all, he could get very sick and even die. He's a 74 yr old obese man with a stressful life. He won't be able to campaign during the critical last month. He'll be tweeting, unless he gets too sick for that.
Worst for Trump, this puts his incompetence and recklessness and stupidity on full display. He couldn't protect himself, let alone the country. He couldn't test his own staff, let alone the country. He played fast & loose with the virus and so did his family.
He mocked masks, to the point that rejecting masks has become one of the distinguishing features of his base. He even mocked masks during the debates a couple nights ago. He mocked scientists and spread disinformation - and now he needs the best scientists to keep him healthy.
The election is in just 32 days. He won't be able to hold rallies, he won't be able to go to meetings or town halls, he won't be able to come back from his terrible debate performance with a new one. He won't be able to travel. He won't be able to meet anybody.
And all that's assuming he doesn't get so sick that Pence has to run the country. And even that's assuming that Pence didn't contract the virus (at 61 years old, Pence is a senior citizen too). Funny that if both the president and vice president are incapacitated, it's Pelosy.
We also don't know how many other members of Trump's inner circle were infected. They all came on that same flight and didn't wear masks. If the Trump children got infected it means they have to also quarantine and can't do campaign events on their father's behalf.
We don't know which of these scenarios will play out, but until things clarify, expect Trump to sit in front of a TV and rage-tweet. I just hope Biden & his team test negative - if safe, they could be running loops around Trump while he's quarantined (or sick).
Now this will come as no shock but a key core of the Trump base (rather, the Trump cult) will continue to support him. Understand, it's not just about Trump but about what Trump represents for them. They will not let reality disavow them of the necessity of a Trump figure.

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More from @iyad_elbaghdadi

Dec 17, 2023
The rupture in international solidarity communities (that tried to integrate Western + Global South activists) is deep. The rupture in the small Israeli-Palestinian solidarity communities is catastrophic. It'll take a decade to fix what happened in the last two months, if at all.
I'm starting to become convinced that many movements will not survive this and will have to be mourned and laid to rest, and new movements built out of what remains. Built on better principles, with more moral courage and clearer-eyed vision.
It's starting to feel like we're going to end up with entirely parallel communities. Parallel, non-overlapping movements, institutions, narratives, ecosystems, public spheres. A disaster in itself - but really, it sets the stage for enormous, cataclysmic disasters in the future.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 6, 2023
Here's a thread about the concept of indigeneity in historical Palestine and its implications in light of Zionist settler-colonialism and the persecution of the Palestinians. You may want to bookmark this for whenever someone screams "but Jews are indigenous to the land!" 🧵
Note: This thread is not an attack on Jewish life in the Middle East. It's an analytical critique of the narratives used. My argument is that indigeneity is not an appropriate framing to use in the Israel-Palestine context, but especially when used (aggressively) by Zionists
"Indigenous populations" is a term used to refers to the survivors of settler-colonialism, particularly in contexts where settlers overpowered and nearly eradicated the natives. The text below is from a factsheet by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Image
Read 18 tweets
Nov 30, 2023
A long thread about colonialism, decolonization, what models can & can't work, and why the Israel-Palestine context is unique. I wish people would slow-read this because many are walking around with outdated models, and may be causing damage 🧵
Caveat: I wrote this as a stream of consciousness with minimum editing so please forgive me if this ends up being meandering or repetitive or choppy. I just find that I write more powerfully and authentically when I'm not trying to edit anything or make it sound good
Let me start from here: There's a subtle but very important difference between "to colonize" and "to colonialize". I know that in some contexts, the words are used interchangeably. But in key ways they are *not*. I cringe when people confuse them.
Read 47 tweets
Nov 27, 2023
A lot has been said recently about what Islam allows or prohibits in war so I thought I'd clarify this: In Islam the distinction is not "civilian vs military"; it's "combatant vs non-combatant". Here's a quick explanation
In the classical Islamic era, the distinction of civilian vs non-civilian didn't exist. Neither the Prophet nor his tribal adversaries had standing armies made up of full-time soldiers. Armies at the time were made of men of fighting age who otherwise were traders, farmers, etc.
Rather, the distinction the Prophet established was combatant vs non-combatant. One of the clearest examples is narrated in a hadith that describes the scene after a battle (the battle itself isn't named)
Read 9 tweets
Nov 20, 2023
So many people seem to lack basic reading comprehension. You say Palestinian children should live, they think you say you want Israeli children to die. You say Palestinians are oppressed, they think you say you want to kill Jews. So tragic that this has become a real zero-sum.
These people aren't exactly imbeciles, mind you. Some are highly educated. I'm talking PhDs, scholars, journalists, business leaders. They don't really lack basic reading comprehension. No, they can read. They just will only understand what they want to understand.
Any humanization of Palestinians to them necessitates the dehumanization - no, the *destruction* - of Jewish people. They can't seem to hold the idea in their heads that Palestinians are no less (and no more) human than Jewish people. Why is this so hard for them to grasp?
Read 4 tweets
Nov 19, 2023
Something scary happens when people no longer feel they can convince or engage the other side; when they feel the other side is a moral lost cause and there isn't any space of possible agreement between your minimum position and their maximum, or your maximum and their minimum
Something scary happens when you stop trying to speak to people's minds or hearts or consciences because you feel it's useless. You then retreat into your identity, you become insular, you keep only to your own "kind" and your own community, and you listen only to your own story
You then feel - no, you're *convinced* - that it's us vs them, it's with us or against us. You're convinced that it's zero sum, that if they get something they get it by taking it away from you, that if you can get anything it'll have to be by taking it away from them.
Read 9 tweets

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