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Teri Kanefield Profile picture
@Teri_Kanefield
Oct 3, 2020 • 15 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
They also have an existential problem.

The strongman myth requires a strongman. COVID was supposed to cull the weak, who would die willingly to save the "economy" for everyone else.

Q: What do you do when the leader himself is stricken with COVID?

A: Embellish the myth.
Example of embellishing the myth ⤵️
(h/t @Judith_FeyJude)

Fascism / leadership cult (what Weber calls charismatic leader source of authority) depends on myth.

They're not going to let facts get in their way.
In this evening's episode from the Trump Reality Show: Trump has COVID but he is mighty and strong! Unlike lesser mortals, the Great Leader ignores his symptoms and continues working by signing his name to blank papers while posing for cameras.

This thread from last April by Austrian scholar @Natascha_Strobl explains why the Trump campaign and the GOP is facing an existential crisis now that GOP leadership, including Trump himself, have fallen ill with the disease.
In addition to the obvious: Voting has started, election day is a month away, Trump is down in the polls, doesn't have much time to turn this around--and isn't likely to do so from a hospital room.

But their bigger problem is the way the right-wing has been looking at COVID.
Right-wing extremists (fascists) despise the weak, the unmanly, and the soft. The idea is that "men are not men anymore, by nervous, urban, over-intellectualized" sickly weaklings.

Weakness is never worthy of protection and has to be cast out.
The weak "pulled the short straw" and should carry their burden with dignity. They claim that should they befall by the virus, they will look death calmly in the eye.

That's what Chris Christie was getting at last May when he said this ⤵️
h/t @RMilspo
Strobl points out the overlap between herd immunity, the Fox-Trump-GOP idea that the weak should willingly die for the economy, and racial eugenics and anti-semitism.

Now Trump and GOP leadership is getting sick.

See where I'm going with this?

The GOP was cool with it when stats showed that the virus disproportionally affected minority communities.

I assumed that the Fox-Trump-GOP protected themselves and their own families while encouraging OTHERS to die for the economy.

Maybe not ⤵️
@claudiamconwayy let us all know that her mother recklessly endangered the family by believing the president.

Here Strobl explains that we'd expect the right-wing to want to protect their own, but they don't.

They view COVID as the great sorter: The weak will succumb. The strong can fight it off an thrive.

Now Trump is sick with this particular disease, along with a rapidly growing list of GOP leaders and White House advisors.

Reality doesn't always follow the script.
Here is this thread as a blog post: terikanefield-blog.com/reality-doesnt…
If for some reason Trump is no longer the nominee, his name stays on the ballot. Voting has started. The ballots can't be redone. But the Republican Party leadership (according to their rules) designate the ticket, probably Pence/ Haley.

We all know how the GOP would react should Biden get sick.

As @Natascha_Strobl explains, mocking the weak is fascist behavior.

The existential threat to the Trump campaign is that he will be classified with the weak.
Given the latest NBC/WSJ poll (Trump 39% and Biden 54%) the guy you quote is right: progressives would be shocked.

The question is: What will he do when that doesn't happen? What will he do when confronted with proof that his Leader isn't invincible?

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More from @Teri_Kanefield

Teri Kanefield Profile picture
Apr 29
Everyone will have a different opinion of the strength of the Manhattan criminal case against Trump.

I am offering no opinions on the strength or who will prevail.

I am saying that people are working too hard to explain the case and figure out the legal theory.

1/
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."

2/
terikanefield.com/wheres-the-bee…
The legal theory of the case should be clear.

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.

Does this mean the prosecution will lose? No.

3/
Read 10 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
Mar 11
Finished. (Whew)

As promised, all about Legal pundits and the Outrage Industry, with a few cherished conspiracy theories carefully debunked.

Click here to start:

For years, I was perplexed by what I saw on Twitter. . .

1/ terikanefield.com/can-democracy-…
Image
It seemed to me that the dynamics of social media were making people more authoritarian.

Then I started reading experts in political communication and it all started making sense.


2/ terikanefield.com/can-democracy-…
Image
I wrote parts 1 - 5 in November. I thought I was finished, but I wasn't.

There were still things I didn't understand.

Writers often write to understand, so I kept reading, thinking, and writing.



3/ terikanefield.com/can-democracy-…
Image
Read 5 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
Mar 9
Whew! I finished.



Everything I promised: How to listen (or not listen) to legal pundits.

It's also about what is dangerous about the entire industry of punditry, speculation, and cable talk shows.

1/terikanefield.com/invented-narra…

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.

I read these books and light bulbs went on.

3/ Image
Read 11 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
Mar 2
If Trump can win with everything we know about him, what make people think a finding of guilt would change that?

It makes no sense.
Also what if the jury acquits? It can happen.

I do recall the same people thought impeachment and indictment would cause Trump to crumble.
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."

2
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. . .

3/
Read 6 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
Feb 29
The news takes 2 minutes to convey.

"Here is what the court did." That is news.

Listening to people speculate about why the court did it and what it means is not news.

It is entertainment.

But it is a special kind of entertainment.

1/
. . . 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.

2/
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:

3/terikanefield.com/can-democracy-…
Read 5 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
Feb 29
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.

1/
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.

2/
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.

3/
Read 4 tweets

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