🤦‍♀️Sometimes I can't even.

So, the way to get a competent national policy for fighting COVID is for the entire administration and GOP leadership to get sick with COVID?

Now that Kayleigh McEnany tested positive for Covid-19, it looks like they're on their way.
Because truth and facts don't matter. All that matters is their political agenda.

"Win at any cost" includes torpedoing truth and facts.

The Leadership Principle is based on myth. People still defend Mussolini.
Except that it's terrible press. His numbers keep sinking.

Apparently, he went for his roundabout ride partly because he was annoyed that the news was only about how he's sick in the hospital.

Now the coverage is about what a stupid move that was.
Some tune out. They refuse to talk about or think about politics.

The constant chaos and crises are intended to do just that: Wear people out. Persuade them the problem is politics and politicians.

My husband tells me that in Chile under Pinochet, people were careful with everything they said in public.

Modern autocrats let people talk, but drown out their voices with megaphones. It's more effective, and less bloody and violent.
By the way, it's all your comments that keep me on Twitter.

Sometimes I feel like I have nothing more to add. But you're all so engaged, you ask great questions, and make great comments.

Someone needs to plan our virtual party for Jan. 21.

A comment about modern style v. Pinochet style⤵️

It's less expensive. Pinochet needed an army to keep people in line. Modern autocrats simply need to spew propaganda and dominate the national conversation which they do with constant spectacle.

Also. . .
They claim the high road.

They say, "We permit all viewpoints. We are truly democratic. The West tries to stifle conservative voices."

In this context, conservative = disinformation.

It's the right-wing First Amendment argument: I have the right to lie.
They claim to be the true defenders of democracy by defending the right to free speech.

When you allow someone to speak the truth, and then put out a bunch of lies and both-sides the issue, you destroy democracy while claiming to uphold free speech.
Yup, it's extremely effective.

People not paying attention get confused. They give up trying to sort out truth from lies.

Democracy requires truth and shared factuality. They have an effective way of destroying it.

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More from @Teri_Kanefield

6 Oct
Trump drives the GOP bus into a brick wall.
Two possibilities.

I think it's like a hostage situation: If you want relief, reelect me.

He seems to think he will win if he wills it, the way he thinks he can will himself cured, or the way the virus will magically disappear.

With both, he's deluded.
He should not be making decisions regarding his own healthcare much less national decisions.

He appears to be reacting from anger. That bit about not wanting to help "Democratic" states is purely vindictive.

It's all unhinged.
Read 5 tweets
4 Oct
I think of all those people suffering alone in hospital rooms, unable to visit or see family members for fear of infecting them.

What about people who don’t even have health care?
The ordinary people who suffer don't matter. The driver doesn't matter.

In Trump's world, only he matters.

Has his staff thought about what his illness means for the country? Have they cared who he might have infected?

Nope.

They're planning their optics and propaganda.
Not satire: And if Dear Leader decides it is best for the people to catch a glimpse of the Leader, the driver's job is to do the Leader's will.

If this puts the driver's life in danger, the Leader's desire matters more than the driver's life.

h/t @RaymondSeelyJr Image
Read 9 tweets
3 Oct
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.

Read 15 tweets
3 Oct
Kellyanne Conway tested positive.

I expected Trump Rally attendee clusters.
I did not anticipate a rapidly growing White House cluster.
This is a plot twist I did not see coming—but it makes sense.

This is why I try not to live in "what if" rabbit holes. I've learned that we usually worry about the wrong stuff. Life has a way of throwing surprises.
Me too.

This is the part of the plot where the GOP is supposed to say, "We've been doing it wrong," and the voters say, "The GOP should not be leading the nation through a pandemic."

Read 4 tweets
2 Oct
Greetings, @davidjollyFl

Fortunately, that’s not how it works. Allow me to explain.

Spoiler: Trump can't steal the election. But he can—through rumors like this one—undermine democracy, elevate his image as a "Strong man," and force us all to become actors in his reality show.
Maybe you mean this: if GOP legislators in states like Pennsylvania challenge the certification of results, NO electors will be certified from those states, which (depending on how big Biden’s win is) might keep him from reaching 270 electoral votes.



1/
In fact, under the 12th Amendment, “[t]he person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed.”

Appointed ⤵️

2/
Read 21 tweets
2 Oct
Voting in Pennsylvania has started.
The laws governing the election cannot be changed after voting starts.
If the rules could be changed now (which they can't) the governor would have to agree.

Sometimes I feel like I'm putting out a forest fire with a squirt gun.
It's amazing to me that people think it could be easy (or even possible!) for a few party members to get together and throw a US presidential election to a candidate who (assuming) loses the electoral college and popular vote.

(OK, I understand it's been a weird 4 years) Image
Other than voting, there isn't much that people can do.

The Democratic Party and the Biden campaign are on this.

How? Teams of lawyers in each state. This is being watched carefully and legal teams will respond.

(I know because I'm one of them)
Read 7 tweets

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