1/ I find myself thinking a lot about this tweet and what it really means to have a pro-democratic MOVEMENT in the United States. If we were to truly start such a movement, would would be its precepts? What would be its assumptions?
2/ An obvious one, to me at least, would be that the United States is not a democracy in some important and fundamental ways, and that if we would like it to be one we may have to consider a change to the Constitutional order.
3/ Another, related one, is that the technologies of our democracy may need to be reconsidered. This includes the "stack" of mechanisms that make up a democracy- the information ecosystem, and the means by which citizens come to consensus on key questions. How/when they "vote".
The coming act of mass violence, perpetrated by supporters of the President who believe his rhetoric and regard the transfer of power as illegitimate, will in large part be attributable to the @GOP and leaders such as @senatemajldr, @tedcruz, @marcorubio, @GOPChairwoman et al.
It is simply a matter of time. Donald Trump drove through a crowd of militant supporters yesterday to encourage them; today he is doubling down on the lies. It will lead to terror. There is no denying it. And when it does, Republican leaders will have blood on their hands.
Cowardice and silence is implicit consent (h/t @TimFullerton)
The optimistic part of me believes the fact that many Trumpists are now forced to entirely secede from the reality-based discourse means they will dwindle in numbers and have less power. The pessimistic part of me reckons this will simply drive more violent extremism.
The optimistic part of me wants to regard Biden's victory as a repudiation of Trump. The pessimistic part of me knows the failure to make gains in state legislatures, Congress and a longshot in the Senate means Trumpism is alive and well.
The optimistic part of me believes we can make progress on a number of issues and hopefully provide people with a true distinction between the party options. The pessimistic side of me sees more gridlock and obstruction ahead, which drives more people away.
I, uh, don't care for this lede, not at all. Black Lives Matter and Q Anon are not comparable political extremes, as they are set up here. One is an insane conspiracy, the other is a racial justice movement grounded very much in reality. Change this. nytimes.com/2020/11/13/us/…
Paragraph TWENTY ONE we get a reminder what Q Anon is: "...whose convoluted theory claims falsely that a cabal of Satan-worshiping, pedophile Democrats is plotting against President Trump."
Donald Trump's Refusal to Concede is Killing People:
From the pandemic to national security risks, this is indeed not a peaceful transfer of power. Americans will pay the price in blood... read today's installment of American Interregnum: americaninterregnum.substack.com/p/donald-trump…