Thread by @mhbx

Yes. This is the problem.

Irrational anger & outrage which is easily manipulated, as we see being done, into tribal affiliation. Predicated not on some devotion to core ideals & principles of the country, but something else.

Notice what ea side appeals how they express it.

https://twitter.com/lynnemiles01/status/1329586697420611586

One side largely is moved by wanting a system, a society, a government that is responsive to the situation and needs of the public. This has a number of aspects, from infrastructure, taking care of the environment, BLM, taking care of the 'least among us' &etc.

These folks...

These folks on "the other side"... Not sure what to call this other side. It is a collection of right wing people, some who are simply "members" by affiliation, by tradition, by location in the country...others by reasoned choice.
However they get there, a large % are like this.

Lets call this the Trumpian side, Trumper Cohort, since that is the current center around which these "73M" are organized.
Within this cohort, there are many who are simply "Republicans" by inertia. Their family has been so forever, and so they are too. In actual fact they

do not like what is being done in their name, wonder what happened to the party, but cannot imagine voting for a "Democrat", no more than the feud over Ford vs Chevy would resolve in welcoming in the other 'team'.
These don't really know or und what a "Democrat" is these days,

but they are damn sure they don't want to be one, or affiliated with one. Some of these people, actually reflecting on what the GOP has become under Trump find themselves in a spot where they do not associate w Trump/GOP so find themselves estranged.
Others not thinking about it

nor caring to try and work it all out, simply retain their old alligences and set thoughts/opinions.

These are not people who will get worked up like this fellow.
They are the ones who will line up for a Trump rally and go with the flow.
They are also the ones who are

interviewed, to comic effect, and really don't have any reason or thinking through what they are chanting about, just w some vague sense of "we/our team is right and those guys need to be locked up"

These are easily manipulated, but are not the ones who will carry guns into a

fight.

Assuming this is about 50% of the Trump cohort (who knows what the actual number is?) that leaves 35+M people who carry some level of this rage & outrage.

Back to my essential point:
Look at the behavior and how these people manifest their feelings and affiliations. They carry guns,and are sometimes ready to use them. As we have seen. Always ready to intimidate.
And when you try to assay what they are angry at, what it is that

they want to "save", it tends to be around fuzzy notions of the "2nd Amendment". Rarely do you hear 1stA. Rarer still any sort of appeal to unity, trying to find a common set of values/principles from which the sides both exist.

It is more about complete domination of the

conversation. The emotional tone is like this video clip, one of extreme frustration and anger. It is a state easily turned into a mob. It is not generated by reflection, consideration, a vision. It is fueled by grievance, a sense of us v. them, a sense of isolation.

Ultimately it is a sense of power consolidated by the authorities. It is the sense that "We" need to be protected from "Them".

This is the deep agitation that is used to justify the guns and the violence. And is the hook by which forces like Trump are able to provoke them into

a base. This is not new. This is the pattern of the rise and ascendency of authoritarian states. Esp as they erode any democratic footings that would counter these impulses.

This argument deserves a better treatment. It needs to be an essay, not a twitter thread. It is far more complex than this simple distinction, even though I think the distinction essential and fundamental.
Look at the rage & outrage as manifested by each side.

Observe what they do, and how they do it, and what they say they are energized by.
The TrumpCohort is enflamed by the false and easily disproved various "Qanon" level conspiracies. Their anger is rough & violent. It is seen in the gatherings at the vote counting places, where

they bring guns and intimidations demanding selective disenfranchisement of the vote. Not because they want a clean vote from all the citizens, but that they can feel the vote of the public is going against them.
Rage and outrage.
Easily turned into a mob.

Notice how it manifests at the top level. The dedication, the purpose of someone like Trump is not to the country, but to something else. Of course the silly, but damaging personal inability to handle reality by Trump. But more salient, he is not devoted to the country and its

norms and principles. Easily exampled by many instances, it is manifest in primary colors, no nuance needed, by the unmovable unwilliness to concede to the normal transfer of power.

Compare this to how Democrats have responded to defeat, even questionable defeat by Republicans.

They have been uniformly gracious, even if painful, acceptance of the state of things. The subsequent transfers of power have been handled, not with spite, but with an intent that the wellbeing and security of the country is first...and make it so.

Trump, and the cohort he has created, (or unleashed), is more concerned with the getting and keeping of power.
They do not recognize the will of the people as the sanction of their positions. They do not accept the fundamental notion of "Consent of the Governed".

Rather, having got power, they think it is theirs to keep.

It is the contrast between the cohorts that I hope to surface and point out.

One cares about things other than themselves. The other starts with , and mostly ends with, their cares, needs and desires.

Both are concerned with the nature, use and expression of power.

At this point the point becomes multi faceted and complex to work out in detail.
These are not absolutes. There are corruptions as well as good intentions on both sides. And etc.

Before getting into that morass, it seems to me that clarification at the fundamental levels is essential. My point in this thread is to notice the essential difference between the polarized "sides" of the American polity. What are the underlying reasons, emotions & rationale?

From my POV, the clip at the top is indicative, and is replicated throughout the TrumpCohort way of being. You will not hear tones of unity, take care of the environment, what to do w wealth inequality, how to care for citizens, how to deal with COVID as a pandemic and etc...

It is this easily discerned tonal quality between what has become the opposing sides I wish to point out.

The thread is in response to the threat of the opening post "We are about to unleash 73m of people like this".

And just what is it to be "like this"?
That is the question.