I’ve been trying to tell people that QAnon is madness but that Trump and his followers will embrace them as a necessary alternate reality. The threat is growing.

It’s time to grit our teeth, recognize the reality, and do the hard necessary work of dismantling fascism.
We have to stop looking away from our very real problems of white supremacy, weaponized disinformation, and rhetoric that turns us from addressable issues to symbolic battles. We have to understand these bizarre alternate realities and fight against them.
Trump and QAnon and this fascist movement isn’t something you can just turn off like a bad TV show. They’re symptoms of a much larger and pervasive disease that festered for years and years and are only going to grow.
Incrementalism and denial isn’t going to get this country on track. The foundation is rotting, there’s mold in the walls. It’s time for something larger that addresses alienation, inequality, and this stagnancy. It’s time to go big or go home.

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More from @JYSexton

2 Dec
The Cult of Trump is everywhere calling on the President of the United States to declare martial law, invalidate the election, and either hold a new one or declare himself the winner.

No, this probably won’t happen, but it’s important to recognize this fascist mindset exists

1/
The myth of America, this story of our exceptionalism and dedication to liberty, hides a really disturbing past and reality: we have strong fascistic underpinnings. They’ve been there since the beginning, Trump has only emboldened them and encouraged them.

2/
America inspired the fascist movements of the 20th century. We were linked directly to the Third Reich in ideology and laws. Burying and denying this has only allowed anti democratic sentiments to fester and grow, leading us to this point of crisis.

3/
Read 8 tweets
1 Dec
All right. We have to talk about how Trump's openly calling for elections to be canceled and stolen and this incredibly dangerous misconception that everything is fine and fixed now that he's slated to leave office.

He's a symptom of a much larger disease.

1/
This is a much, MUCH bigger conversation that needs to happen, and I'm trying to work through it on here, but I'm really concerned about how short our memories are, how eager we are to be rid of Trump and Trumpism, and how that's going to make things so much worse.

2/
I've gone on the record now for awhile, that I thought the coup was both a real attempt to steal the election and also a grift, and that I think we're probably to the point where we might ALMOST be out of the woods in regards to this election.

But that's only one chapter.

3/
Read 14 tweets
28 Nov
For the next four years Trump is going to behave like an antipresident in exile, holding a shadow presidency that not only critiques the Biden Administration but undermines it and fosters radical violence.

We need to recognize this and plan accordingly.
It's not enough that Trump was defeated, we now have the hard and necessary work of dismantling the addiction our media's addiction in order to derail the message but also in terms of deradicalizing the country while forwarding an actual agenda.

This is going to be a lot of work
As I've said before, we have to disentangle the spectacle/tabloid Trump garbage from the actual communication and radicalization of dangerous groups and individuals.

It's going to be exhausting and hard, especially with the economic environment, but we can do it.
Read 5 tweets
22 Nov
People like Chuck Todd aren’t presenting news. They’re covering politics as a game and critiquing strategies, legal, factual, or wholly made up.

It doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous, fascistic, or otherwise, what matters is whether it will work. We have to reject this mindset.
For years now we’ve had “news shows” engaging in coverage of “news behind the news,” or breathless speculation about strategies and maneuvers that influence the news.

Chuck Todd is literally discussing whether Republican lies will influence him and his friends.
Again, I’ve compared politics to wrestling, and the modern news media, like wrestling, isn’t focused on the product, whether it’s matches or coverage, but is obsessed with how power makes its decisions and how power alters reality for consumption.
Read 8 tweets
15 Nov
I’m thinking a lot this morning about how to cover Trump going forward. I think it’s important to keep an eye on him as he’s the leader of a violent, fascist movement, but there needs to be a change to how we allow him into our lives and how we let him affect discourse.
To understand the reactionary Right and this growing anti-democratic threat, I’m going to continue studying and analyzing the Trump behaviors and communications that motivate and shape his dangerous followers but turn away from any of the spectacle.
I’m done with palace intrigue. Who has an advantage with Trump. Who is in and who is out. And I’m done with the pathetic outbursts and attention grabbing stunts. I’ll only cover them if they might radicalize or change the political situation.
Read 7 tweets
12 Nov
All right.

We need to talk about Donald Trump, this bad-faith, haphazard coup, and how professional wrestling explains what's going on and why this grift could become incredibly dangerous.

1/
I wrote a thread the other day about how this coup is both legitimate and a total grift, but something people need to realize is that we're watching the rhetorical strategies of professional wrestling play out in politics and our country.

Here's an explanation.

2/
Professional wrestling is an industry of grift. It's about open and closed system of power and knowledge. It is divided between "smarts," people who understand the grift and "marks," people who are being manipulated.

Right now, this coup is about the same systems.

3/
Read 17 tweets

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