Thread by @polotek

I hear you Jon. But we're not gonna pretend like this is a Trump thing. This is white America and has always been. You're just taking this opportunity because it's particularly bad right now and you wanna use it to punish Trump. I get it. But you can do better.

https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1337067525889085441

Please do use whatever rhetorical tactics you can to blast Trump. But be careful that you're not just describing how America has always worked and only pretending it's bad today. And more importantly, make sure you're gonna still be mad about it after Trump is gone.

These things Jon describes, where powerful people profit off the harm of others while giving themselves advantages, is at the very core of how America works. We have accepted that way of life for centuries. Trump does it with glee and forgets to pretend at decorum. That's all.

If America was *actually* mad at those in power for doing these things, they would not be in power. They would get voted out. They would get removed for gross malfeasance or some such. It would actually be hard to stay in power while causing egregious harm. That's not the case.

All I'm saying is I'm over listening to white people suggest that they're mad about this stuff. You're not. You're gonna vote for it again just as soon as it's mostly aimed at Black and brown people and not you. We are fully aware of that and you have yet to show us different.

Meanwhile, people of color are seeking to actually dismantle these systems so they can't harm *anybody*. You could consider assisting with that.

I should warn you that some of the "slogans" are likely to be a bit "off-putting". But I'm sure you can get past that right?

The reason I'm upset about this is that we KNOW it's not because white people are changing. In fact it's the opposite. They can only see their way clear in this moment because Trump is such a caricature of a villain. White people only understand white hats and black hats.

Most Americans don't base their values and their politics off of who is being harmed. Instead we look at who is *acting* like a villain. Who is slick and charming. Who tells us what they want to hear at any given time. Harm is a secondary consideration in American politics.

White Americans have more power to impact the country and the world than they can even understand. But they don't use it to help people. They are careless with power. They use it to get what they personally want at any given time. A lot of y'all think those are the same thing.