A Big Lie is one so colossal that nobody believes it would be said without there being some truth behind it. The Big Lie today is that the election was stolen. There is no truth behind it, but it is so devastating that many believe it must be true. It cannot be left to stand. /1
Ted Cruz and his ilk are repeating the Big Lie. He cites “allegations” of electoral fraud, in the absence of any evidence, to put our democracy on hold. A Big Lie gains strength through the retelling. If we fail to recognize the lie, we start down a dangerous path. /2
When I was a child, unchecked and unproven “allegations” that we Japanese Americans were attempting to sabotage American facilities caused widespread hysteria. This was our Big Lie to fight. There was no evidence, just allegations. But still, the Big Lie took hold. /3
Unscrupulous politicians took advantage of rumor and resentment to force through unconstitutional actions against my entire community, and the result was catastrophic. 120,000 of us, mostly U.S. citizens, went to internment camps. It can happen here, because it has before. /4
I have made it my life’s mission never to allow the rights of a community—my own Japanese American one, or today, millions of African American voters—to be discarded by raw political force. Our motto after the internment was #NeverForget #NeverAgain. /5
As a survivor of a Big Lie, it is my sworn responsibility to warn America when another Big Lie threatens our people and our values. We are at such a time, and fascism is taking root. I know it well, so please heed my words. Be vigilant. Call it out. Resist. /end

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More from @GeorgeTakei

12 Dec 20
Listen up, folks. When I was a boy, politicians who were sworn to uphold the Constitution failed us, choosing instead to imprison my entire community of 120,000, most of us citizens. When we came out of the camps, we could have given up on America entirely. /1
But despite all we had been through those four years, we still believed in the promise of America. We didn’t seek vengeance, didn’t renounce our citizenship, didn’t call for those who had done this to us to be stripped of their power. We did something else entirely. /2
We doubled down. We worked harder than ever to ensure that America would live up to her values, so that something like what happened to us would not happen to others. We chose engagement over bitterness. Many of us are still fighting to keep our story alive and taught. /3
Read 9 tweets
21 Nov 20
A thread.

When this current nightmare is past us, we must not forget that it happened. I have known an America that descended into fascism before, when my entire community on the West Coast, 120,000 of us, were rounded up because leaders made people afraid. We have... /1
to work very hard to ensure history does not repeat, because it will want to. The next time a demagogue comes, with fear and racism as his weapons, we must spot the danger earlier, not grow complacent, not say “both sides are bad.” That is a road to ruin. We must... /2
recommit ourselves, right here and now, to defending our fragile democracy against the forces that rot it from within: misinformation, white supremacy, cult-like adoration of leaders, attacks on expertise and science. We must all become watchers at our posts..../3
Read 4 tweets
27 Oct 20
The system by which an original minority of privileged, white slave holders could hold on to power in America is known as the Electoral College. And it continues to poison our democracy today. But change is coming. Inexorably, and resoundingly, coming. /1
Very soon, that same Electoral College math, which has handed the White House and the Supreme Court to the political descendants of that original privileged minority, will begin to turn against them, and brutally. Texas looms large. Florida is shifting. /2
Within four years, and perhaps even in 2020, Texas will join the blue state majority and forge an impenetrable electoral one, with 271 electoral college votes out the gate. The GOP knows this, and so it has scrambled to seize what it can, like a robber fleeing a home. /3
Read 6 tweets
22 Oct 20
With the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett one step closer today, many are wondering what any of us can do, with Roe v. Wade under threat as never before. I have a few thoughts, which I’ll share in this thread. /1
For many years now, we have seen how conservatives and anti-abortion radicals have trained their sights not only on overturning Roe, but on severely limiting local access to reproductive services, in some cases effectively eliminating it as an option altogether. /2
The right has long understood that politics is local, and that if they want to achieve the kinds of restrictions they envision, they would need to take over state houses, governorships and courthouses around the country. In this they were very effective. / 3
Read 6 tweets
28 Sep 20
Deep diving a bit, the NYT follow up report notes that Trump has reduced his income by claiming all manner of “consulting fees” as expenses. But the investigation discovered a striking match. /1
Trump’s private records show that his company paid a very specific $747,622 in fees to an unnamed consultant for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia. /2
Guess who owns that company? Ivanka Trump’s public disclosure forms — which she filed when joining the White House staff in 2017 — reveal she had received an IDENTICAL amount through a consulting company she co-owned. /3
Read 4 tweets
14 Sep 20
I have heard many say that never in their lives have they experienced such fear, that the America they know might be gone for good. Here’s why I have hoped with my head high and my eyes focused ahead. /1 #MondayMotivation #50DaysLeft
When I was just 5 years old, soldiers marched up to our home in Los Angeles and ordered us out. We had done nothing wrong, our crime was looking like the people who had bombed Pearl Harbor. The laws and the Constitution failed to protect us. /2
No one dared stand up for us then. Politicians on both sides, from FDR in the White House to Earl Warren in Sacramento, took advantage of the fear and racism for their own political gain. We lost our home. Our friends lost businesses. We all lost our freedom. /3
Read 10 tweets

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