Timothy Snyder Profile picture
Jan 7, 2021 10 tweets 1 min read Read on X
1/10. The claim that Trump won the election is a big lie.
2/10. A big lie changes reality. To believe it, people must disbelieve their senses, distrust their fellow citizens, and live in a world of faith.
3/10. A big lie demands conspiracy thinking, since all who doubt it are seen as traitors.
4/10. A big lie undoes a society, since it divides citizens into believers and unbelievers.
5/10. A big lie destroys democracy, since people who are convinced that nothing is true but the utterances of their leader ignore voting and its results.
6/10. A big lie must bring violence, as it has.
7/10. A big lie can never be told just by one person. Trump is the originator of this big lie, but it could never have flourished without his allies on Capitol Hill.
8/10. Political futures now depend on this big lie. Senators Hawley and Cruz are running for president on the basis of this big lie.
9/10. There is a cure for the big lie. Our elected representatives should tell the truth, without dissimulation, about the results of the 2020 election.
10/10. Politicians who do not tell the simple truth perpetuate the big lie, further an alternative reality, support conspiracy theories, weaken democracy, and foment violence far worse than that of January 6, 2021.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @TimothyDSnyder

Dec 13
1/5 If Trump wanted Russia to negotiate, he would make the war harder for the Kremlin, not create the conditions for Russian victory. I wish reporters would point this out.
cnn.com/2024/12/12/pol…
2/5 Putin has made clear over and over that his goal is to destroy Ukraine as a nation and a state and that he has no interest in peace talks.
3/5 Trump’s proposed policy is to force Ukraine to negotiate by denying it weapons otherwise. But the Ukrainians are not the problem! The problem is Russia, the aggressor.
Read 5 tweets
Dec 11
1/6 Dr. Helen Ouyang in @nytimes: “The country is not heading toward a single-payer system, but that doesn’t mean we have to continue leaving patients and their doctors in the dark.”
Yes, it does in fact mean that, absent some other drastic reform.
2/6 It doesn’t help to write and publish essays like this, which present doctors and patients as good people facing tragic choices in an unchangeable system. How the system works to kill Americans for profit has to be front and center.
3/6 Only the US among comparable countries enables useless middlemen to profit hugely by placing themselves between doctor and patient. We have to be reminded that we are uniquely choosing a senseless system that takes both our wealth and our lives.
Read 6 tweets
Nov 9
Lesson 1: Do not obey in advance.
Thread of lessons from my book #OnTyranny. Written in 2016. Image
Lesson 2: Defend institutions.
#OnTyranny Image
Lesson 3: Beware the one-party state.
#OnTyranny Image
Read 20 tweets
Aug 17
1/4. Important work here: Trump is violent rather than strong, and using US troops on protesters would break America.
nytimes.com/2024/08/17/us/…
2/4. Crucial point in the reporting: the most radical plans, such as the use of US troops against Americans, actually go beyond Project 2025.
nytimes.com/2024/08/17/us/…
3/4. A point not raised here is the effect that orders to suppress American protesters would have on the military itself. Either it resists or it becomes a tool of fascist power.
Read 4 tweets
Jul 1
1/5. Unless Trump loses, America ends.
2/5. The Supreme Court has made this clear. As has Trump himself. Over and over.
3/5. Our enemies know this. Which is why they all, without exception, support Trump.
Read 5 tweets
May 22
1/11. The people who told you that fascism was not a threat were wrong.
2/11. The people who told you that Russia was not fascist were, if possible, more wrong.
3/11. Fascism is might over right, conspiracy over reality, fiction over fact, pain over law, blood over love, doom over hope.
Read 11 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(