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Timothy Snyder

12 Jan, 10 tweets, 1 min read

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.

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More from @TimothyDSnyder

Timothy Snyder

@TimothyDSnyder

7 Jan

1/10. Whatever happened to protecting monuments and federal property, which seemed so important to our government this summer and fall?

2/10. The idea of protecting property was used to beat people protesting for the right of African Americans to stay alive.

3/10. The idea of protecting monuments was used to justify surveilling any American who might be inclined to protest.

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Timothy Snyder

@TimothyDSnyder

7 Jan

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.

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Timothy Snyder

@TimothyDSnyder

3 Jan

1/10. Cruz et al do not allege fraud, they allege allegations of fraud.

2/10. When there are false allegations of fraud, a serious public servant tells the truth.

3/10. Elections are about turning beliefs into facts, convictions into ballots.

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Timothy Snyder

@TimothyDSnyder

26 Nov 20

0/5. Five things to remember about Michael Flynn.

1/5. Michael Flynn illegally took money from foreign governments and did not report doing so.

2/5. Michael Flynn worked on a plan for Russia to help build nuclear power plants in the middle east.

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Timothy Snyder

@TimothyDSnyder

12 Nov 20

0/10 Yesterday I tweeted that it was up to civil society to defend democracy. Today I want to say something about what civil society is, and how it works.

1/10 Civil society, for the dissidents from whom I learned, means that layer of activity between the isolated individual and the powerful state. It enables freedom despite fear and action despite oppression.

2/10 Civil society opposes loneliness. It means speaking to people about the real dangers we face, in this case the coup attempt we must confront. Talking more means fearing less.

Read 11 tweets