Thread by @TrumpFileOrg

Thread: Listening to the new episode of #StrangeDaysPodcast with @AmandiOnAir, "The Attack on American Democracy," ft. @ruthbenghiat and @sarahkendzior.

Currently available wherever you stream. Bonus content on Patreon. patreon.com/strangedays

Fernand's intro music is hypnotizing. I'm kind of bopping in my chair.

"We named this podcast the Strange Days Podcast because we felt the title embodied the feeling of the country, and sadly.. it feels as if the title is going to be appropriate for many days to come." - Fernand

Fernand introduces @ruthbenghiat and @sarahkendzior as "two of the most respected and, frankly, the most accurate and precise of the chroniclers of the Trump nightmare."

Accurate.

I'm posting the above three tweets now then live-tweeting as I listen. This episode of Strange Days should be available wherever you get your podcasts. More info at strangedayspodcast.com

Fernand: Sarah, what's coming next?

Sarah: Oh. Bad things.

🤣😅😬

"I think a lot of people are feigning shock to avoid accountability because what's predictable is preventable. If you know an atrocity and an attacker coming your way, you're therefore obligated to do something about it.. Our leaders have failed time and time again to do so." - S

Sarah repeats all of our concerns re: Trump's access to the military and nukes, what could happen on Inauguration Day and leading up to it, etc.

"I think that there are people advising the Trump administration... who are putting in individuals who have skills, who have trained for this moment... It looked like they planned to take hostages." (We now know some of them did plan to take hostages.) apnews.com/e13a0ee09d5434…

"The secret of these leaders like Trump is that they actually despise their people. They use them and discard them. If they suffer a defeat or they see that their power is really threatened... they turn on their people and are filled with rage." - @ruthbenghiat

"When he said 'our journey is just beginning,' he has every intention of egging these people on. He's still using the 'we' voice... 'The election's been stolen from US.' He's very much still... out to destroy with these armed men. And I agree, they are professionals." - Ruth

"There are people on social media calling for Biden's assassination. It's way too dangerous to have the inauguration. This is what they want. They want to start Biden's administration in a mass of flames and blood." - Ruth

"Trump fortified the White House. That's one of the reasons I worried about 01/06 [and] the Capitol... @MichaelCohen212 was making strange comments about how Trump wanted to be out of DC on 01/06... He did come back, but in a WH looking like a military compound." - @sarahkendzior

"I think the other thing to remember... is Trump is a foreign asset. He's a Kremlin asset who works for transnational organized crime. There are outside actors who are very invested in the idea of the U.S. collapsing so they can pick it apart and sell it off for parts." - Sarah

"Of course [Trump] uses fascist tactics, but he's something bigger. He's something far bigger. It's very important to call out this aspect of it. Fascists were interested in territorial expansion, and Trump is interested in internal collapse." - @ruthbenghiat

"Pelosi, once again, is complicit. I have been saying this for two years. In March 2019, she came out and said that no matter what Trump did, no matter what crimes he committed... he would never be impeached because he's, quote, 'not worth it.'" - Sarah

Sarah does a great job here describing how Pelosi fought against impeachment in 2019. People are dumbfounded when I explain this to them. Pelosi very clearly did not want Trump removed. Democrats forced the first impeachment, and Pelosi made sure the Senate wouldn't remove him.

"You can't vote out the Mafia." - @sarahkendzior

Sarah gets very real, very human reflecting on Jamie Raskin putting all of his might into impeachment and removing Trump when he just buried his son. "What an amazing American. What a patriot."

Ruth refers to lawmakers who still support Trump as "thugs in suits." I don't disagree.

"We have one American dying every 30 seconds from coronavirus, so we have a triple crisis. An economic crisis, which is vast misery and hardship. We have a health crisis that is untamed... and we have a political crisis. You see the toll of not having the right leadership." -Ruth

"They have always approached Trump with the wrong framework... He was never in office to govern. He was only in office to make money for Trump Organization, build his loyalty cult, spread hatred, and destroy." - Ruth

Fernand: Do you think that Biden's comments left something to be desired?

Sarah: He's a target for assassination, so he needs to be careful. He doesn't need to direct Congress, but he should say more about what happened.

(Not verbatim)

"Once these people make their deals with the devil, they stick with the leader no matter what he does or says. Historically... it's called elite defection when they finally jump ship. They only do it when their physical safety is threatened." - Ruth

"The GOP is an authoritarian party. It just is. They're not interested in democratic methods, so we have to be very cautious in interpreting what might be going on overly optimistically." - Ruth

They have the House, the Senate, the presidency, "and they have the worst problems of my lifetime: a pandemic, a Great Depression level economy, the largest cyber attack in history, autocracy, gutted institutions. It's a giant job, and they have to work as hard as possible." - S

"The last thing that [Dems] need to do is be timid, is worry about what the media will say, worry about what the Republicans will say. They need to worry about what the AMERICAN PEOPLE will say. They need to worry about our safety and our survival." - @sarahkendzior

Ruth warns that Bolsonaro will repeat Trump's actions in Brazil if he loses re-election.

F: How should we remember Trump?

"I know what portrait I'd put at the entrance to the [Trump] Library: I would put Trump speaking with Lavrov and Russian officials in the Oval, captured by a Russian photographer... That shows what the real power dynamics were." - @ruthbenghiat

"The things [Trump] represents were already present in America, and that's why I mentioned the noble tradition of America ruining democracy around the world for others... The U.S. has always enabled authoritarians. Trump just brings all of this home." - Ruth

Ruth mentions that Bill Barr leaving the DOJ is no reason to think he's out of the picture for good. I share this with you because when ~I~ say it, the masses come out to call me crazy and conspiratorial.

Fernand: Should Dems campaign around the GOP being pro-authoritarian or stick w/ "kitchen table" issues?

Sarah: "The endurance & vulnerability of democracy ~is~ a kitchen table issue. You don't get to have healthcare or public education or jobs... w/out a functional democracy."

"We really have our first open, aspiring autocrat. Our first anti-American president. A president who has no loyalty to country, who's committed terrible crimes and confessed to them in plain sight." - @sarahkendzior

Shoutout to Hiding In Plain Sight: amazon.com/dp/B07QNFCSPH

"We did something incredible and rare in history. We interrupted a process of authoritarian capture by voting him out." - @ruthbenghiat

"It is true that... we're the United States of Amnesia, but I think that's a very white thing to say. I think of things like the Tulsa massacre... There have been all of these events throughout American history that were never forgotten by the people who were hurt by them." - S

"A really important aspect of this time is... making sure that we preserve what has happened over the last four years, that it's not lost or manipulated, because digital media will also make that easy to do." - Sarah

That's one reason why I started this. TrumpFile.org

Last question from Fernand: "Over these next 4 years, should Americans who understand the degree of the threat begin [packing] their bags and look at what eventually might be an autocratic takeover here in the United States, or" is this no longer an existential threat?

"I think it's always going to be a threat because what Trump has revealed is what is possible... We haven't even begun to assess the damage that he's done... But we also have come away with a roadmap of what our weak points are and what needs to be strengthened." - Ruth

"There's never really a safe place to go. There's always danger... My plan is to stay and fight and try to create a better country so that my children don't have to deal with these problems and the next generation doesn't have to, as well." - Sarah

Fernand: "I like the sound of Sen. @sarahkendzior running against Josh Hawley... What do you think, Sarah?"

Sarah, laughing: "I feel like you're punishing me for trying to do good! I have no desire to run for anything, although I have a great desire for Josh Hawley to leave."

That's the end of this episode of #StrangeDaysPodcast with @AmandiOnAir. New episodes are out --- wait....

A new episode just dropped RIGHT NOW on my Podcasts app! "Confederate Offspring" with guests @JYSexton and Tim Wise is available now. Support at: patreon.com/strangedays

Something I love about @AmandiOnAir's podcast is his interview style. So many podcasts are a casual conversation format. Fernand's show is more like a live panel discussion, similar to 92|Y, and I think that fits very well given the subjects being discussed.