Thread by @gregolear

Let’s talk about hope & despair.

[THREAD]

Crank this up for the discussion:
open.spotify.com/track/77XzsYwT…

1/ One of the more memorable—and frightening—lines from “Nineteen Eighty-Four” reads: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.” In Orwell’s dystopia, resistance is futile. Big Brother wins, inevitably.

2/ I refuse to believe this applies to the USA in 2021. I won’t have it. I don’t care how much dirty money mobster spy psy-op disinformation data manipulation corporate MAGA Christofascist QAnon Fox News weapons these fuckers have in their arsenal. WE shall prevail. Not them.

3/ Is this second impeachment infuriating? Yes. Are Trump’s lawyers and his GOP lickspittles gaslighting us yet again? Yes. Does that mean that all hope is lost? Hell no.

4/ I’m hearing this w/r/t impeachment: “’Mueller is coming’ didn’t work out so well.” Can we parse that for a minute? Yes, we wanted Mueller to arrest ALL of them, and he didn’t—because he couldn’t. Rosenstein didn’t allow him to follow the money. Barr cockblocked the Report.

5/ That didn’t stop Mueller from producing a 700-page blueprint for impeachment—and, perhaps, for future indictment. That didn’t stop him from prosecuting and convicting Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Mike Flynn—the last two intimately involved with January 6, by the way.

6/ For 4 years, Trump—a money launderer for the Russian mob, a man fully owned by the underworld—controlled the executive & judicial branches. For the first two years, he controlled the entire legislative branch. We had the weaker half of Congress for half the time he was there.

7/ In those four years, Trump looted the Treasury (emoluments), gutted State & Defense, installed shit judges, sabotaged our alliances, exacerbated a global pandemic, &, when none of that saved him from being voted out, incited a bloody insurrection. Guess what? He lost. We won.

8/ No one expects the Senate to convict Trump, no matter how damning the case against him, no matter how brilliant the House managers are, or how ridiculous his defense attorneys. Does that mean we shouldn’t bother? Of course not.

9/ The insurrection happened 5 1/2 weeks ago. Dozens have been arrested & charged. There are reports that the FBI is pursuing a RICO case. Biden doesn’t even have his AG yet, because the GOP slow-rolled M. Garland’s confirmation yet again. And yet, look at what we managed to do.

10/ Look, these are scary times. Between a year of the pandemic, PTSD from Trump, and the GOP assault on reality, it’s easy to get down in the dumps. I feel that way sometimes. But when I do, I don’t take to Twitter and declare that hope is lost, or that nothing will ever change.

11/ The evidence does not support that! Despite all the obstacles in our path, look what we won: Midterm blue wave, two impeachments, a number of Trump insider convictions, Biden victory, took the Senate. That’s not nothing. And it’s a testament to us, all of us.

12/ “Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss” is fine as a rock lyric, but not as a worldview. We went from an administration actively trying to kill us to one that will get us all vaccinated in time to hit the beach in August. In what reality is there an equivalence?

13/ So to the purveyors of nihilism, hopelessness, and despair, I say: What’s your point, exactly? Do you WANT Biden to fail? Do you WANT that Orwellian boot stomping our collective face, so you can say “told ya so?”

14/ I have tried to keep people informed, to keep people’s hopes up (including my own), and, when possible, offer solutions—things we can DO to change things. Those who peddle despair may keep us informed, in their lugubrious way, but they fail to supply hope or offer solutions.

15/ Would I've liked things to be better? Of course. I wish Mueller indicted Kushner & Junior. I wish the 1st impeachment pulled in the Report. I wish it didn’t take 500k deaths to wake us all up to the reality that Trump is evil. Those disappointments don't negate the successes.

16/ So: I reject despair, & the monetization of hopelessness, and the “told ya so” shut-down every time something goes awry. I believe in Biden/Harris. I believe in Raskin & Swalwell & Lieu & Plaskett. I believe in Merrick Garland. I believe in truth & justice. I believe in us.

17/ Why? Because this ain’t Uzbekistan. This is the United States of America. We have a democracy that dates to the 18th century, that is a model for the rest of the world. Wallowing in a tar-pit of despair is not going to save it.

So: be vigilant, be clear-eyed, prepare for the worst, but never stop believing that we can makes things better. The only way we can lose is if we give up hope.

[END]