Thread by @PalmerReport

1) The media has once again used magic wand theory to bait you into believing something different than reality. It painted an impeachment trial conviction as a magic wand. It ignored all other remedies. It convinced you that all hope is lost because that magic wand wasn't waved.

2) Most (not all) of the media has carefully avoided acknowledging the fact that two states plus DC have criminal cases going against Trump, which will have legitimate juries, and can put him in prison. This is far more effective and important than banning him from running again.

3) Most (not all) of the media has also ignored that Trump is now a broken and listless figure who's afraid to even show his face, let alone magically run again in four years. They've also ignored that Trump's approval rating is historically low, and no one ever wins that way.

4) By pretending that the criminal proceedings against Trump don't exist, the media has goaded you into believing that Trump is magically "getting away with it all" simply because he wasn't convicted by a fake jury in a fake impeachment trial with fake consequences.

5) The media has also goaded you into believing that the Democrats were just too cowardly to wave the magic wand when they didn't call witnesses. But if there were 7 GOP votes to convict without witnesses, there wouldn't have been 17 GOP votes to convict with witnesses.

6) The media also wants you to think that if the Senate banned Trump from running again, it would just magically stick without consequences. But we all know that if Trump wanted to run again, he'd challenge it in court and make a big spectacle of it. There are no magic wands.

7) Media pundits now have "Teflon Don" trending, as if Trump has somehow gotten away with something. The guy is facing criminal prosecution in three jurisdictions. He's (obviously) going to rot in prison for the rest of his life. What he's "gotten away" with? His life is over!

8) Not one of you would trade places with Trump – and not just because his is a miserable existence. You all know he's going to spend the rest of his life fighting criminal charges and/or in prison. You all know he's been destroyed. Don't let the media convince you otherwise.

9) The media loves telling you the "hard truth you don't want to hear." Except that "hard truth" is almost never true.

The media gets to look judicious in your eyes for telling you what you don't want to hear. And it gets a ratings boost from you by feeding your outrage.

10) Why does the media go so far out of its way to craft such bullshit? Because it's all about ratings and page views. There are no other factors. The media is a for-profit business. If they just tell you the real truth, that Trump is now irrelevant, where's the ratings in that?

11) "But we have to be vigilant just in case..." Okay, but be vigilant about things that are real. Be vigilant about solutions that can actually work. You want Trump out of your life for good? The multiple criminal cases against him are the obvious answer. Not some magic wand.

12) Now the 14th Amendment is trending, as if it were some magic wand that Chuck Schumer is simply unwilling to wave. Do you really really think he's he's ignoring some viable solution because he's just that stupid? COME ON. It's obviously not viable or he'd just do it.

13) Most of the media treats you like idiots. They float simplistic magical solutions. Then they bash the Democrats for not acting on those magical solutions. And they get all the ratings and page views for looking so much "smarter" than the hapless Democrats.

14) Some of you ask why I don't call out the bad pundits and bad media outlets by name. That's the point, 90% of them are bad at this. Political journalism is mostly crap. Instead, I try to highlight the rare but important instances where major media outets/pundits get it right.

15) For instance, this week Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell both did a good job of putting the impeachment trial within the context of the much more important and consequential criminal trials that Trump is about to face. No surprise; they're two of the better pundits on TV.

16) But 90% of political pundits, on TV and on the internet, tried to falsely paint this impeachment trial as if it were a magical way to stop Trump, and the ONLY way to stop Trump. Lesser pundits can't give you cogent analysis, so they just try to play you for ratings.

17) It will always come down to whether you decide to just angrily yell things and prop up the pundits who are dishonestly pandering to your urge to angrily yell things, or if you want to think things through and actually win these battles. Angry yellers never win anything.

18) If I were willing to peddle the same "all hope is lost" outrage porn that the mainstream media pushes on you, I'd get ten times as many retweets and page views as I get now. That's how powerful the incentive is for pundits to push simplistic fatalist bullshit on you.

19) I love it when people say "Palmer is just telling you Trump is going to prison because it's what you want to hear, so you'll click on him." Yeah right. I'd get ten times as many clicks if I told you that Trump is going to get away with it all.

20) But this isn't about me. I decided day one that I don't want those kinds of dishonest page views. This is about us, as activists, as a nation. Do we want to settle for defeatist outrage porn from pundits and lose these battles as a result, or do we want to win these battles?

21) In one final reminder that almost no one has any idea what they're talking about, "SDNY" is now trending. But the New York criminal case against Trump is coming from the Manhattan District Attorney, not the SDNY. Most media pundits never bother to educate you on this stuff.

22) One the media gets done painting the SDNY as the "last hope" for defeating Trump, next week the media will try to scare you into believing "all hope is lost" by announcing that SDNY isn't pursuing Trump. They'll leave out the fact that the Manhattan DA is bringing the case.

23) Now "Clinton" is trending because some of these same GOP Senators long ago voted to convict Bill Clinton. Who the fuck cares? They're villains, they do villain things. When we whine over how the GOP is "getting away with it all," it opens the door for them to get away with it

24) Republican Senators have almost no power now. Senate Democrats have majority control over nearly every aspect. Impeachment conviction simply wasn't one of them. But overall, we should be laughing at and taunting GOP Senators, not whining about how they're somehow winning.

25) Seven republican senators voted to convict Trump. SEVEN. That's huge. Plus ten House republicans last month. So 17 republicans in total voted to convict Trump. That's the only narrative we should be pushing about the impeachment trial. Bipartisan confirmation of Trump's guilt

26) Instead we angrily yell and whine and cry, and we make sure that everyone in the middle thinks of this trial as a loss for the Democrats. Voters in the middle don't like losers. So you just told them to vote Republican next time. That's how your fatalism DESTROYS EVERYTHING.

27) SOME of you are doing extreme harm today with your whining crying and loudly spinning this as a loss. You are now your worst enemy. If your only justification for your harmful behavior is that the worst of pundits got you inaccurately riled up, then TUNE OUT THOSE PUNDITS.

28) Nominees are all being confirmed. COVID relief. Minimum wage. On and on. The Democrats are winning, and they're winning big. They'll only be able to continue winning if you continue supporting them, instead of stabbing them in the back with angry inaccurate mouth-foaming.

29) This comes down to what everything in political activism comes down to: do you want to whine, or do you want to win? Because you can't do both.

Whining means you want to lose, so you'll have an excuse to whine even more loudly.

I want to win. I hope most of you do as well.