Just amplify the point @McFaul was making earlier, there is no doubt that Trump is an authoritarian and the people around him are wannabe authoritarians, but the history of mass movements tells you that they are not made by people like Trump. /1
Think of it this way: people like Trump are the initial bout of a sickness that leaves a society weak and open to opportunistic infection from authoritarians who are far more competent and capable of building an actual mass movement. /2
This is a serious danger, especially since Trump proved you can break down the guardrails of a constitutional republic and get away with it. But people who think that Trump is leading a mass movement are ignoring a lot of important historical realities about such movements. /3
The other thing a mass movement requires is a large cadre of serious people. Sad as it is to say, the fundamental unseriousness of America also mitigates against the creation of a dangerous mass movement. /4
That doesn’t mean that you can’t get a wave of Mickey Mouse fascists in mobs here and there. Just as we’ve gotten short-pants Stalinism breaking out here and there in the middle of cities. /5
Summary: Worry less about Trump and what’s going on right now. Worry more about what’s coming down the road - and yes, from both the right and the left - now that our republic is in a weakened condition. /6x
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