The conspiracy theory folks and white supremacists are not going away.

The people who naturally dislike democracy and diversity are not going away.

They need a party, and they need a leader. Trump will remain their guy.
If we're lucky, Trump will be politically bankrupt with at least 60% of the people, which is not enough for the crazies to seize the government, but enough for them to remain dangerous.
Prison will not matter to them. Why would it? His followers do not live in a world of facts. They will see him as a victim.

Imprisoning leaders never breaks up a movement.

I'd hope it would cause him to lose credibility with at least 60% of voters.
Before Trump brought them into the electorate, many of them were apolitical.

Now people like Cruz and Hawley have learned how to stir them and get them to the polls, so I'm afraid we can't expect them to fade away.

It depends on the evidence, which depends on the kind of crime charged.

Documentary evidence is better than testimonial evidence. Witnesses can lie. It's up to the jury to evaluate the reliability of witnesses.

Financial crimes don't depend on witnesses.

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More from @Teri_Kanefield

25 Feb
(Thread) Lies, Liars, and the Capitol Riot

This is #7 in my video series:

If you’re like me and you prefer to read, here it is on a Twitter thread.

Lying and presenting myths as a way to solidify power goes all the way back to the ancient world.

1/
Take the Behistun Inscription.

In huge lettering on the side of a cliff, King Darius, who was born in 522 BCE, presented the story of his life. mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Persia/…

If you believe him, power was given to him by the gods and he never suffered a single defeat.

2/
Moreover, he single-handedly killed anyone who dared question his authority. Scholars call this a pseudo-autobiography.

Donald Trump came to power with a pseudo-biography, which went like this: “I am a successful businessman.”

3/
Read 21 tweets
24 Feb
A little history.

Our current criminal justice system took form after the Civil War, when the reactionaries and White Supremacists found a way around the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibited slavery except in the case of punishment for crimes after conviction.
1/
The solution: Convict lots of Black men, put them in jail, and put them in chain gangs. At the time, there were no limits on what police could do.

So they often beat confessions out of innocent Black men.

Along came Charles Hamilton and his protégé Thurgood Marshall.

2/
As a result of literally decades of work (and one of the few times we had a liberal Supreme Court under Earl Warren), we got rulings that the Fourth Amendment outlaws things like beating confessions out of people.

It was a step forward.

3/
Read 9 tweets
22 Feb
I put up another video in the series I'm calling "How we got here and How we Get Out"

Why the heck am I doing this? 🤷‍♀️

I feel a need (and a value) to going back over what I've written about (including in my books) and summing things up

1/
My natural inclination is to put it all in a book (but I have two books in press and a third in progress) ENOUGH BOOKS!

This is way easier than writing a book, anyway.

And it's allowing me to synthesize my thoughts and put it all together.

2/
They are supposed to be viewed in order, but as I said once, if you go out of order the GO IN ORDER police will not come knocking on your door (so don't worry).

3/
Read 5 tweets
20 Feb
This is because they don't believe fairness and equality are possible.

Their goal is to solidify their power and maintain a hierarchy with themselves on top.

With the cynicism of those who don't believe goodness exists, they think all people are interested only in power.
Cynicism has been on my mind lately because (1) it's a hallmark of fascism, (2) it's a characteristic of those with authoritarian personalities, and (3) I've seen it lately on left-leaning Twitter.

How?
Like this: "Nothing will happen to X because the system sucks and is unfair and rich people never face consequences."

There are people who have dedicated their lives to reforming the criminal justice system.

The system is better than it was 30 years ago. . .
Read 13 tweets
17 Feb
This is what Yale Professor @TimothyDSnyder calls "governing by crisis and spectacle.

The purpose of a fascist government is to maintain order, which means keeping the ruling oligarchs rich and everyone else poor.

This raises a problem for fascist leaders . . .

1/
. . . how do they keep their constituents happy as they rob from them and keep them poor? (Things like give tax cuts to the rich and eliminate health care for all?)

They create a show. They do battle with enemies.

(Snyder quotes fascist philosopher Ivan Ilyin who explains)

2/
Made-up enemies are safest.

The next best are powerless enemies. That's why Trump picked homeless migrants as enemies.

That way the ruling oligarchs don't get hurt and their property doesn't get damaged.

It's also why Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.

3/
Read 9 tweets
16 Feb
(Thread) New Lawsuit against Trump, Giuliani, the Proud Boys, and Oathkeepers

Subtitle: More legal troubles for Trump and pals

The complaint is here: naacp.org/wp-content/upl…

The @NAACP brought the lawsuit on behalf of Rep. @BennieGThompson

1/
He accuses Defendants of violating the KKK act, which outlaws (among other things) preventing an official from discharging duties. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42…

Fittingly, the Act was passed after the Civil War when White supremacists violently interfered with lawful processes.

2/
Facts: When Trump, Proud Boys, and pals incited the insurrection, they hindered Thompson in the discharge of his official duties and deprived him of his right to be free from intimidation and threats in the discharge of his duties.

3/
Read 6 tweets

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