Thread by @juliettekayyem

Thread about MAGA violence and calling it out. MTG's comments aren't just about Nazis. Her words are in line with a narrative of Trumpism: endorsing violence or threat of violence for political gain, a throughline from 2016 to 1/6 to disenfranchisement efforts. 1/

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1396205444117536775

Greene is disturbed. She is also promoting a familiar violent narrative meant to incite. Greene is equating those who support masking with Nazis. That's obvious. But it is more than horrifying. It is code. If we are Nazis, then violence towards us is justified. Wink and nod. 2/

It's a technique Trump mastered; promote violence without saying so, a sophisticated use of stochastic (inciting for random acts of violence) terrorism. "Liberate Michigan!" and they tried to kidnap the Gov. He would deny it. Just a joke, his people would say.
3/

"Stop the steal" the same. How exactly is the steal to be stopped when the language Trump used was "fight"? So his people tried on 1/6. He didn't really mean fight, they now say, but the violence and threat of it remain with every use of the election lie. 4/

Election suppression efforts are also a threat, the threat of state approved criminal punishment for just wanting to vote. Our history of violence towards voter registration drives and African Americans asserting their rights is recent enough that the point is not lost. 5/

Tucker Carlson has picked up on it. The embrace of "great replacement theory" isn't just about white supremacy; that's too benign. By definition, it is about violence to justify your own perceived annihilation. It was explicit, and shocking. 6/

https://twitter.com/juliettekayyem/status/1382014743230218241

I've written of this enough, that violence is the connective tissue linking Trump to 1/6 to voter suppression, all done to undermine democracy and diversity. It isn't all the GOP, but those who do not address it can not claim innocence.
@TheAtlantic
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
7/

And we -- commentators, reporters, etc -- risk muting what is going on if we simply call it words like racism or white supremacy or anti-semitic or crazy. They are also about violence; Nazi references just an addition to the Trump code. Biden gets it. 8/

https://twitter.com/juliettekayyem/status/1387726353307521031

MTG's comments sounded familiar. On Thursday, I opened a strange letter addressed to me -- no name or return address -- sent to my home. It was a copy of my tweet with a graphic of a mask with a swastika superimposed, suggesting I'm a Nazi. That's all. No explicit threat.9/

I wrote the tweet last week, it got picked up by blue check MAGA apologists and conservative personalities. CNN, where I am an analyst, was accused of endorsing forced vaccinations. I do and did not, and CNN doesn't endorse. 10/

I know the drill: contact authorities, tell CNN (they have been terrific), monitor things, etc. It's not fun, but it isn't the first time. I don't use twitter for righteous indignation (though I'd be justified!). And I was going to say nothing publicly. On that, I changed. 11/

There are reasons to ignore folks like Carlson or MTG; they feed off oxygen. They also feed off silence. Maybe shaming doesn't work, who knows. But maybe we can stop feeling uncomfortable naming the brutal reality of what they promote. Violence. 12/

Violence or the threat of it -- hunt the home address of a mother the least disturbing of those mentioned -- is what defines an element of a political movement hellbent on the win. They aren't hiding it. They are at our front door. 13/13