The thread in question implies Trump himself, like his followers, probably doesn't believe any of his own claims about having evidence the election was stolen. And Trump himself gives a shout out about how great the thread is! He agrees! He's probably just getting it off Hannity! 
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBugle/status/1414347133940125696
And yet somehow it's not Trump who is showing "unmitigated contempt" by knowingly lying to the American people for months on end that he has reason to think the 2020 election was stolen; somehow it's not Trump voters who show contempt by being unwilling to accept the election. 2/
Seriously, we are supposed to re-watch the video of the insurrection, this time imagining it's all about the Steele Dossier. And that's supposed to make it better? It makes it worse. 3/
First, it's nonsense. But even if it weren't nonsense... Well, just suppose - even though it's known to be untrue - the FBI spied on Trump's campaign based on nothing. Let it be so. 4/ washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
Well, that would be bad (but it ain't so!) but it would still be true that the FBI did more to hurt Hillary than Trump. But no one is suggesting that Dems would have been justified in stealing the 2020 election by force or fraud due to Comey's 'but her emails' bomb in 2016. 5/
The point is this: the twitter thread in question - nor the longer essay Greenwald posts - do not amount to a political justification for things said, let alone done. Nor is it framed as such! He's not saying the insurrection was ok, or the Big Lie! 6/
outsidevoices.substack.com/p/author-of-th…
outsidevoices.substack.com/p/author-of-th…
It's more like an epistemic Declaration of Independence. Cooper is writing a permission slip to believe anything you want about the Democrats/Deep State - because it could be true! The D's are like Descartes' Demon, omni-malevolent and omnipotent deceivers! 7/
If you know you are facing Descartes' Demon, there is a certain epistemic virtue - so it may seem - in reflexive doubt, even contrarianism. Since all evidence points to a clean, solid Biden win: assume he lost but cheated. That's the virtuous epistemic stance. 8/
Of course, this amounts to everyone on the right being massively blue-pilled. You believe what you want: Biden lost but cheated. (But that makes sense: everyone who takes the blue pill thinks they took the red pill, because no one wants to think they took the blue pill.) 9/
In conclusion, the only silver lining in this situation is: there is a huge appetite for sheer escapism. There is no political call for action as such: there is, instead, a demand that those who sink into a wallow of nonsense be highly respected as courageous for doing so. 10/
R's - cons - face a dilemma: seriously attempt to wrongfully overthrow the constitutional order, or settle for fantasizing about doing so, and that they would be right to do so. Let's hope, for the sake of the republic, they do the right thing, relatively. 11/
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