Maybe the GOP shift away from antivax—it’s welcome, keep going—is a rare instance where reality pierced the bubble.
Strained hospitals in MO & LA are hard to ignore. Over 99% of deaths now among unvaccinated is hard to BS. Media & pols see that their followers take them literally
Or maybe that’s wishful thinking. I admittedly wish that facts would influence behavior more.
But I think @joshtpm is right to be skeptical of theories that a small stock market dip did it, and to think this is a fairly sizable, rapid shift that currently lacks a good explanation
Part of the answer might be a different bubble effect, where some Republicans paid too much attention to trolls and culture warriors of right-wing social media, and spent so much time telling themselves they spoke for average people, that they thought this was an electoral winner

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More from @NGrossman81

23 Jul
I made this mistake after the Capitol attack. I saw changed rhetoric from prominent Trump supporters, such as Lindsey Graham, and thought “this is too big, too obviously bad, the change will stick.” It didn’t.
The lesson, as former White House aides might say: Do Not Congratulate
I made a similar mistake after Charlottesville. When Trump called neo-Nazis and neo-Confederates “very fine people,” I thought the appalled reaction would stick.
And it did with some, so I wasn’t totally wrong. But I overstated it. I was too optimistic.
link.medium.com/Y5tiFvod7hb
If making excuses for people waving literal Nazi flags didn’t do it, and a violent attack on America didn’t do it—not to mention forcibly separating children from parents—I’m left wondering if there’s any line, anything that can’t be rationalized, denied, or whatabouted away.
Read 4 tweets
20 Jul
The Trump 2016 campaign gave UAE and Saudi Arabia an advance copy of the candidate's energy speech, and made edits at UAE's request (via shady campaign chair Paul Manafort).
What else did he outsource to Middle Eastern autocrats, especially while POTUS?
abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump…
Thomas Barrack chaired Trump's inaugural (which is suspected of being a channel for grifting and bribes), and his indictment says he was an agent of the UAE during the Trump presidency.
How did this affect Middle East policy? Or Jared Kushner's loans?
It was apparent to many at the time that the Saudis and Emiratis had considerable influence with the Trump administration. Trump backed the misguided Qatar blockade and covered for MBS after the Saudis killed Jamal Khashoggi, among other things.
How much was flat-out corruption?
Read 5 tweets
18 Jul
Hey everyone having politicized arguments about vaccine hesitancy/refusal:
Are you sure you’re talking about the same people? Let me explain.
Broadly three categories not getting shots:
1) Ideological antivaxxers. Includes many lefty woo woo “all natural” types.
1/x
Ideological antivaxxers were committed to that position before COVID, and are probably unconvincable. If tons of studies debunking myths about vaccines and autism won’t convince them, I doubt more information about COVID-19 vaccines or public encouragement could either.
2/x
2) Hesitant. For a variety of reasons, such as lazy and don’t think it matters that much (mostly young healthy people), generally cautious, poorly informed, or distrusting of govt and other public authorities (many poor people and POC fit here).
These are the gettable ones.
3/x
Read 16 tweets
18 Jul
In a hotel that, heretofore unbeknownst to me, is hosting a bodybuilder competition. Lobby packed with all types of buff people. Some dudes look like they have to turn sideways to get through a doorway. Women in heavy stage makeup. Everyone’s tanned within an inch of their life.
Finding myself among a subculture I’m not usually a part of is one of my favorite things in life. Bonus points when it’s accidental.
Gym merch is everywhere. Bags, shirts, posters, pamphlets, booths selling stuff.
Heard one guy in an elevator say “now, time for some calories.” He never eats before competing.
Competitors mostly finishing up now, and everyone I’ve chatted with seems to enjoy that I’m interested.
Read 5 tweets
16 Jul
No, I'm not going to calm down about dangers to US democracy. It matters to me and to millions of others, and the facts warrant concern.
Look at my record and you'll see prudent warnings that mostly panned out, not hysteria or conspiracy theories.
Thread:
arcdigital.media/p/wake-up-demo…
In November 2018, after Democrats broke Republican control by winning the House in the midterms, I explored various risky future scenarios, including the possibility Trump lost in 2020, rejected the results, and tried to rile up his supporters.
medium.com/arc-digital/th…
Feb 2020, after the Senate voted against removing Trump for trying to corrupt the election with his Ukraine scheme, and AG Bill Barr intervened to give special treatment to people whose shady activity helped Trump win in 2016, I warned that he'd try more.
medium.com/arc-digital/th…
Read 8 tweets
10 Jul
The argument that we need to go back to a past time in which ideas flowed freely, when people didn't impose social sanctions in response to speech they found offensive or immoral, back before liberalism was succeeded by an illiberal ideology, is ahistorical nonsense.
Yes, but "I read about some people getting fired for really silly reasons, it looks like there's a pattern, that's bad" is quite different from claiming that Enlightenment liberalism was the dominant ideology in the West for centuries until about 2018.
Social media is new, and it's affected society in all sorts of ways. One is by facilitating deliberate, and sometimes inadvertent, pressure campaigns.
A specific claim like that I wouldn't challenge. It's the much larger, more sweeping claim I find absurd.
Read 4 tweets

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