The only thing standing between us and the return of the Trump regime is the Democratic Party -- so maybe trashing and battering the Democratic Party isn't smart.
Of course, everyone is free to talk about Democratic failures . . .
. . .but if a majority of voters believe the Democratic Party is a failure (or they believe the Democrats are responsible for Republican law-breaking because they stubbornly refused to Do that Something that will solve the problem) I can't see Democrats winning in 2022.
Here's the thing about democracy: at any given time, a majority of citizens can decide to end the democracy.
It's easy, actually: Just elect leaders who promise to smash democratic institutions. Like Trump.
Modern-day fascists come to power through elections . . .
. .. and then find ways to stay in power.
In this thread, I argue that nothing will change the minds of die-hard MAGAs.
Single-issue GOP voters have proven they'll overlook any amount of lawbreaking to get politicians who will push their issues...
That's why I think that Left Twitter issuing unreasonable demands with unrealistic timelines and then bashing the Democrats as failures for not meeting these demands and timelines is unwise.
A problem with building a brand on "I told you it would be this bad," and "Democrats are cowardly and don't do enough," is that they can never admit a Democratic success because that will ruin their brand.
That's why I say no consequences will ever be enough for them
People who are cashing in on rage have an incentive to keep stirring it.
Finally, I think rage is not productive. It wears people out.
Democracy requires a lot of its citizens, and people spinning with rage can't be productive.
Rant over.
Let me be clear. Discussing problems and solutions is necessary. I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about this sort of thing: "Nothing has happened yet because Merrick Garland is corrupt and compromised."
If people are feeling weary and deflated maybe that's because they expect all political problems to be solved within 10 months. Maybe they have unrealistic expectations and demands.
If Trump had remained in power, I'd understand feeling deflated and weary.
I was reading my son's AP American History book (me=🤓)
According to this textbook, the Spanish-American war happened because newspapers wanted to sell lots of copies so they sensationalized (lied) about what was happening to stir people to rage.
I can understand people are enraged and frustrated if they think:
🔹At any time, Biden could "fix" USPS but he's "refusing," and
🔹as a result, a new COVID outbreak will be "thanks to" Biden.
The truth is much more nuanced and complex.
This is a rage-inducing simplification.
Right, but without picking on individual things wrong with some of these Biden is a Failure tweets (coming from Left Twitter) the overall tone is important.
Democracy frustrates a lot of people because it moves slowly. That's a feature, not a bug. . .
Checks and balances mean that the government moves slowly.
This is good because it makes it harder for an authoritarian to consolidate power. It's those checks and balances and power-spread-widely that stopped Trump.
It also makes it harder to get things done.
Authoritarianism is attractive because it can move swiftly.
Democracy, in contrast, is grinding, frustrating work.
(Yes I know I wrote 'rant over' a while back and kept ranting 🤣)
Correct.
I can guarantee that when the framers of the Constitution outlined our current government, they never thought maintaining a democracy would be easy.
They knew that tyrants would arise would try to consolidate power. (Their word was "tyrant.")
Some of this comes from the nature of social media.
If you missed the video Timothy Snyder posted yesterday, please see it. In the second Tweet, I linked to the thread in which I tackled the same issues before seeing his video.
🔹The committee will be finished before November. They're aiming for Spring.
🔹The DOJ will have all the material and it continues until 2024.
🔹If the Republicans take the House, the select committee "dead in the water" isn't the problem.