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David Roberts

@drvolts

12 Jan

There's a lot of confusion out there about the root of the filibuster dispute, so ... a short thread.

The key: political scientists have found that, on balance, legislation favors progressives. More often than not, those seeking legislation are seeking change/reform.

That's not always true, of course, but on average, over time, the more legislation there is, the more movement there is in a progressive reform direction. Active gov't is, on balance, a tool for change. It's really important to understand this.

The obvious upshot is, if you're on the conservative side -- the side benefiting from & protecting status quo power dynamics -- you want less legislation. Less/smaller gov't generally. You want gov't to leave things alone, because the way things are works for you/your people.

Read 9 tweets

David Roberts

@drvolts

12 Jan

Rising right-wing domestic terrorism has driven the Justice Dept. to form a new unit to combat it. Of course that's never stated clearly in the story, which is mostly both-sides coverage highlighting Republican gaslighting & whataboutism. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

One note on this: read the story & you'll see another example of a very, very familiar reactionary dynamic I've been pointing out repeatedly. In this instance, it goes like this:

1) RW media/elites whip the RW base up into fury at schools & educators based on CRT nonsense.

2) The base reacts as expected, forming thuggish mobs, shouting at school board meetings, & threatening the lives of educators.

3) There are so many threats that it draws FBI attention; the agency starts an investigation & speaks out.

Read 7 tweets

David Roberts

@drvolts

11 Jan

https://twitter.com/Alex_Roarty/status/1480938114528993283

This focus group is a monument to the lack of left media infrastructure. There was an attempted insurrection, inspired & coordinated by one party's leaders, a *no one's in the public's face telling them about it*. They're left to piece it together on their own.

https://twitter.com/Alex_Roarty/status/1480938114528993283

Ordinary people do not have some inherent sense of how significant events are. We act based on social cues. If Jan. 6 were a big deal, they'd be hearing about it constantly. People would up in arms. Instead, a quiet, bureaucratic investigation & a one-year-anniversary speech.

Now, libs taking over schools & indoctrinating kids with CRT -- *that* seems to be a real thing. It's on TV constantly, parents are being interviewed about it, Dems are responding defensively to it, states are passing all these emergency laws. Social cues indicate: this matters.

Read 7 tweets

David Roberts

@drvolts

9 Jan

@sam_rosenfeld

Worth reading this piece from @sam_rosenfeld who notes that, from all indications, Americans don't give a shit that one of two political parties is no longer committed to democracy. It's not changing voting patterns at all. I've got a few beefs tho. washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…

One, I'm leery of *any* attempt to ascribe stable political views to normies. Mostly people react to what they see, to what respected members of their tribes are doing. Mainstream media & Dems both refuse to *act like there's an emergency*, so voters don't think there is one!

(Meanwhile, on the other side, Republicans are *constantly* acting like there's an emergency -- Dems stealing elections! migrant caravans! trans people in yer bathrooms! -- and so their voters act like it too.)

Read 6 tweets

David Roberts

@drvolts

6 Jan

@harrispolitico

This essay by @harrispolitico betrays an ignorance about US politics so deep & fundamental that it is genuinely unsettling. I mean it: as I read along & realized he was serious, & that lots of other DC VSPs probably think the same way, my stomach sank. politico.com/news/magazine/…

Jesus. I read a lot of bad media & criticize media all the time but something about this piece really has me shook. This dude lives in the very center of US politics, as part of the profession charged with understanding it, and he's completely blind to its most basic features.

I won't dwell on this, but he wrote a whole essay arguing that the deep political division in the US today traces entirely back to whether people are personally fond of Donald Trump. Really. That's the argument. He must really believe that.

Read 7 tweets

David Roberts

@drvolts

6 Jan

https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1479118863606288401

This whole thread is a painful demonstration of how badly some people misunderstand the threat of reactionary backlash (in general, not just in the US). But this point in particular is important & worth dwelling on.

https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1479118863606288401

To view "they believed Trump" as exculpatory is to miss how this dynamic -- familiar in every reactionary backlash ever -- works. Of *course* they convinced one another of a lie that would justify their violence. That's the whole game! That's the two-step.

First you tell one another lies -- about the looming threat posed by the immigrants, the professors, the lib elites -- and then you commit violence based on those lies. Then, afterward, if called to account, you use your belief in the lies to justify your violence.

Read 14 tweets

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