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@duty2warn

Mar 5

THREAD
1- When we marvel or roll our eyes at Trump supporters, we're often asking the wrong question. Instead of asking: "How can they believe this nonsense?" Better we ask: "What do they get out of being part of Trumpism that makes them so willing to suppress reasoned thought?"

2- There are a lot of answers to the question of what they get out of Trumpism. First and foremost is "the need to belong." They can dislike and defy the same people, share common grievances, do stuff together. It's a brotherhood of purpose. It's easier to "believe" than think.

3 - We're often asked if Trumpism is a cult. The short answer: Yes, it is. A cult is defined by an unusual, unwavering interest or belief in a particular personality or goal, where devotion transcends reasoned thought. And when you do that, you transcend science, math, and facts.

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@duty2warn

Mar 3

THREAD

1 - In days leading up to Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Biden and Blinken were AWESOME and ON POINT combating Putin's FALSE pretexts for invading - WITH specificity. THIS, along with compelling heroism from Zelensky and the Ukraine people, created LOTS of global unity.

2 - Yesterday the Jan 6 committee here at home suggested for the first time, ALSO with specificity, that Trump COMMITTED CRIMES (which they will likely refer to DOJ). The committee showed Trump's crimes used a knowingly false and invented pretext. JUST LIKE PUTIN! SAME PLAYBOOK!

3 - For our part as behavioral psychologists, we are continually awestruck by similarities between Russia (as to Ukraine), and the GOP (as to America). It's not just autocratic fetishization. Or disinformation. It's the sad effectiveness of it, and how it's morphed into a cult.

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@duty2warn

Mar 2

THREAD
1 - It's hard not to feel good about Biden's State of the Union. But make no mistake - seeing the GOP clap for Ukraine is a political calculus for them. EVERYTHING is. They still want Minority Rule. It's OUR election cycle that will be the REAL test for global democracy.

2 - The #1 priority of Republicans is regaining power. PERIOD!! The #2 priority is holding that power. It will be far more difficult for us to wrench power back from them than it is to keep them from obtaining it. The midterms are everything. Democracy IS on the line.

3 - And the #1 weapon of the political right, is the same weapon Putin thought he had - DISINFORMATION. Here in America, land of fear and pride, disinformation is rampant, and a strong segment of America is already co-opted by fearmongering and false narratives.

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@duty2warn

Mar 1

THREAD

1- Before invading, Putin had assessed that America is fractured - or at least severely divided. Without that assessment this war would NOT be happening! America, democracy, and the NATO alliance ARE Putin's impediments. AND his obsessions. His goal - is to diminish them.

2- For years, Putin saw, up close, Trump's fetishization for cruelty and need to win every transaction. He ALSO saw the GOP's unbridled lust for regaining power. He salivated, because what he really saw was the potential for American democracy itself to be altered or compromised.

3- Putin ALSO saw a strong element of our electorate buying into strongman propaganda - call it TrumpISM. In the world of Trumpism, authoritarians are admired as powerful, manly, strong. The strong take what they can. Winning is everything. Ends justify the means. Yes - the GOP.

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Duty To Warn 🔉

@duty2warn

Mar 1

THREAD:
1 - Make no mistake - there's a large segment of our electorate, IN AMERICA, buying into strongman propaganda. Let's call it TRUMPISM. In the world of Trumpism, authoritarians are admired as powerful, manly, strong. The strong take what they can. Winning is everything.

2 - TRUMPISM is a different issue for us than TRUMP himself. It's way bigger. It has already metastasized into a full-on apparatus. Trumpism operates in an echo chamber. It has many powerful, far-reaching players -- enablers, amplifiers, grifters, and other opportunists.

3 - TRUMPISM has emotionalized our electorate. People, some of which we all know, were co-opted. Trump supporters weren't born more emotional per se; but they were in some way susceptible, and they have been actively manipulated.

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@duty2warn

Feb 28

The Russian ruble is now worth less than 1 U.S. cent.

Gives new meaning to “one red cent.”

https://twitter.com/dicklessard/status/1498271799204851718

Excellent suggestion:

https://twitter.com/dicklessard/status/1498271799204851718

Read 5 tweets

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