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David Rothkopf Profile picture
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Mar 5 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Hey, Twitter, let me offer you a few guidelines:
--If you read something in a Tweet that you agree with, great. Happy to know that.
--If you think the Tweet you read is excellent and want to offer a few compliments, even better.
--If you disagree with the Tweet...
...and want to say so respectfully, fine. That's your privilege.
--If you want me to provide evidence or research backing up my assertion--fuck off. I will block you.
--If you want to insult me--fuck off. I will block you.
--If you want to tell me you read it somewhere else first and that I am wasting your time with my insights--don't follow me. Don't waste your time. Seriously. Just follow the other, smarter people.
--If you want to tell me what really happened...
...in the area to which I have devoted 30 years of my life and about which I have written many books and hundreds of articles (and I'm being modest here), about which I have taught at major universities and about which all your info comes from other Tweets and Facebook--fuck off.
--No, seriously, on that last point, fuck the whole way off. Especially if your name is Squidwardsrevenge378256 or ToothlessMagaMamaEleventyTwelve. I will not only block you but know that if I saw you, I would cross the street to avoid you.
--Thank you for listening to my TED Talk.

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More from @djrothkopf

David Rothkopf Profile picture
Mar 4
I'm in the middle of finishing up a book on the Trump presidency and how the courage and dedication of many career public servants and Trump political appointees kept us from much worse outcomes that Trump and his inner circle thought.
This is true from immigration to COVID to Russia/Ukraine to elections. My thesis based on 30 years of DC experience is that the vast majority of the people in most administrations are fundamentally good and genuinely seek to serve the American people and the country.
But, I will tell you something--looking at what Trump wanted to do (and often was rebuffed from doing) in retrospect is even more shocking than it was at the time. Because, particularly in international affairs, there was a pattern.
Read 15 tweets
David Rothkopf Profile picture
Mar 4
The problem with America's response to Putin has never been that it has been too strong. It has always been that we have been that we have been too weak. Bush was too weak. Obama was too weak. Trump was actually and actively on Putin's side.
Biden and the West have thus far responded more strongly than Putin could have expected. But in the days ahead he will test us. He will use his lack of conscience and his unchecked brutality as a weapon. We must respond with even greater strength and resolve.
That doesn't mean risking nuclear war. It does mean employing available option short of that. We must also make a commitment--that he is aware of--that he won't see an end to sanctions or an end to the support of Ukraine or an end to strengthening & even the expansion of NATO...
Read 9 tweets
David Rothkopf Profile picture
Mar 4
@Lawrence @TheLastWord did a great segment tonight that cut to the palpable fear that pervaded all our lives during the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war. Putin, Putin alone, has made that a part of all our lives again. Biden & NATO have responded well w/coolness & strength.
But the war in Ukraine, Putin's ambitions to restore a Russian empire that has only really existed in his imagination and his indecency, brutality and recklessness have once again made the world a miscalculation away from unthinkable disaster.
First, he must be stopped in Ukraine. We must used every tool at our disposal to bring him down while we avoid those that might create the risk of nuclear escalation. But then, when Russia has withdrawn its troops and Ukraine is healing with all our aid, then...
Read 7 tweets
David Rothkopf Profile picture
Mar 3
The two big stories tonight-about Russia's attack on Ukraine and Trump's attack on democracy-are the same story, part of an extended, global effort by Russia to attack democracies worldwide. Their techniques differ. There is no equating the suffering Ukraine is going through...
...with what we have experienced in the US or has been experienced in other western democracies in which Putin has invested time and assets to try to weaken.But denying the connections, not acknowledging the bigger picture, will make it that much harder to defeat Putin's efforts.
The reflexive ferocity with which these ties are denied is a sign of how dangerous it is to all involved to reveal the truth, detail the connections, bring to light the broader strategy and the common purpose behind the broader Russian plan.
Read 7 tweets
David Rothkopf Profile picture
Mar 2
I'm a liberal New York Jew on Twitter so even I do not trust my judgment when it comes to mainstream issues. But when I look at the facts of the Biden Admin record at home and overseas, Biden's agenda & the good it would do for most Americans & the prospects for the year ahead...
...and then I look at the obstructionist GOP agenda, its overt racism, misogyny and corruption, their leadership's support for America's enemies overseas, their support for a violent coup against the U.S. government and their service to only the richest and most powerful...
...I'd have to conclude that Biden would have a hugely high approval rating and the Dem prospects for November would be excellent. In other words, if facts mattered, then the political picture would be very different from as it is being reported.
Read 9 tweets
David Rothkopf Profile picture
Mar 2
Every Republican in the Capitol tonight who voted to let Trump off the hook for trying to extort Ukraine by withholding vital military aid, who defended him when he argued we should draw down troops in NATO, who tried to dismiss his service to Putin...
...who took Russian money laundered through the NRA, who tried to paper over the Russian effort to meddle in our elections, who did not condemn Trump when he chose to support Putin over our intelligence community, who has refused to condemn Trump for calling Putin a "genius"...
...who meekly accepted Fox News and Trump allies offering Putin talking points on the eve of the commission of a wave of war crimes, who helped advance Putin's agenda of weakening the US by defending Trump's efforts to attack our democracy...
Read 5 tweets

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