Thread by @conmachiavel

I just spent a depressing but interesting spell in the land of Tory Twitter. Here’s what I found.

Tagging a few of the people I follow and whose analysis I admire. Please consider this. /1

@johnharris1969 @rafaelbehr @chrisgreybrexit @andrewPRlevi @alexhallhall @snellarthur

The people I follow write about policy flip-flops and govt weakness, incidents of proven lying and a wobbling economy, as if all these things mean that a reckoning is coming.

But Tory supporters are busy. Not building a defence but preparing for something more aggressive./2

They are trying to get Boris to withdraw his resignation.

They are pouring out hatred and bile about Sunak and Truss. /3

It’s buried among the usual stuff. Lots of racist tropes about immigrants, immigrant families, immigrant or ethnic minority crime, of course; the grooming gangs get a huge amount of traction, but they only talk about the Asian gangs, not the white ones. That’s not new. /4

And then theres #neverlabour, hatred for MSM, pictures of Thatcher, open sycophantic Boris worship. Bizarre, juvenile, overexuberant language for Boris. Not new either. /5

And there’s a general view that Labour are evil, Boris really is a saint, Brexit is being ruined by remainers, Labour are conniving to change all the rules to turn the UK into a woke state. /6

Then there’s hatred of the NHS: allegations staff are lazy, GPs are lazy, supposedly raking in massive pay whilst working part-time to concentrate on private work. Still, all familiar stuff. /7

What’s new is that there is a project underway, building a campaign to “save Boris so he can save our country” with a commensurate campaign of “disband the 1922!” and “sack traitor MPs”. The slogans are “we need to take back our democracy” and “democracy is under threat”. /8

The talk is of reinstatement of Johnson, emergency measures to fix the economy, save Brexit, dark reports of parly irregularities by the opposition, talk of suspension of elections and various political rights, and changes in Westminster to ensure Johnson stays in power. /9

Quite a few accounts are run by people alleging to be ex mil and women claiming to be retired nurses. They make a massive show of it in their bios. Some of them are fake accounts or bots, clearly having the desired effect, amping and nudging the discussion. /10

The tone is very similar to that of Trumpists. The level of hatred, assumption of victim status, and incoherence are disturbing.

In one way, Tories ripping themselves apart is a grand, pleasing sight. But I’m uneasy: about what I saw, and about the response I’m not seeing./11

I don’t think the average punter sees this as the Tories tearing themselves apart.

I think they see it as politicians tearing into each other by exposing that they have all been lying and failing all along.

It is undermining faith in institutions and democracy yet more. /12

I think Labour, by sitting back and failing to present an alternative narrative, are complicit by being too sanguine. Reminds me of the socialists and centrists in Weimar. /13

I think we really are heading for trouble, as others have (of course) predicted. But now the evidence is in. And those who could be trying to prevent disaster are not. /end

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…