Thread by @gauravsabnis

Given the crucial role Twitter plays in elections, this hasty rollout of the "pay $8 and get a blue tick" scheme seems very much like what a partly Saudi partly white nationalist China-supporting company would do to further create chaos during US elections.

I don't think it will work. A lot of early and mail balloting has happened already, at levels higher than 2020 or even 2018 when there was a 9-point #BlueWave the media ignored until well after the votes were counted.

This chaos will hurt the same day voting loving GOP more.

A blue wave is no bueno for mass media, esp TV media. Last 100 years, whenever progressives sweep into power, they get down to boring wonky shit like Medicare or healthcare or infrastructure or education or some such yawn stuff that's good for the country but not good TV.

Cable news saw a sharp decline after Obama took office, cos he got down to dour boring business of healthcare and cleverly kept wars going without a lot more US casualties, neither of which makes for compelling prime time news for those not political junkies.

It's not like all media bosses came together and decided to undermine Obama or promote kooks, like in the prescient movie The Network.

But with ratings dropping, they chased lurid stuff like tea party, "death panels", latest Palin rants, and of course, Trump's birtherism.

And that moved the GOP farther into the loony fringe, taking positions against George W. Bush openly! And going very much racist in attacks against a black president.

In chasing eyeballs and clicks, the media kept dividing the country. Cos polarization is good for ratings.

Same thing is happening with Biden, Schumer, Pelosi.

They have, objectively, gotten a lot done in 2 years considering the hand they were dealt. But it's a lot of boring shit that's good for the country so people watch sports or entertainment & news revenue drops.

And ad revenue starts going up for those who chase sensational stuff. Like that orange clown from NYC who until recently praised Obama to the skies suddenly saying Obama isn't even American? Outrageous!! Also, very watchable TV, the endless arguments with Trump over it.

My concern is less with what happens in the election and more on what happens after. MAGAland is already prepared for a bunch of election denial schemes if they lose.

Inflicting a bigger attack on the USA than pearl harbor, 9/11 combined, cos our elections are pretty solid!

Like really, seriously, US elections are an amazing hive being that cannot really be tampered with at the ballot box. They do a lot of tampering with gerrymandering & ID laws, but the actual conduct of US elections is remarkably historically solid, built over 200 years.

If you were an enemy of America, the BIGGEST lasting attack you can make is to destroy the credibility of its elections in its own eyes. Which is like getting Rafael Nadal to start thinking he is bad at tennis. It's batshit insane brainwashing.