1/ A common human experience is to be led astray by our heart. Sometimes, that occurs through fear with a suitor that knows just how to manipulate and exploit us. Indeed, it can happen to the best of us. We feel alone and on the outside. And then (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ someone comes along who says only I understand your pain. They have charisma and attitude. And they seduce you, make promises and take every cent you got. When friends and family try to intervene, it seems as if they're judging you and act superior. So you dig in harder (Cont)
3/ even as you're finally entertaining doubts privately. Eventually, such people who were manipulated can turn vindictive. Mussolini found that out the hard way when he was hung upside down with his mistress. This, of course, is what happens to those recruited to join (Cont)
4/ cults. Cults often combine a false messiah or prophet with a depraved ideology used to justify crimes such as theft, rape and even murder and the art of seduction itself. Being seduced into a cult is actually not that different than being pulled into a toxic abusive (Cont)
5/ relationship. When it happens privately, the damage is more localized. When it occurs on a national scale, the damage can be genocidal oppression as occurred with Hitler and Stalin. Republicans have been exploiting the cultist appeal of depraved Christian nationalism (Cont)
6/ for decades. Under Reagan, it had a smiling face as he stole from the working class and murdered nuns in Central America. George W. Bush leveraged the cult to enrich GOP apparatchiks and plutocrats while lying America into war. Trump's minions, such as Roger Stone and (Cont)
7/ Steve Bannon has weaponized MAGA into an unholy alliance with what I call Fascism Inc. But as MAGA itself is imploding, many of their toxic mediocore empty suit mouthpieces such as Lindsey Graham are terrified of being executed by a vengeful mob as what occurred to (Cont)
8/ Mussolini or Ghadaffi. They're in too deep to save themselves. But we must with stubborn loving persistence not give up on our friends, family, and neighbors ensnared in the MAGA cult. Simply put, the only way to save America is to not give up on them. It's a tall order (Cont)
9/ I know. These folks can get defensive and cite all kinds of cultist falsehoods to justify their sense of belonging with an evil criminal underworld of traitors, child marriage enthusiasts, and white supremacists. America's "Greatest Generation" had D Day. This task is ours.
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1/ These four freedoms represent core sacrosanct Democratic Party values:
➡️Freedom of Speech
➡️Freedom to Worship or Not
➡️Freedom from Want
➡️Freedom from Fear
They were articulated by FDR on 1/6/41. Forty-One years later to the day, Trump incited (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ an insurrection because these four freedoms are obstacles to his seizing absolute power. Simply put Democrats are fighting for these freedoms to be universal regardless of race, creed, religion, class, or who you love. Republicans are exploiting every lever of power (Cont)
3/ they have to take those four freedoms away. Lesson for all of us is that these freedoms should NEVER be taken for granted. As long as Republicans or any party are dominated by malevolence and sadism, ALL of our freedoms are in danger. If you value a society based upon (Cont)
1/ Most of us prefer a community ethos in which we enjoy freedom and collectively live up to our responsibilities as citizens. That will never be achieved unless our economy works for all and laws apply equally to everyone. That's why Joe Biden (Cont) #ResistanceUnited #ONEV1
2/ and the Democratic Party zealously pursues economic and social justice. Simply put, we're not interested in getting even, nor do we desire revenge. Rather Democrats are the party that wants EVERYONE to get ahead. Anyone can thrive in a society that promotes freedom AND (Cont)
3/ responsibility. Naturally, grifters and toxic mediocore beneficiaries of institutionalized price gouging monopolies want you to believe rules, civic character, and true patriotism are for suckers They want you to accept that prosperity must ALWAYS be a zero-sum game as (Cont)
1/ Reconciliation and a just lasting peace, whether between nations or a divided country, requires both grace and toughness. Perhaps no leader understood this better than Abraham Lincoln. In 1865, Lincoln ended his 2nd inaugural with famous words (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ words:
that included, "With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up all the nation's wounds ..."
Lincoln was also tough and ready to hold traitors (Cont)
3/ accountable. But he also knew that unless our wounds were bound, both black and white would be worse off. Blacks, of course, would be victims of white supremacist violence and institutional racism. And many whites would suffer as the wealthy exploited racism as a means (Cont)
1/This George Orwell quote from 1984 defines the GOP:
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or happiness: only power, pure power. (Cont) #ResistanceUnited #ONEV1
2/We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it."
Orwell's quote is the GOP's true mission. Only difference between Republicans and Orwell's 1984 party is that they're also devoted to redistributing wealth from wage earners to their elites. (Cont)
3/And if Republicans prevail in 2024, they WILL NOT relinquish power in most of our lifetimes. Given that reality, merely voting yourself is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. We must all become force multipliers for democracy. Engage, persuade, and mobilize as many friends, family, and (Cont)
1/ Fellow resisters, up to January 20, 2025, events are going to test us. Let's stay calm, always act with courageous integrity, and remain persistently vigilant. We should not overreact with irrational exuberance to good news until our democracy (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ is secured. Likewise, we should not reflexively assume the worst with every setback. Jack Smith's case from what we know is strong. And judge Aileen Cannon being assigned to it might actually work to our country's advantage. It's not so easy to "fix" a strong case like (Cont)
3/ Smith has with the whole world watching. Meanwhile, Trump/Putin Republicans won't be able to whine about the DC venue or an Obama appointed judge. Either way, we must NOT sit back and wait for multiple prosecutions to save us. Rather, we must continue to resist GOP (Cont)
1/ At Thanksgiving in 2019, I warned my cousin that if defeated, Trump and his supporters would react as Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party did to his capture and trial in 2003. Just as there was no way Hussein and his core Sunni supporters would (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ ever let its majority Shia population peacefully move on without him, Trump and his MAGA cultists would be ready to wage civil war. And we damn near had one. Trump's assclowns nearly pulled it off. Suppose Trump had succeeded on January 6th? Could you have just (Cont)
3/ accepted his coup and moved o with your life as if nothing had happened? Contrary to our pacifist image, millions of America's silent majority would've risen up against Trump's GOP MAGA Baathists and their AR-15s. Trump and his armed cultists would've, in turn, pursued (Cont)