1/3. The thing Trump did in Dayton – celebrating his fascist movement's dubious "martyrs" – is exactly what Goebbels and Hitler did between the Nazis' failed coup and their seizure of power. Their song was called the Horst Wessel Song.
2/3. The Nazis were obsessive about being the victims. Once in power they put up monuments to their "martyrs." They sang their Horst Wessel Song as they conquered countries and killed millions to say that they, the Nazis, were the real victims and therefore always innocent.
3/3. Trump's claim that his people are hostages and political prisoners is meant to justify endless revenge on whomever he wishes as soon as he is in power. That is how this martyrdom thing works. We know it from the history of fascism.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1/10. Can a constitution defend itself? Germans have asked this question, and given an answer. So, for that matter, have Americans.
2/10. In the histories of both Germany and the United States, today the world's most important democracies, there came a moment when a minority, willing to use violence, sought to break the constitutional order.
3/10. In both cases this led to horrifying levels of killing, and only then a restoration (Germany) or elevation (the United States) of constitutionalism.
1/10. I am concerned that the Supreme Court, in ruling on Trump's eligibility for office, will make itself ridiculous.
2/10. This is where the comic potential emerges. This Court is unlikely ever to hear again a case of such simplicity, in which the text and context of the Constitution so obviously demand an unambiguous verdict
3/10. But three of our textualists and the intentionalists were appointed by Trump, and silliness seems to be the general expectation. The theory of Trump's lawyers, as one of them has actually said out loud, is that Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump belong to Trump.
1/6. If we ignore the Constitution now, it will not protect our rights later. We are ignoring it now, because we are afraid.
2/6. How did it come to this? An insurrectionist, Donald Trump, purports to be running for president, although the Constitution forbids this.
3/6. Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment frankly disqualifies anyone who has taken part in an insurrection, or given aid and comfort to insurrectionists. Trump has done both, and boasts of having done both.