Thread by @TaylorMatthewD

Excellent (& terrifying) reporting here from @AndyKroll & @mtredden about how Russ Vought, a far-right extremist former OMB director & likely 2nd Trump Admin cabinet member, is thinking about the agenda for Trump 2.0...

Hint: It's all aggression! 1/

propublica.org/article/video-…

Something we must all grasp heading into this election is how much Trump's lies about the 2020 election have become a new "lost cause" narrative, propagandizing & radicalizing many far-right actors to attack democracy in the name of defending the Constitution. 2/

In truth, our civic crisis today rests upon an even deeper & more far-reaching epistemic crisis -- a crisis in how we know what we know.

1/3 of Americans today believe Trump's 2020 lies, & that reality distortion field is warping their very citizenship & view of democracy. 3/

In their rhetoric & self-conception, the American project is being destroyed by "Marxism & communism" in the form of the illegitimate Biden Admin (they really believe this!), so dramatic action is needed to put the nation back on course.

They speak in existential terms. 4/

These "dramatic actions" to correct the course of American history include violently putting down protests, demoralizing government workers & decapitating government agencies, & giving Trump near-dictatorial power to realign the country around their agenda. 5/

When you truly buy into their mindset that the Biden Administration is illegitimate, fraudulent, & villainously out to destroy the country (& this has been stewing for 4 years now!), then almost any extreme action in this upcoming election can be justified. 6/

They are willing to tear down the very foundations of our democracy (basic vote-counting, the rule of law, inter-party comity & compromise, individual rights, & checks & balances) while self-righteously believing this is an intervention to save the country. 7/

If -- Inshallah -- we can get through this election cycle & still have our democracy in tact, we will still need to deal with that epistemic crisis, because it is a poison pill that will continue to degrade civil society through distrust, delegitimization, & fact-free dissent. 8/