Thread by @equalityAlec

THREAD. In Trump's speech to an unprecedented gathering of generals, he announced he was preparing to order them to use U.S. "cities as training grounds for our military." I want to highlight a few other bone chilling statements and put them into context that media obscures.

First, although it didn't get as much coverage, Trump also said the U.S. is facing "a war from within" against "the enemy from within." This essentially declared to military leaders--who Hegseth had just essentially told he would be purging of disloyalty--a new civil war.

Second, Trump specifically added that this "war" was something the "people in this room" (i.e. military generals) would "straighten out" in domestic deployments to cities run by Democrats "one by one." He added: "inner cities" are "a big part of war now. It’s a big part of war."

The pretext for this is supposedly crime. As I've noted, the levels of government-recorded crime tracked by police/FBI are at historic lows. The narrative is entirely false, and no serious person thinks that Trump's actions result from a passion for safety, law, and liberty.

This declaration of an intent to pursue what amounts to a civil war comes on the heels of alarming developments too numerous to name, including, just to name a tiny selection:

In these remarks to generals, Trump also referenced his attempt to create a new army of vigilante Brownshirts.

https://x.com/equalityAlec/status/1960115790071660815

It is in THIS context that leading Democrats, pundits, and the most "respected" liberal news organizations--PBS, NYT, NPR, MSNBC--are fomenting absurd "flat earther" misinformation about "crime." Unless these institutions change fast, we are in grave trouble as a society.

Over several months and years, I've identified numerous false, misleading, and embarrassing statements by Democrats and news outlets. Two themes are: 1) accepting as accurate/good faith Trump's statements about "crime"; 2) validating that repression is the best response.

Each of these two themes is like climate science denial. Focusing on police-reported crime is a mistake if you truly care about all forms of violence and safety, but even that narrow range Trump is focusing on is DOWN to historic lows.

https://x.com/equalityAlec/status/1971273391157150108

Also, overwhelming scientific evidence shows that more surveillance, armed government agents, and imprisonment is not an effective way to address such violence. Every single news report should hammer these points, not validate the contrary misinformation.

There is a scientific consensus that levels of interpersonal harm in a society are determined by levels of inequality/poverty and things like early child-hood education, access to healthcare/housing, isolation/loneliness, community institutions, culture/demographics, etc.

In Copaganda, I showed how silly/unstrategic conventional liberal wisdom on crime is. Polls last week confirmed it: there's big support across political spectrum to invest in safety thru education, health, housing, community institutions, etc. + reduce punishment bureaucracy.

Every poll I've seen that asks the question shows support to reduce spending on punishment bureaucracy in favor of these investments. It's popular. (And polls themselves are skewed b/c only people with $$ purchase them, design the questions, and choose what context is given.)

Instead we get story after story of Democratic politicians and pundits essentially saying: everything Trump says is true, he's SO right! But the difference with *us* is that we just want to be the ones who control the apparatus of government repression:

If you validate your opponent's mythologies but promise to be slightly less good at making frightened people feel better than your opponent, you will lose. Any everything, including the possibility of living, is lost.

We don't have much time left. Everyone within these institutions has to put aside their defensiveness and accept responsibility. Center your heart with the most vulnerable and your mind on the truth, and then relentlessly speak that truth before it's too late.