I woke up furious at the flag incident. It’s serious enough by itself. A Supreme Court justice flew a coup flag outside of his home.

But my anger isn’t just about that. It’s at the brazen hypocrisy of the Right & the fact that they’ve been getting away w/ it for YEARS. 1/🧵 For a long time, we’ve heard that conservatives are the patriotic ones. That they’re the ones who believe in the Constitution. That they’re the ones who respect the police and the military. That they’re the ones who are strong on national security.

This is all a lie...2/

USAID would not be delivering aid to Gaza if Trump were president. If Trump were president, the humanitarian situation would be worse. The far right government in Israel would be more emboldened. Trump would make an already terrible situation A LOT worse.

https://twitter.com/centcom/status/1791969632410075406

You can look at the situation in Gaza and blame Biden. But that is really unfair. Bibi isn’t going to stop this war because he needs this war to stay in power and stay out of jail.

People vastly overestimate the leverage the United States has under those circumstances. And …2/

The rest of the country needs to seize back the mantle of patriotism from the Right. This charade has gone on long enough.

It should never been with the Right to begin with. And anyway, loving America isn’t about reflexive worship of its symbols. It’s about working to…1/🧵

https://twitter.com/shannonbream/status/1791485016884588918

…make it better. It’s about making sure it lives up to its values. It’s about making sure the American dream is a reality for ALL Americans.

There are many conservatives of good faith but as a movement, no one could possibly contend it is a patriotic movement at this point… 2/

Thinking about the day the 2024 election is called for Biden. We’re all gonna dance in the streets like last time. Singing and laughing and hugging. We’ll party into the night.

It will be one of the greatest feelings of relief we’ve EVER experienced. Like our country has…1/🧵 …been given a new lease on life.

We’ll know the threat of Trump is gone forever, while also understanding there’s a lot of work left to do. Trump won’t ever again be president but his movement won’t be dead. Even still, that will be for another day.

On this day… 2/

As much as Trump winning scares me, and as awful as it would be, I believe it is something we could get through TOGETHER.

But what I’m truly concerned about is that if he wins, many of us will lose our will to keep fighting for our country.

As someone with a young family… 1/🧵 …the idea of a generation of authoritarianism, of DECADES of increasingly corrupt and violent rule, w/ rampant antisemitism, where my children are in danger, is difficult for me to accept. I know I could deal with that. And frankly, my kids would adapt. It’s what most people…2/

Can you imagine if Trump were president right now? Zelenskyy would be dead. Russia would have its sights set on Poland.

Jared Kushner, Secretary of State, would be thinking through how to capitalize on Gaza’s waterfront property.

Student protests would have been…1/🧵 …violently put down in red states by national guard emboldened by Trump. Many students have been injured and even killed.

In response, protests have erupted across the country. The vast majority are peaceful, but Trump uses them as an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act. 2/

I’m sure a lot of people don’t understand why the Holocaust still looms so large for Jews, nearly 80 years after it happened.

Well, the world Jewish population STILL hasn’t recovered from the Holocaust. Two out of ever three European Jews were killed by the Nazis…1/ …And this was often with the help of the local populations in countries throughout Europe. The Holocaust can be viewed as a consequence of Jew hatred that had existed over hundreds and hundreds of years.

Where do you think this Jew hatred went? It didn’t go away… 2/

Seeing a lot of right-wingers awfully upset about antisemitism at the moment who didn’t seem to be nearly as bothered by “very fine people on both sides”, the normalization of the Great Replacement theory, the proliferation of QAnon… 1/🧵 …George Soros memes, Trump trafficking in dual loyalty tropes, Trump calling Israel “your country” to American Jews, Trump threatening American Jews: “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — Before it is too late!” … 2/

Driving through DC at night is beautiful. The Capitol and Washington Monument are majestic. The Lincoln Memorial. The Kennedy Center. The Potomac River. So much history. So grand. So much greatness and promise.

And then I think what it will feel like if Trump wins. 1/🧵 However if felt the first time around will feel ten times worse. It will feel like our values and ideals reflected in those epic buildings and grand architecture have been a lie. That America’s narrative of freedom, complicated as it is, was all just myth. 2/

I love the Federalist Papers. But you know who REALLY loves the Federalist Papers? The right-wing legal movement. They cite them constantly in their briefs.

That’s strange though. Because the Federalist Papers are very clear the president is NOT a King. I mean check out #69.👇 “The President of the United States would be an officer elected by the people for FOUR years; the king of Great Britain is a perpetual and HEREDITARY prince. The one would be amenable to personal punishment and disgrace; the person of the other is sacred & inviolable.” 👇

Patriotism has often provided a lot of people with meaning and purpose. But young people, who grew up with Iraq and Afghanistan, with the financial crisis, with Trump, I can understand why that is difficult for them. They are too far separated from a lot of the great things…1/ …America has done. And WAY too far separated from events like WWII, or even the moon landing, that have a sort of mythical and profound spiritual importance to people, even to people like me who didn’t live through them.

I think this probably explains some of the apathy…2/

Please think about your fellow citizens who are Jewish this Passover. Some thoughts:

Every one of us is endangered by authoritarianism in America, which, in my opinion, is the most serious threat to Jews in this country, and the most dangerous to democracy. Meanwhile...🧵 …antisemitism on the far left has exploded. For many progressive and liberal Jews, this has been particularly alarming because some of our purported allies clearly are not. Many of my fellow Jews feel betrayed.

What’s clear is, Jews in America are taking it from all sides...2/

I don’t want to make too much of this, particularly because Johnson hasn’t denounced MAGA. Not even close. But if Trump wins, one way we could save our democracy is if the same Republicans who enabled Trump’s rise find the courage to stand up to him... 1/🧵

https://twitter.com/sbg1/status/1781297863768633523

I know that’s not satisfactory to some. But some things are so important that “who was right first” matters far less than “who is in the right now.”

In my opinion, how we can get people to come into the right and into the light is something that should always be on our mind. 2/

These are serious times, and they call for serious leaders. Leaders who will defend our interests and protect our allies. Leaders who are on the side of democratic nations, who oppose dictators rather than those who are both intimidated and infatuated by them. 1/🧵 There are a lot of people who will point to this attack on Israel and blame Biden. “It happened on his watch,” they’ll say. “It happened because Biden is weak and Trump is strong.”

These are the same people who blame Biden for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is nonsense. 2/

Will you look back at this period with regret because you didn’t do more to fight for democracy and for YOUR COUNTRY? Will you hide behind excuses that you’re only one person, so what can you do? Or will you channel all your fear and anger and dread into ACTION? Into HOPE? 1/🧵 Each of us can be a hero in this story. Each of us can lift up the people in our lives to make a huge difference. Each of us can rise to this moment like the Greatest Generation did to fight for what’s right.

And unlike them, we don’t have to actually fight or risk our lives. 2/

It’s important to reflect on where we started and where we are.

We started with Trump entering politics pushing Birtherism, the racist lie that Obama wasn’t a legitimate president.

When he ran in 2016, he ran on a platform of “locking up” his opponent… 1/ 🧵 Now, it’s 2024, and we’re at a point where Trump is threatening the life of his opponent, the current president. And of course, don’t forget January 6th, when he sicced a mob on his Vice President and the entire Congress.

So in other words … 2/

Everyone should read this @NewYorker article about Timothy Ryback’s book entitled, Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power.🧵 newyorker.com/magazine/2024/… I mean, we’ve all heard the comparisons between then and now. Demagogues who divide based on hate and fear. Leaders who try and seize power illegally. The establishment refusing to take the threat seriously until it is too late. I’ve written on another dynamic before BUT … 2/

https://twitter.com/danielmilleresq/status/1743468254440358066

You know who else purged the civil service: Orbán, Erdoğan, Chávez, Milosevic, Ayatollah Khomeini, Pinochet.. There was also this guy in Germany in 1933 who purged the civil service months after taking power. Follow @DemocracyFwd as they break down #Project2025's extremist plans.

https://twitter.com/DemocracyFwd/status/1768390092106957121

“Civil servants were fired en masse, and Fidesz allies were installed in vital roles, like election supervision. Hungary’s state broadcaster was brought under the control of a new media board — and its editorial slant began to mirror Fidesz’s positions.” 2/vox.com/policy-and-pol…

My favorite law school professor would conclude his lectures with stories that would beautifully encapsulate everything we had just learned. At the end of our last class, he told us a short, powerful story that’s stayed with me ever since.🧵

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1767625524279378085

I’m paraphrasing and condensing and it’s been more than 10 years… but in his customarily mild mannered way, he went over what he taught us that semester…2/

Trump winning could be a death blow to our democracy. Here are ten things you can do RIGHT NOW to make sure that doesn’t happen.

#1. If you’re in a swing state, organize a civics group to talk about the importance of maintaining our democracy...🧵 Invite people from across the political spectrum. Don’t make it partisan. Democracy is NOT partisan. There are many platforms that can help you do this (i.e. Meetup) and if you need any advice, feel free to reach out to me as I’ve done this before. 🧵

It’s tempting to abandon MAGA voters. But we cannot. One reason is simply out of self interest. However delusional you think MAGA is, it can get A LOT worse. You don’t want your fellow citizens going to even darker places. That’s how truly evil things happen.🧵 This isn’t just about winning elections, although that’s a big part of this. How tenable is it long term to keep winning elections by tens of thousands of votes in a handful of states?

Now, you might not think you can’t do anything about this. But I disagree. 2/