[View here as a Twitter thread]
1/ Let’s consider where the US is right now. An opinion piece in today’s WaPo concludes that “Washington feels like the capital of a state where the legal order has collapsed because, in some ways, it is.”
2/ Surely many of us have the uncomfortable feeling that Trump is succeeding in breaking down Rule of Law. Chaos, lurching from one crisis to another, flooding the zone so that nobody can sort out what’s happening is exactly how fascists take over.
3/The method: Tell outrageous lies & keep changing the story, sometimes in the same conversation. The purpose is to undermine factuality. From @jasonintrator “as common understanding of reality crumbles, fascist politics makes room for dangerous and false ideas. . ..”
4/ While the old order is breaking down and the new Cult of Leadership is arising, what people experience is chaos and confusion. They’re astonished at the “insanity” of the fascist leader and are persuaded he’s about to be carted off to a looney bin. (Paxton)
5/ Trump’s actual behavior described in the anonymous NYT Op Ed piece was of “veering meetings off the rails” and “engaging in repetitive rants” and being impulsive and reckless. It’s obvious these are not the qualities we want in the president of a representative democracy.
6/ But this behavior is exactly the way I expect a tyrant to behave. HE controls meetings. He does whatever HE wants. People better be scared because what if he has a rant about YOU? Perhaps the “dysfunction” and “chaos” in the White House is like any disruption.
7/ Now back to the question: Can Trump be incompetent AND successfully bring about a fascist takeover? One answer I’ve heard is: “Yes. Someone else is pulling the strings.” This doesn’t make sense to me. If he’s reckless and impulsive, how can someone pull his strings?
8/ Another explanation I’ve heard is that he’s a natural. All he has to do is be Trump. Rule of Law will crumble and he will emerge as the head of a leadership cult. This one doesn’t make sense to me either. I don’t think dictators blunder into a dictatorship.
9/ If what you WANT Trump to do is disrupt the government, sweep away Rule of Law, and bring us in line with Putin’s Russia, Trump doesn’t look crazy at all. He looks competent. (And yes, there are MANY people who want Trump to do just that twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield… )
10/ Perhaps the entire question of Trump’s mental state is a distraction. Perhaps the narrative that “Tump is melting down and self destructing” contains some confirmation bias. One definition of confirmation bias:
11/ I suggest that we have the best chance of defeating the current fascist uprising in America if we recognize it for what it is. For more about our current constitutional crisis and how to get out of this mess, see my thread from yesterday:
