Politics

Georgia’s ‘Jim Crow’ voter suppression bill is now law. Here’s how Democrats can fight back.

My latest Op-Ed for NBC News is here on the NBC site, or you can read it here: If your policies are unpopular with most voters, and if your party narrowly lost an election because of a voter surge, and if your own party’s demographics are shrinking, what do you do? Do you change your …

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Outrage

I’ll start with how and why right-wing extremists outrage their own people. Keeping their own people outraged is a fascist strategy. Yale professor Timothy Snyder calls it Sadopopulism. The formula works like this: Modern fascists leaders need to hurt their own constituents. You can’t have a white grievance party if the constituents are not grieving. …

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The High Road

This is the kind of thing people say to me often on Twitter: Fact: Republicans use hardball tactics. Remember when Mitch McConnell, then-Senate Majority Leder, refused to consider Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court because it was March in an election year. But when Trump was president, he jammed a Supreme Court appointment through in …

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Hold on to Your Ideals

A few days ago, I wrote about cynicism. Now it seems like it’s running rampant on left-leaning social media. When I try to comment on the ongoing litigation and investigations into Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, people (in droves) assure me that the criminal justice system is “broken,” and rich people escape …

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Lies, Liars, and the Capitol Riots

Are you annoyed by all those lying liars—including U.S. Senators—who are still spreading the lie about the election being stolen? Yeah, me, too. Well, lying and presenting myths as a way to solidify power goes all the way back to the ancient world. Take the Behistun Inscription. In huge lettering on the side of a …

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Entertain Them and Keep them Cold

Professor Brian Klaas observed the following: This is precisely what Yale Professor Timothy Snyder calls “governing by crisis and spectacle.” The purpose of a fascist government is to maintain order, which means keeping the ruling oligarchs rich and everyone else poor. This raises a problem for fascist leaders. How do they keep their constituents happy …

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A New Lawsuit Against Trump and Pals

First, some news about a lawsuit, and then I’ll answer some questions. The N.A.A.C.P. filed a new lawsuit against Trump, Giuliani, the Proud Boys, and Oathkeepers on behalf of Rep. Bennie Thompson. The complaint is here. He accuses Defendants of violating the KKK act, which outlaws (among other things) preventing an official from discharging duties. …

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It wasn’t a technicality

I understand why people are saying that Trump got off on a technicality. The idea is to emphasize that most of the Senators who voted to acquit Trump did so even though they thought he was guilty. To be precise, it was a made-up technicality. The “jurisdictional” problem the Republican Senators found was not one …

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