Of course this isn’t going to magically change everything. Everyone knows that. The bishop knows that. But she asked herself: What is it I can do in this moment? And then took a stand - demonstrating to the nation that this is indeed a choice we can make, whatever form that may take individually.
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What makes this so striking is that we almost never see it. She confronted Trump directly - made him sit there and listen.
Cynicism is not “savvy.” The idea that nothing matters anymore and all is lost is self-defeating. And it’s the easy way out. This is harder: Figuring out ways to push back.
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This matters. Not because I think Trump is capable of mercy or empathy towards these vulnerable groups. But because it is a public act of defiance.
Contrast that with all these other powerful people in this country signaling nothing but appeasement and obedience.
https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/DFGSwX8ABqa
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Wrote this shortly before the election, as Donald Trump’s closing pitch was to aggressively promise rage, intimidation, and vengeful violence.
Seems appropriate to post it again today.
Donald Trump, American Fascist:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist
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“He’s just exuberantly greeting the people!” Yes. He is exuberantly greeting the people by doing the Nazi salute.
“Are you suggesting he’s a Nazi?!” He is a powerful tech-right extremist with a long track record of buying into/spreading racist, white supremacist conspiracies doing the Nazi salute.
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Elon Musk doing the Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration rally. Did it twice, actually.
Don’t waste time arguing with the people telling us that’s not what happened. They’re not mistaken, they are engaged in propaganda.
Faced with authoritarianism in power, it is crucial we trust our own eyes.
https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/DFD2ArHA080
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Uncertainty lies ahead.
The self-defeating “Everything is lost!” camp is as misguided as the “It will be fine!” pundits are willfully ignorant.
An attempt to think through what is - and what is not - different than in 2017, just as the Trumpists are taking power:
https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/113855444274490692
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Just as Trump’s “victory rally” is about to begin, and America’s authoritarian movement celebrates its impending return to power - some thoughts on how to calibrate our expectations for what is to come in this profoundly uncertain moment:
https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/113855444274490692
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This is such a weird moment. Just hours away from a regime with staunchly authoritarian desires taking power - but also trying to handle the responsibilities of everyday life. A strange mixture of normalcy and emergency.
I constantly feel like I’m either over- or underreacting.
https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/113855444274490692
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Don’t believe for a second the Trumpists will be able to implement everything they have planned or desire to do exactly as they wish. It’s self-defeating. Politics isn’t over.
But they will be operating under conditions that are vastly more favorable to their authoritarian cause.
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Finally, I’d be a lot more optimistic if the nominal opposition party and the institutions ostensibly tasked with defending democratic self-government hadn’t so clearly signaled since the election that they are not in the mood or not able to oppose - instead opting for accommodation and acquiescence.
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Three: All forms of resistance, regardless of where it emanates or what form it might take, will encounter an unprecedented threat of political violence - condoned and endorsed by all strands of the Right from Trump on down, intended to intimidate anyone who dares to dissent.
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Two: Trump was also hampered by resistance from within the Republican Party and the conservative movement. But dissenters have largely been ostracized. The Trumpist regime will be able to count on a fully Trumpified party and rightwing machinery of think tanks and activists.
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One: The courts played a key role in opposing the radical Right. But Trump can now count on a hard-right 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. A game changer. And we have never even seen this Court operate with a Republican trifecta - nor a Trumpist regime under conditions of guaranteed immunity.
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Most importantly, the circumstances have changed. Many of the factors that inhibited the extreme Right during the first Trump presidency are no longer present; guardrails that kept the more extreme rightwing factions in check after 2017 have been vastly weakened or destroyed entirely.
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Trump himself and the rightwing forces around him have radicalized significantly over the past fifteen years. He wants revenge, they desire a comprehensive “counter-revolution” – all of them are convinced they were far too timid the first time around. A “mistake” they are unlikely to make again.
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If the recent trajectory of the Right is any indication, every crisis situation only heightens the sense of being under siege that’s animating so much of what is happening on the Right, legitimizing calls to hit harder, more aggressively. There’s always permission to escalate, hardly ever to pull back.
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The existence of elaborate plans doesn’t mean there won’t be unforced errors or tremendous chaos. But that is not the same as moderation. Chaos can also accelerate the harm. And in authoritarian movements, frustration and chaos are at least as likely to lead to further radicalization.
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I do not find the idea plausible that the regime will simply implement the plans outlined in Project 2025. Then again, the fact that the rightwing machinery of think tanks, lobbying groups, and reactionary intellectuals had years to fully mobilize does make the situation markedly different from Trump One.
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Will the Trump regime’s malevolence yet again be tempered by its rank incompetence? Trump is still erratic and lazy. Many of his nominees are manifestly unqualified. But they are also willing executioners of MAGA extremism - and they will have more competence and preparation around them than in 2016/17.
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