I'm truly stuck on that question, and the related question of "Do we really think this could ever happen?" I don't know. All I can say is, I think it can
I think we will get (more) concentration camps if some people in the administration are allowed carte blanche. They are testing, testing, testing on every front right now.
Yes, because ultimately reality is the only argumemt and weapon we have. A very large chunk of the American population does not like or understand politics and the federal government. They need to be repeatedly told what Trump's administration is doing is illegal, cruel, and stupid. Right now most of what is going on is theoretical to them, unless they have a trans kid, work for USAID, or know any "illegals". But once the cabinet is in place and get in gear, they are going to start breakimg things, and it will directly affecy more and more Americans every day. They need to be repeatedly told who is responsible and why. Some ofmthem will listen, maybe enough to flip Congress in 2026. Congress has a lot of power to,stop this if they're willing to use it. Everything else is mitigation and delay until then.
The power and velocity of lying and sheer noise that comes out of the oval office sure makes it hard to make citizens aware of what a given order actually means to them. It's not like, say, Elizabeth Warren can just go stand on a platform and explain what this or that will do to car prices, or credit card interest, for example.
Adjacent to "make sure we screw the blame in tight" is "make sure we get credit for the good stuff." There are still a lot of bridges all over the country that say WPA on them, and absolutely everybody must have known by 1938 that WPA = FDR. The only way to get more bridges was to vote for more Democrats. How do we similarly brand new WiFi infrastructure or cancer research that Democrats made happen? How do we make sure people see these facts every time they drive to ma's house?
Yeah, you're getting into the hall of mirrors world that is "messaging". Making citizens "aware" is a much heavier lift than it should be, but this is our world. One thing the guys who get paid to do that are right about is that messages need to be clear and simple, but what is clear and simple to an audience who has no idea what you're talking about, when they don't believe you are lying to them?
The Republican answer, starting with Nixon, was to focus on a message of fear and resentment, positioning themselves as protectors of the audience they identified. It worked well enough, they rode a seesaw of power with Democrats for decades, serving their natural base of Capital while posing as fighting the Civil Rights Act and Communism. But the pose took over the Party, which is now a revolutionary party, thanks to Trump.
This puts the Democratic party in a very uncomfortable position, especially the older leaders of the party. They are being dragged into a much more radical position than they'd like to hold, but thanks to the uproar from their base they're beginning to realize they have no choice. So they're stumbling toward a message of resistance and an existential fight for democracy, mostly unprepared. Yeah, its been obvious for a while, but Jan 21 is when shit finally got real and "reaching across the aisle" became a suicide note. Messaging in this environment needs to be real clear and real simple. We'll see how they do.
Should we even bother calling this out? Nobody sane wants these things to happen anyway. And nobody who wants them to happen will believe us.
I'm truly stuck on that question, and the related question of "Do we really think this could ever happen?" I don't know. All I can say is, I think it can
My point was only --if there are Potemkin atrocities--maybe it is not the issue. That they are Potemkin atrocities.
I think we will get (more) concentration camps if some people in the administration are allowed carte blanche. They are testing, testing, testing on every front right now.
They want it, and are planning furiously.
Yes, because ultimately reality is the only argumemt and weapon we have. A very large chunk of the American population does not like or understand politics and the federal government. They need to be repeatedly told what Trump's administration is doing is illegal, cruel, and stupid. Right now most of what is going on is theoretical to them, unless they have a trans kid, work for USAID, or know any "illegals". But once the cabinet is in place and get in gear, they are going to start breakimg things, and it will directly affecy more and more Americans every day. They need to be repeatedly told who is responsible and why. Some ofmthem will listen, maybe enough to flip Congress in 2026. Congress has a lot of power to,stop this if they're willing to use it. Everything else is mitigation and delay until then.
The power and velocity of lying and sheer noise that comes out of the oval office sure makes it hard to make citizens aware of what a given order actually means to them. It's not like, say, Elizabeth Warren can just go stand on a platform and explain what this or that will do to car prices, or credit card interest, for example.
Adjacent to "make sure we screw the blame in tight" is "make sure we get credit for the good stuff." There are still a lot of bridges all over the country that say WPA on them, and absolutely everybody must have known by 1938 that WPA = FDR. The only way to get more bridges was to vote for more Democrats. How do we similarly brand new WiFi infrastructure or cancer research that Democrats made happen? How do we make sure people see these facts every time they drive to ma's house?
Yeah, you're getting into the hall of mirrors world that is "messaging". Making citizens "aware" is a much heavier lift than it should be, but this is our world. One thing the guys who get paid to do that are right about is that messages need to be clear and simple, but what is clear and simple to an audience who has no idea what you're talking about, when they don't believe you are lying to them?
The Republican answer, starting with Nixon, was to focus on a message of fear and resentment, positioning themselves as protectors of the audience they identified. It worked well enough, they rode a seesaw of power with Democrats for decades, serving their natural base of Capital while posing as fighting the Civil Rights Act and Communism. But the pose took over the Party, which is now a revolutionary party, thanks to Trump.
This puts the Democratic party in a very uncomfortable position, especially the older leaders of the party. They are being dragged into a much more radical position than they'd like to hold, but thanks to the uproar from their base they're beginning to realize they have no choice. So they're stumbling toward a message of resistance and an existential fight for democracy, mostly unprepared. Yeah, its been obvious for a while, but Jan 21 is when shit finally got real and "reaching across the aisle" became a suicide note. Messaging in this environment needs to be real clear and real simple. We'll see how they do.