Discussion
Weekend reading: A threat assessment before the midterms
All three parts of my deep dive into the political situation in the United States right before the election are out.
More than 13,000 words on where we stand in the struggle between authoritarian escalation and democratic resilience:
Some thoughts:
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https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/ce368414-634e-4401-a48e-07af9585c025
For many months, the Trumpists have tried to take control of the election, to manipulate their way to victory by imposing new rules that would have disenfranchised millions and thrown the entire process into chaos.
But their major schemes to subvert the midterms have so far failed.
That is why their focus has turned to intimidation efforts on election day – and especially on overturning the results afterwards, in the two months between November 3 and January 3, when the new Congress will come together.
That’s what I discuss in Part II:
https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/1ebfca62-2ac4-4cd7-be24-1e888437c208
I believe the key is to consider the necessary scale of these efforts and remember how many people would have to go along with a scheme that would expose everyone involved to great personal risk but is unlikely to succeed in the face of hardening public resistance.
@tzimmer_history This is the real reason that the coup will most likely fail. Certainly there are the dead-enders, like Blanche, who are fully committed to unlawful acts to subvert the election. But he needs enough other people to likewise take the risk of committing crimes for which they may, or even likely will, someday be prosected and convicted if the effort fails. There just aren't enough people willing to take this risk. Hopefully.
@mastodonmigration @tzimmer_history what terrifies me about ICE is that every single one of those guys has made that decision to cross the Rubicon. But I don’t think the FBI is anywhere near it.
Good point. ICE is a fly trap for these people. Which is scary, but also tactical advantageous as we know where to find them when it comes time for accountability.
As was established in the Nurenburg trials, just following orders is not a defense.
In Part I, I reflected on whether we can trust the polls and discussed the attempts by the Trump regime to manipulate their way to victory by taking control of / subverting the process before we even get to election day:
https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/d9a4df24-9b8d-4dd8-bb13-73fc07e56c5f