One of a oddest recurring things about the Trump presidency is the lack of clarity about whether he's on the verge of becoming a dictator or incredibly weak. The answer is both. (Short thread) 1/

Presidents have at least two powers: making the government do stuff and shaping public opinion. On the first, Trump is quite weak and ineffective. That's very clear in the current crisis, when the federal response has been so much more minimal than what we see in the states. 2/

But on the latter -- shaping public opinion -- Trump is incredibly powerful. He does this with his words, not his deeds. Tweets like those this morning about the need to "liberate" states trying to contain a pandemic are incredibly poisoning. 3/

However many people in this country strongly support him (20%? 30%?) love this stuff. Just as they love him saying he can do anything as president and can dismiss Congress and appoint judges at will. 4/

He doesn't actually do these things, but he prepares part of the country to accept it if he or a later POTUS does do it. He's softening up a part of the country for tyranny. Of course it also "triggers" people like me. And that's wildly entertaining to Trump's admirers too. 5/

It also leads some of us to overreact -- as if Trump were actually *doing* the things he merely *says* -- and that delights his supporters even more, because it confirms their deepest conviction, which is that "the media" is treasonously dishonest and anti-American. 6/

And that prepares them to accept other aspects of tyranny, like the future repression of a free press. That's the truth about Trump's power: he's BOTH very weak (in the present) and incredibly powerful (potentially in his authoritarian legacy). 7/end