(Thread) The Big Con

You all know Trump is a conman right? First and foremost, Trump cons people.

I am persuaded that he is currently pulling off the greatest con of his life: Persuading his critics that he in invulnerable and invincible.

h/t to @JayColorado3 for the phrase https://twitter.com/mikelking/status/1260348438656450560

What's amazing about this is that all Trump has really done is get an iron grip on what's left of the GOP. He pulls the strings, and the GOP elected officials dance. They are his string puppets.

That's how he avoided being removed from office despite a series of wrongdoings.

1/

If Trump had figured out how to fix elections, the Republicans would have won the midterms.

As recently as the Wisconsin election (when the GOP pulled every voter suppression trick in the book and Trump threw his weight behind Dan Kelly) the GOP lost in Wisconsin.

2/

I typed "wrongdoing" in the understatement font .

And yet, Trump has people believing that he is all powerful and invincible and he will pull a trick out of his bag and make himself absolute dictator.

Underestimating Trump is dangerous. . .

https://twitter.com/holland_e/status/1260352945385869312

3/

I understand we don't want to get cocky and say we have this in the bag.

But we also don't want to do this

It confirms for GOP cowards (which includes all GOP elected officials) that they better fall in line behind Trump.

5/

Remember that for Trump's base, we are the enemy and Trump is the strongman who promised to beat us.

Trump's brand depends on winning.

Actually, so did Mussolini's.

Mussolini promised Italy lots of winning. When Mussolini lost, he was in trouble.

6/

Trump's base sees this and they think: Wow! Trump is the strongman who will vanquish our enemies! He will sock it to the liberals!

His "base" doesn't want democracy. Just ask a libertarian who will tell you that America wasn't established as a democracy. It is a republic

7/

Nazi propagandist Schulze-Wechsungen said: "Even the best propaganda cannot conceal constant political failures."
https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/polprop.htm

Yes, the Trump GOP will try to cheat. They will try every trick in the books in November, the way they did in Wisconsin.

8/

But just because they try to cheat, doesn't meant they will win.

People accuse me of being an optimist. (I used the word "accuse" on purpose )

I am only an optimist because I believe in the power of majorities.

9/

If a majority of Americans wanted what Trump is selling, we'd be in trouble. Democracy would be in trouble.

But there is no evidence that a majority of Americans want what Trump stands for.

What is distressing is how many Americans DO want what Trump stands for . . .

10/

But they are not a majority, as we have seen in each election since 2016.

The lesson from 2016 was: Don't underestimate Trump.

But we can over-learn the lesson, too.

Wanna know how to make a "strongman" shrivel and turn into nothing?

Make sure he loses.

11/

If you want to make sure he loses, get busy. As the cliche goes, democracy is not a spectator sport.

Here's my to-do list: https://terikanefield-blog.com/things-to-do/ 

12/

The person who asked the question has obviously never read the Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution or the Presidential Succession Act.

Well, some of us have. https://twitter.com/ashleyjb33/status/1260365928505761793