The Scott Adams thing actually demonstrates very, very well what I logged on here to talk about, so this is a nice coincidence

Everyone's talking about how it was a mistake, a blunder, for Trump not to denounce white supremacy, how the polls continue to reflect that it was a bad move.

This is wildly myopic and, of course, misunderstands how white supremacy itself works

As I've tweeted about before, the preferred form of a Trump-figureheaded form of white nationalism is the relentless activation of grievance culture. You acknowledge that everyone's upset and in pain and scared, then you tell them what's causing their fear and promise to kill it

Trump not strongly disavowing white supremacy isn't him painting himself into a corner, it's the converse: it allows him to keep every single currently-open door and window wide open

Right now, racists and bigots who support Trump are fine. They're not going to change their vote. So Trump needs the middle. It's always a battle for the moderates and independents, that's just how national elections turn out to work in this country, elsewhere

The thing about most moderates is that they are mostly very sincere about wanting to live in a world without hate. Yes, they may support the cops, but they are genuinely doing so because they mistakenly think that cops actually do provide order

Cops don't provide order; they're one small part of a set of consequences for people who the state deems undesirable. But that's a really difficult truth, it requires that we let go of a lot of deeply seated beliefs and even whole belief systems

So the thing is that there's an appetite for a country without "hate," but that appetite simply isn't large enough to overrule peoples' fear of leading a "dangerous" existence, where theoretical criminals and thugs run wild and free

The nuclear option for October surprise that this white nationalist administration wants and needs, therefore, is left intact: the ability to say that it's the undesirables who are escalating the conditions that are causing nationwide fear and anxiety

This is a limitless bounty for Trump and his administration, because you can fabricate literally anything to prove the evil of undesirables if your entire system already dehumanizes them into nothing but a class of violent scofflaws

Things like "Black people are more violent because according to police they commit more violent crimes" is the low-level version of what I'm talking about. That's too small and isn't really an event; for an October surprise-level thing, you need something to actually happen

Think more about things like "weapons cache found in BLM leader's house." Incredibly easy to effect every single part of this plan: plant the weapons, pick any Black person whether or not they are prominent in any community or are even politically minded at all

Obviously it's easier in the long run. to find someone whose social media history reflects the image you're trying to create.

But there's a trick for that, too: just pick someone with a common name

That way you can keep building this boogeyman by sowing confusion over whether inflammatory posts you dug up from someone else with the same name actually wrote them.

The bad faith supporters of this bad faith president will actually do this without even being asked to

The ease with which this strategy can be pulled off has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that people (mostly white people) are STILL, after four years of this, underestimating the galvanizing force of racism and specifically anti-Blackness

That's racism and anti-Blackness from the middle, mind you; people think it doesn't exist there, but it really does and it's latent enough to be very easily fooled into thinking that Trump is the only vote if you actually care about your family's safety

Because this is an administration predicated on committing actual atrocities under the cover of widespread chaos, every single option remains open to them.

A constant barrage of stochastic terrorism for four years will do that to a society

And because Trump is a unique president in the sense that there's already massive groundwork and paper trails for the GOP to either support or rebuke him, depending on which way it all goes, they can push any of these potential buttons without risking permanent damage

The point is that you can't expect to defeat fascism in two fucking months during an election. You needed to have been fighting it this whole time, but the majoritized people in this country, especially those with platforms, have absolutely fucking failed us for four years

And it's nice to be able to look at the current polls and say "hey I think he's gonna lose," it's a massive misinterpretation of recent and distant history to think that we've seen the last of anything just because the debates have started

What I see is people letting their guards down because they clearly haven't learned any of the lessons they keep claiming they have. The debates should be canceled, because you're endangering specifically Black folks in this country by letting them go on

The idea that you can put this man on tv and provide enough "context" to defuse his radical white supremacy is an absolute fucking joke. Moderates trust all presidents because they hold the office. You can convince them, but that's where they start out. "American order."

Which means that there literally isn't a good reason for debates: nothing a moderator or Biden could ever do can confer upon them the gravitas of the office of the president. That's one hand tied behind your back, always, because you do not control the bully pulpit

You don't have to be a genius to understand any of this, you just have to observe what the fuck has been happening for four years, for 30 years, for 300 years, and make the appropriate connections. You just need to take blinders off and attempt to actually get it

But there's no positive incentive for white people, especially cis, straight, abled, and male, to acknowledge that this is where we're at. Because if you start talking about this, it might expose how fucking fraudulent they are, in addition to Trump being so obviously fraudulent

So you're going to continue to let fascism rise, because it's at the low, low cost of sacrificing marginalized, incredibly vulnerable people who were already teetering on the edge. You didn't push them, you think, you just looked away as they reached out their hands

That's the same shit. It's the same level of inhumanity, but you've talked yourself into believing that this is somehow morally superior, for some greater good, some future of the republic that needs protecting

The future of a republic that will sacrifice its own people simply because the majority of them refuse to see past their own egos is a fascist fucking republic, and that's why this all feels so inevitable in certain ways

That's why people are tweeting, all over, that this is not an aberration for a country that genocided and enslaved its way into prosperity and global "leadership." This is the next natural step, and the only thing novel about it is that it happened so fast

Part of that is because the internet is an accelerant for ideologies (good and bad), but another part is that past generations of majoritized people took such a casual attitude towards defeating fascism at home, because they were convinced it couldn't happen

That's all despite the fact that we essentially invented Nazism, our shining example was so potent and relevant to Hitler. The enforced and intentional historical amnesia contributes to all of this, because of course it does

Look, I could continue writing an omnibus history of the United States from an especially mass communications point of view, but you get it, right? This isn't a thing you decide to tackle in an election year. It's too complicated, it takes too long

You needed to have been fighting this whole fucking time, and you weren't, and people who aren't you are going to pay the ultimate price. Are you comfortable with that? Are you proud that this will be your place in history? If not, decide to actually do something for once