Anne Applebaum

If the Republican Party responds to the Trump indictment solely by attacking courts and judges, and if its leaders continue to work to de-legitimize the legal system, I am not sure how we recover.

For a precedent, Americans don't even have to look beyond our hemisphere: Venezuela is an excellent example of state that slid into autocracy while an elected president repeatedly assaulted judges.

Aug 3, 2023 at 8:17amWeb
Show threada fading echoAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum on the face of it, isn't that why you kept the 2nd amendment?
Show threadFranklin AbramsAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum Sadly, a large percent of the American public are gullible enough to believe the “alternative” facts and attacks on the courts and legal system presented by the Republican party and their propaganda media.
Show threadGrassroots JoeAug 3, 2023
@NovoEidos @anneapplebaum
Gullible or fervently desiring of Trump’s promise of maintaining their position in the societal and political hierarchy and more than willing to accept any figleaf of "facts" to do so.
Show threadFranklin AbramsAug 3, 2023
@joeinwynnewood @anneapplebaum it’s likely to be a mix. Recognizing legitimate reporting from propaganda and scams requires judgement. But, of course, judgement is often clouded by interest.
Show threadHavyhh2Aug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum ...the catastrophes of trump are many...& the spinelessness of GOP leaders exacerbate all of them. Attacking the legal system is dangerous by such leaders....how indeed do we recover. With half of the population seething from a belief in lies, slights, & just ignorance, all espoused by trump & GOP leaders, the other half stares incredulously at such "fellow Americans" while trying to prevent an end to American democracy. It is hard to see how this can possibly endure.
Show threadDisney Geek Aug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum I am pretty sure this is the Rs’ playbook. Power and *ruling* (rather than governing) is their highest priority. Venezuela is their how-to guide.
Show threadJerameeAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

Republicans have already de-legitimized the courts through their politicization and dirty tricks they've used to stack both SCOTUS and the federal bench in general.

Show threadWarner CrockerAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum We don’t recover. Or at least not in this current generation. Damage is already done. To think otherwise ignores the moment(s).
Show threadCuriousLibrarianAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum I’m not sure either, but I still view the expanded indictment as a positive step and applaud its defense of the rule of law.
Show threadFunk_FunkyAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum the media needs to stop pretending the GOP respects the rule of law and that they support an actual democracy. Second, they need to awknowledge Fox and crazier right wing propaganda is a major part of the problem. Journalists and the Democratic Party continue to let our democracy fail with barely a peep.
Show threadchristoph_STCmicrobeblogAug 3, 2023

@funk_funky @anneapplebaum
(and you add your 2 cent by habitually refering to the republican party as "GOP". this despite virtually nothing left to call this party *Grand*)

[unsolicited interjection from the other side of the atlantic]

Show threadk cavaliereAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum We cannot let a minority and bogus political view succeed. We cannot let a bogus "christianity" succeed. People know when they are being used and abused.
Show threadPhilipp SuessmannAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum the answer is strikingly simple: The Republican Party is not saveable. There will be no reckoning that takes it back on the path of liberal democracy. Even Trump running and losing in 2024 won't change this. As long as the GOP exists in it's current form, the slip into facism always lurks around the corner.
Show threadMark BrittenAug 3, 2023
@philsuessmann @anneapplebaum isn't the risk with this that it just ends up with the Democrats getting complacent and not doing much because they don't have a credible opposition? So you have a rump GOP with ~150 of the most gerrymandered house seats and ~40 senators every time. Or, you have one election cycle where Congress is a disjointed multi-party mess followed by a more moderate party using the GOP name and bringing us back to where we are.
Show threadPhilipp SuessmannAug 3, 2023

@lemonflavoured @anneapplebaum

The way I see it is: The American system of government was built on the concept of compromise. Compromise can not be achieved in a two-party-system with two factions diametrically oppossed to each other, who can't find middle ground on anything.

You need to break out of that bipartisan model. Changing that paradigm will be disruptive, no doubt. But I think it's inevitable.

Show threadzemsgramAug 3, 2023
@philsuessmann @lemonflavoured @anneapplebaum I’m not sure it is inevitable but I hope you are correct. The question is whether there are enough Republicans who are prepared to abandon a party that has gone over the edge. Because if there are not, then splitting the Dems up between progresses and moderates is likely to result in the GOP taking control and I don’t know how we come back.
Show threadPhilipp SuessmannAug 3, 2023

@zemsgram @lemonflavoured @anneapplebaum

I think it's quite feasable that the right wing of the current GOP breaks off to form the MAGA-party in the near future.

That would leave room for a much more moderate right-to-centre party old school Republicans (and conservatively leaning Democrats) could flock to.

Show threadzemsgramAug 3, 2023
@philsuessmann @lemonflavoured @anneapplebaum hope so!
Show threadMark BrittenAug 3, 2023
@philsuessmann @zemsgram @anneapplebaum That was basically my "one election cycle with a messy congress" scenario.
Show threadPhilipp SuessmannAug 3, 2023

@lemonflavoured @zemsgram @anneapplebaum

if the US can survive four years of the Trump presidency, it can survive one election cycle with a messy congress.

Show threadzemsgramAug 3, 2023
@philsuessmann @lemonflavoured @anneapplebaum I’m not so sure about that. Depends on who the president is. And who’s running the state legislatures. Seems we are pretty close to a tipping point now. But again, I hope you are right. I do think some of this also comes down to the media.
Show threadNicole ParsonsAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

The assault on the courts is happening in the UK, Israel, and Hungary as well.

Show thread20thcenturyliterarymysteryAug 12, 2023
@Npars01 @anneapplebaum i think Anne was looking for a left wing example!
Show threadGerrit 🇪🇺🌍🍉🔻Aug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

By now, it is virtually certain that Trump WILL become the GOP presidential candidate. The press is not miraculously going to crack down on lies, the radicalized Trump MAGA support is not going to deradicalize. And the coming election will be held under a much damaged court system and with multiple state governments suppressing the vote.

Any game plan for Democrats will have to take these points as given.

Show threadMichael FurlanAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum The Republican Party is just scrambling to get ahead of sadistic mob constituted of most of the white voters in the US. They demand a party who says it will punish someone, anyone. Iraqis, trans people, brown people, immigrant infants, anyone not themselves. Also too, tax cuts for the rich, gets them favorable coverage in the New York Times.
Show threadStarry Starry KnightAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum Ya the @gop is def going for broke and has us ~75% of the way there...
Show threadNoel KellyAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

One unique advantage America has over Venezuela (and everyone else), is no American interference.

Show threadBeeksAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum we need only look to America but a few generations ago to have a idea of where we're headed. Only this time will be much worse. :(
Show threadChris RealAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum The maga cultists will continue the way they are and raise children to be the same, but the rest of America is visibly getting fed up with the maga grifting fascism. And maga will never be decisive on their own as voters, less so without a qualified candidate, they being born followers.

But the U.S. and Venezuela is apples and oranges. Only donor-encouraged INaction by the Democrats could screw up this fed-up demographic.

Something like controlling the House & Senate, then not re-regulating SCOTUS . . .uh oh😟

Show thread@billclassifiedAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum we need to mount a non-violent counteroffensive, exposing everything for everyone to see and not to be denied.
Show threadJamie MasonAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

We won't recover, and that's been the goal all along. Authoritarian, rich led, style leadership.

Jamie

Show threadKevin LeecasterAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum
You can tell by the Republicans' embrace of climate science denialism that they have absolutely no interest in the long-term
Show threadFallRiseAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum stop making people like this popular. You aren’t politicians and if you are then that’s just another reason why you shouldn’t be popular 🤞
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47Aug 3, 2023
@FallRise @anneapplebaum reported and blocked as a political troll
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47Aug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum "I am not sure how we recover" was 2016. Now it's "We don't recover, at least not before things have gotten much, much worse and many more people have been harmed and died as a result."
Show threadDr. Juande Santander-VelaAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum which is exactly what Netanyahu wants to do in Israel.
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Aug 3, 2023
@juandesant @anneapplebaum the Tories in the UK are on the first few rungs of that ladder, Press attacks against the independent judiciary, "Smash The Saboteurs", etc
Show threadDr. Juande Santander-VelaAug 3, 2023
@Lazarou @anneapplebaum I just find it amazing that the Peers in the House of Lords have been more willing to support democracy than the MPs themselves.
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Aug 3, 2023
@juandesant @anneapplebaum mad, isn't it?
There are some good Lords, a lot of mediocre ones and some outright criminals.
If I had my way I'd have them all reapply for their jobs in an election, the good ones would hopefully win a seat and the trash wouldn't

But dreams of reform in the UK are just that 😞
Show threadEmilyAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum When you say "the Republican Party" who do you mean specifically?

Also, as a measure of US media capture by the pro-autocracy movement, I will be watching how the NYT covers the process. How much will the NYT contribute to delegitimizing the indictment and trial?

Show threadNonya BidnissAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum I was just thinking pessimistically about that this morning while citing an important piece in the California Law Review
https://infosec.town/notes/9hynwgufielq7py8
Nonya Bidniss (@Nonya_Bidniss)

This is a really good discussion of how the U.S.'s very institutional makeup is killing #democracy. I'm not optimistic that we'll fix these problems. Perhaps if liberals were to move to the least populous states in droves to dilute the right, they could create a situation in some future where a series of major reforms could be accomplished. Barring that, minority rule will complete its #authoritarian project in my lifetime, I'm afraid. Perhaps soon. The Third Founding: The Rise of Multiracial Democracy and the Authoritarian Reaction Against It https://www.californialawreview.org/print/the-third-founding-the-rise-of-multiracial-democracy-and-the-authoritarian-reaction-against-it

Infosec.Town
Show threadjz.tuskAug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

Delegitimize? Hah! They are taking it over.

Do you want a hot take that's worth a lot of clicks? Write an article about how the coup got stalled in the executive branch, but is chugging along just fine in the judicial branch.

Show threadKid ManiaAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum
Start by Taxing the fucking Churches. Then start seriously considering what to do about these assholes.⬇️
Show threadjoe•iuculano Aug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum

It just confirms that..
#RepublicansAreTheProblem

Show threadArena Cops 🇺🇦✌Aug 3, 2023

@anneapplebaum Unsurprisingly the party of a lawless party leader complies with his obsession to attack the Rule of Law being adversarial to his sociopathic disregard for right & wrong.

Which raises the fundamental question: How legitimately is a party seated in Congress & state representations, that approves & condones the crimes of its leader, regularly breaking masses of laws?
A party, that acquitted its impeached leader twice, regardless of all evidence?

#RuleOfLaw #AccountabilityNow #JusticeMatters #UnseatTheGOP #CriminalNetwork #DefraudingAmerica #ConspiracyAgainstRights #ConspiracyAgainstTheUS

Show threadWolleysegapAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum I see your point, but there is a reason why they attack the forum, the system that attempts to hold them accountable. They know that if they take the course of defending their actions they can't win. So instead of saying something like we didn't break the rules, they pivot to challenge the rule based system. Whether that ploy will work remains to be seen. Our nation has withstood a civil war. This truly is a threat to democracy, this current struggle, but arguably not the direst threat we have ever faced.
Show threadIan Kluft ✅✈️🎈🌋Aug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum There is nothing about the two-party system that guarantees which two parties. If they implode, they can be replaced.
Show threadGlennAug 3, 2023
@anneapplebaum Yes, but in Venezuela you had godless communists assaulting the judges. Here it is real estate magnates and politicians - that's different.