Jeff Sharlet

@jeffsharlet.bsky.social

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Author, NYT bestsellers THE UNDERTOW: Scenes from a Slow Civil War & THE FAMILY, also a Netflix series. + other books. My fave is THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS. Words & pics Vanity Fair. Professsing, Dartmouth. He/Him.

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Jeff Sharlet

I wrote about it: slowcivilwar.substack.com/p/one-nation...

One Nation, Under Fistslowcivilwar.substack.com Trump's violent new parable

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Jeff Sharlet

"Those who claim calling Trump a threat to democracy is violent rhetoric are doing a kind of rhetorical violence to democracy, screeching it to a halt, making of an ever-moving idea a static one, writing a banal and brutal ending onto a story that’s meant to keep going."

I wrote about it: slowcivilwar.substack.com/p/one-nation...

One Nation, Under Fistslowcivilwar.substack.com Trump's violent new parable

I wrote about it: slowcivilwar.substack.com/p/one-nation...

One Nation, Under Fistslowcivilwar.substack.com Trump's violent new parable

In advance of the NATO press conference, a debut post from Scenes from a Slow Civil War managing editor Armita Mirkarimi, on lingering between misinformation and myth in Washington: slowcivilwar.substack.com/p/lord-almig...

Lord Almightyslowcivilwar.substack.com Lingering in a gradient between misinformation and myth

Reply to

yazikus

I did, in The Undertow, but it was my first Trump rally in Youngstown, OH, in early '16, that persuaded me it was here

Reply to

Michael R Lambert

There we part ways. Radically.

Reply to

Michael R Lambert

Nominate Biden now? Jesus, no. Even if I thought Biden was the nomination -- the answer to fascism isn't anti-democratic action.

I wrote about Biden, Bannon and Joan Didion, plus World War Z, in order to figure out what I think Is to Be Done.

The Great Denialopen.substack.com Didion, Biden, Bannon, and that scary ticking sound

Reply to

Michael R Lambert

Oh, my, just catching up with this now. Kind of chilling.

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Jeff Sharlet

i talked to the great @jeffsharlet.bsky.social, author of "the undertow: scenes from a slow civil war," about the state of america 2024, how our media continues to fail us, and his thoughts on alex garland's "civil war" and why the people who don't like it are wrong (ok that last bit may be me)

‎The New Abnormal: Who’s on Top as Trump’s Veepstakes Reaches Its Zenith? on Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com ‎Show The New Abnormal, Ep Who’s on Top as Trump’s Veepstakes Reaches Its Zenith? - Jul 1, 2024

My bet is tonight Trump's going to try a variation on what I've been thinking of his urban campaign--pretending he has broad BIPOC support to reassure white voters elsewhere. I just wrote about this racist tactic as applied in Philadelphia: open.substack.com/pub/jeffshar...

Dark Heart of the Blue Cityopen.substack.com The white supremacist strategy behind Trump's urban campaign

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Jeff Sharlet

Reply to

Teddy Wilson

Today's #MustReads: ‘Hello, Trump Warriors!’ Little-Known Preachers and Rabble Rousers are the Unregulated Id of the Felon’s First Rally religiondispatches.org/hello-trump-... by @jeffsharlet.bsky.social

'Hello, Trump Warriors!' Little-Known Preachers and Rabble Rousers are the Unregulated Id of the Felon's First Rallyreligiondispatches.org “I don’t care about you, I just want your vote.” That’s the clip from Trump’s Sunday rally in Vegas that went viral: ex-president, navy blazer; open-necked white shirt, the sagging orange lizard hide...

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Jeff Sharlet

What?!? "American has previously issued new flight attendants a 'courtesy' letter..In it, the company says that flight attendants only earn $27,315, and asks the reader to provide courtesy where they can. Having dealt with landlords, I’m sure they’ll all accept this piece of paper in lieu of rent."

I knew flight attendants get screwed with pay per “flight hour” but I really did not know just how little they take home. These are below poverty wages for what is a stressful, full time job

American Airlines Flight Attendants Can't Afford Food, Shelterjalopnik.com Flight attendants earn just $27,315 a year, and are ready to strike about it

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Jeff Sharlet

When you’re so eternally online that you become an arbiter of all things left while fascism is marching through town, maybe go outside for a while.

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Jeff Sharlet

Nothing But Polo Shirts

This is a bar for only the most straight heterosexual men. Cowboys, Construction workers, Cops, Leather Bound Bikers, Firefighters, Wrestlers, and Sailors. No girl stuff. Just sweaty heterosexual men being sweaty & heterosexual & male with each other. No femmes. All He/him. Males for males. M4M.

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Jeff Sharlet

Gadz this is awful. Must read. by Jeff Sharlet.

"'It’ll break out in violence,' he says matter-of-factly, as if bloodshed were just tomorrow’s weather."

Hello, Trump Warriors!jeffsharlet.substack.com Dreaming of war and bullshit at the felon's first rally

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Jeff Sharlet

First heard of Jeff through Sam Seder and The Majority Report. As always, great (yet absolutely terrifying) insights, as well as a great point we all gotta remember: Don't take them literally because it's easy to dunk on the nonsense, but take it seriously because the silliness hides violent intent.

I was going to go to Vegas to report Trump's first rally as a felon--not for "news" but to listen for tone, for the mood of fascism as it mutates. But I decided it was too hot, so I stayed in VT & watched 5 hrs of it from an obscure rightwing network. And I made pictures... 1/

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Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet can take the darkest subject and alchemize it into some of the most beautiful prose you'll ever read

I read the room at Trump's Las Vegas shit show. That's literally what it was: the word of the day was "bullshit." My latest: "Hello, Trump Warriors": Dreaming of War and Bullshit at The Felon's First Rally open.substack.com/pub/jeffshar...

Hello, Trump Warriors!open.substack.com Dreaming of war and bullshit at the felon's first rally

Thanks, Jenn.

Reply to

Jeff Sharlet

A friend ask if I’m decoding Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don’t think so, I say. I think I’m tuning my dial. I think I’m receiving the transmission. I don’t like the tune but the signal is strong. 11/

It's not enough to know that MTG's a racist or a hypocrite. I think it's critical to stopping her to follow the logic in her own ugly mind, the better to understand how hatemongers bend minds. 12/

Some news orgs noted Trump's use of the term "bullshit." None I saw reported that chants of "bullshit" were the defining experience of the day in Vegas--starting with Trump's herald, MTG, who used the profan as prelude to the "sacred." 13/

My "portrait" of the junior demagogue, pointing up at Heaven from which she's saying Trump-like-Christ came. I'm not joking. Neither is she. Fascism is making real divinity claims. 14/

Speaking of divinity claims at Trump's rally The Nevada GOP chair, Michael McDonald, is such a nasty piece of work that "ex-cop linked to Proud Boys" only scratches the surface. He's been nvestigated more times than I could count. But he feels he knows God, and God's name: 15/

Fascist divinity claims are rarely static. Fascism requires ever greater grandiosity. In '16, Trump ran on the prosperity gospel--God wants you to be rich. In '20, it was a bastardized gnostic gospel--think QAnon. Now, tho, we're in the age of martyrs--think violence. 16/

A refrain I hear from friends: "I just don't understand how anybody could even bear to *look* at the man." But reporting on fascism means developing a kind of double vision. Keep yr wits about you, but see also with fascist eyes. This is what Trump looks like to them. 17/

Thru fascist eyes: His people roar. He steps back. “Oh!” he says, his voice startled, because he’s humble even in his pride. He turns to take in the men behind him shouting bullshit like wind in his sails, the word making him strong. 18/

Back to my eyes & ears: the "bullshit" chanting lasted a long time in Vegas, standing in for every grievance they cld imagine. It's a powerful force. But this, friends, in closing, is the reality: fascism wobbles.

If you find this thread valuable, consider subscribing to its source Free for now. I'm hiring an assistant, so I'll make a paid option to cover wages, but the important stuff will remain free, my individual bit in trying to stop what's headed our way. jeffsharlet.substack.com

Scenes from a Slow Civil War | Jeff Sharlet | Substackjeffsharlet.substack.com I reported Trump '16 and '20 for magazines & in my book THE UNDERTOW: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. I was going to sit '24 out, but the slow civil war is speeding up. Click to read Scenes from a Slow ...

Reply to

El Why

Me, too. And I was watching it live.