this is funny because it’s true that the republican party has been a threat to democracy since 1968 or so, unless you downplay black voter suppression to the point where (white) people agree it doesn’t really count
That’s been the thing about the whole debate to me. It kind of comes down to semantics and whether people should be alarmed about the expansion of racist discriminatory policy that’s been aimed at Black people forever. There aren’t any stakes in it imo except to properly categorize oppression.
And I totally get being annoyed with people who act as if Trump is the spring from which all harms have flown but I don’t understand how acting like those things are just fine and good and acceptable as regular business helps anyone.
what I would say is that Trump is rooted in traditional conservative authoritarianism, racism, and lunacy going back to the 30s (which used to be quite bipartisan), but also a major break with tradition. Dixiecrats never attempted a coup against the national government
Not against the *national* government no but they did against state governments, and part of the reason why is, they didn’t need to because they were firmly in charge. Trump is a break inasmuch white people don’t feel firmly in charge anymore so definitely an escalation.
The TNC thesis that Trump is an expression of white backlash to the Obama presidency feels right, and I don’t know why people need to link it to foreign traditions of fascism, which there are plenty of, to feel an urgency about opposing it.
