Thread by @swimwriteswim

A friend asked me how I knew this in 2016, during the campaign, before the election, how did I know to raise red flags about #TrumpRussia #TrumpLies #TrumpCrimeSyndicate #PenceKnew #Manafort 1/

She went on: you’re busy, you’re just a normal civilian person, you run a small business, you’re focused on working, your family, how did you figure out and know what was wrong with Trump, Russia, the GOP, why the election was different? 2/

First, let’s acknowledge lots of people knew, too. I don’t just mean the intelligence community, or the co-conspirators and accomplices to treason and illegal activities, I mean lots of other regular people like me. There are some common qualities and habits we share 3/

First, we’re NOT habitual Fox propaganda viewers. We might catch local news on an affiliate tv station, but we didn’t drink exclusively from the spigot of angry, stupid, fearful, hateful, abusive, racist, classist, manipulative tv and talk radio 4/

We paid attention to various trustworthy news sources: @NPR @NewsHour @nytimes @washingtonpost and others. We subscribed to local newspapers like @HoustonChron @sfchronicle and were in the habit of thinking about data, evidence, public policies, reality 5/

We are in relationships with people who hold different opinions and have different life experiences: different ethnicities and families of origin, different faith backgrounds, different nationalities. Diversity brings intellectual, ethical, psychological, character strength 6/

Years of diverse relationships, years of newspaper and diverse news media consumption, strengthened our capacity for curiosity, an open mind, reasoning skills, the ability to think for ourselves. We understood how to evaluate data and evidence in normal life situations 7/

We have enough self awareness and awareness of people and systems to at least partially recognize and steer clear of abusive misogynistic patriarchal systems that manipulate folks into obedience and conformity to lying liars 8/

We weren’t looking to blame others for our problems or try to feel better or stronger by creating villains and punishing them. We also had a good grasp of real problems versus distractions, example: let’s prioritize solving income inequality instead of building a giant wall 9/

So when Trump rode the escalator down to announce his candidacy, we knew something was wrong. From Manafort to Pence to PizzaGate, we could spot deceptions and connect the dots. Not perfectly but steadily identify lies, treason, conspiracy, collusion 10/

It’s why we were so outspoken before the election, begging people to recognize what was going on, pleading with people to connect the dots on #TrumpRussiaConspiracy #TrumpCrimeSyndicate and protect our freedoms and future as a functioning democracy 11/

Since the 2016 elections, it’s why we’ve led marches and voter registration drives, volunteered for candidates and causes, continued to speak out for truth and justice. Our country is under attack from oligarchs, greedy corporations, venal politicians, hostile foreign states 11/

It’s why we’re doing everything possible to turn out a progressive, informed vote for the 2018 midterms. We’ve got to take our country back, strengthen our people and systems, and hold the traitors accountable. This news story is a good step forward #journalism #2018Midterms