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1. Trumpism is made-in-America ugliness that Kremlin interference helped to empower. To defeat it we must address U.S. white supremacism.
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2. Facing their flaws and accepting legitimate criticism is something that authoritarian/narcissistic personalities and groups refuse to do.
3. To the authoritarian, feeling safe, in control, and protected from ego threats takes precedence over empathy and redress of grievances.
4. This requires the repression of critical truths and the generation of "alternative facts" - gaslighting on a large social scale.
5. But as Freud understood, the repressed returns. Refusal or inability to face truths they fear arrests the development of authoritarians.
6. Failing to do the hard work necessary to become emotionally mature, the paranoid personality manifests extreme defense mechanisms.
7. We rightly associate authoritarianism w/ projection and whataboutism. Note too the presence of defensive fetishes derevth.blogspot.com/2017/01/aborti…
8. On an institutional level, e.g. an authoritarian church or government, the institution's reputation is protected over people's safety.
9. In fact, authoritarianism is abusive, and when realized on any social scale results in the covering up of many abuses and crimes.
10. Hence our Right's refusal to own the ugly aspects of US historical and present realities. Hence their freakout about Confederate statues
11. Hence, in fact, the attraction of our Right to strongmen and of many, including #SoCalledPresident, to Vladimir Putin specifically.
12. Look how Russia has sanitized the narrative of the last GULAG prison camp preserved as a museum. rferl.org/a/russia-perm-…
13. In fact there are many similarities b/w Russia and America related to what we might call imperial provincialism:
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14. With US authoritarianism ascendant, we can't take a democratic future for granted. To resist, we need to understand authoritarianism.
15. Russian social critics have made key contributions here, and studying Russia has helped me see these patterns:
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16. It's also important to remember that Trumpism is propped up primarily by our homegrown Christian Right. They radicalized the GOP.
17. The radical Christian Right and GOP have stolen disproportionate power in order to impose authoritarian rule on a majority opposed to it
18. Understanding our Right's affinity for and direct ties to Russia is important. They both play key roles in global right-wing networks.
19. I've made contributions to the monitoring, documentation, and analysis of these global right-wing networks: politicalresearch.org/author/c-stroo…
20. So make no mistake, right-wing populism is a serious global threat to democracy and human rights, and the Kremlin is playing a key role.
21. At the same time, to blame the Kremlin for the existence of Trumpism, which is very much homegrown, is intellectually untenable.
22. So let's study the affinities and the networks and the direct malfeasance and highly likely Trump campaign collision, of course.
23. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that will solve all our problems. Impeach Trump, and the Christian Right is still in power.
*collusion
24. #TheResistance needs to understand the Christian Right's homegrown American authoritarianism in order to fight it.
25. In this regard, may I suggest that those of us who lived and left the Christian Right, #GenerationCultureWars, have something to say.
26. But you don't have to take my word for it. See e.g. this analysis of the ex-Evangelical movement by @sarahposner splinternews.com/what-should-we…
27. The American MSM largely let conservative white Evangelicals control and spin their own narrative, which makes them seem mainstream.
28. They are not. White Evangelicals are, by and large, radical, and represent the single greatest threat to human rights in America.
29. If you want more Americans to grasp this, do what you can to help promote ex-Evangelical stories and voices. #EmptyThePews #Exvangelical
30. To start educating yourself, check out the hashtags #YouDontKnowEvangelicals and #EmptyThePews and commentary at ChrisStroop.com
I want #TrumpRussia exposed and Trump impeached. If it happens, we will celebrate, but our fight will be far from over. #Resist. End thread.
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