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Find the fracture points in the coalition and drive a stick of dynamite into each one of them.
The right-wingers have been doing this to the US left — “left” as in “everything left of fascist” — for a decade now, with •wild• success. Anything that divides the coalition, they inflame it, make it a crisis, force people to take sides.
2/
Russia and Musk going straight for the political jugular on Gaza is a prime example, but hardly a unique one.
(If you’re not sure what I’m talking about: Musk’s machine ran deceptive online ads that appeared to be from the Harris campaign expressing over-the-top support for Palestinians geotargeted to Jewish-leaning districts, and over-the-top support for Israel in Muslim-leaning districts.)
FInd the fracture point. Dynamite in the crevice. Boom. That’s the strategy.
3/
Back in July, @pluralistic wrote a much-overlooked piece on this topic:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/14/fracture-lines/
❝It's a huge mistake to think of the right as a stable, unified force, marching to victory after inevitable victory. The American right is a brittle coalition led by a handful of plutocrats who have convinced a large number of turkeys to vote for Christmas.❞
4/
He wrote that Project 2025, an internally contradictory mess, is ❝a blinking “LOOK AT ME” sign telling us where the right is ready to split apart.❞
One of those places? Look at Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh’s audience turning on them for condemning CEO assassin: https://www.newsweek.com/unitedhealthcare-ceo-shooting-ben-shapiro-matt-walsh-backlash-1997728
#uspol 5/
Trump ran and won on the backing of (1) people who hate health insurance executives and (2) billionaires. And we’ve been handed a map for turning them against each other.
So:
Let’s talk about how Trump is going to pardon the UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin, and let’s not shut up about it.
If he cares about Americans, Trump will pardon Luigi Mangione.
#uspol /end
It’s hard, I know, but ground rules for this game involve letting go of all fact-based logic. Yes, it’s a state charge, therefore a president can’t pardon it. That does not matter •at all•. Demand the pardon anyway. Make Trump look like he’s trying weasel out if he says he can’t. Make him yell at staff and reporters about how he can’t. Make him try anyway.
@inthehands I think this is a good example of how we need to shift from reliance solely on legal / logic arguments and engage in more narrative warfare and fight for the Overton window.
@StephanieMoore
Yup. Stop trying to win arguments; start making fashy heads hurt with the cognitive dissonance, and stuff right-wing politicians into impossible corners.
@inthehands I like this.
@inthehands
The Democratic party exists to govern within a logical institutional framework. The right has spent almost 40 years working to undermine that structure, and is positioned to directly and immediately benefit from it. You think that the democrats going all in on post-truth discourse is going to help? There's no need to also defect from reality — you're not going to win any ground, but you will find there's more to lose. All the democrats need to do is decide they care more about people than money and actually fight.
They won't, of course. Nor will they yield the ground to folks not bought by oligarchs.
@dymaxion
I think you’re crossing the streams a bit here. What you wrote here is •super• important and well said:
“The Democratic party exists to govern within a logical institutional framework. The right has spent almost 40 years working to undermine that structure.”
That explains so much of what the party can and cannot accomplish right now, what we should and should not reasonably expect of it. I don’t think “caring about people” changes that equation. But separately…
@dymaxion (1) I am not talking about Democrats per se. Exploiting fascists fracture lines is something for all anti-fascists to learn to do better.
(2) I object to you characterizing this as “going all in on post-truth.” It’s a deep •truth• that Trump cultivated the backing of both health executives and people who hate health executives. It’s true that somebody is getting hoodwinked. I’m saying focus on that, and don’t get hung up on logical pedantics that obscure that truth.
@inthehands any time you cross state lines related to a crime there "could" be Federal charges. IIRC charges don't have to be brought in order to be pardoned. So there should be something pardonable here.
@ReverendMoose
Absolutely! And good news: we don't have to care to demand the pardon! Legal coherence is irrelevant! Demand it! Don't shut up about it!
@inthehands I keep hearing that there will be federal charges coming soon. That point might be moot.
... All the more reason to push this, hard.
@inthehands Your reasoning here supports my contention that Democrats should publicly support a progressive wealth tax. Ideally, one that is punitive at the high end. We should forefront the culture war fight they're trying to distract us from.
@oldprof
I’m with you. I’ve been saying for decades that the marginal tax rate should asymptotically approach 100%. I am a voice in the wind.
Per discussion in the replies, this isn’t just for Democrats. Political parties are •lagging• indicators of social change. Do what the right did to the Republicans starting in 2010: make noise from the bottom. Simultaneously punch, co-opt, and reinforce the party in a changed image.
IOW, bang that drum now, make the politicians follow!
@inthehands Great idea. So obvious I'm surprised I don't recall having seen it before or thought of it myself.
