Hitler’s Willing Twitter Enablers
A reminder about what the people now defending Trump from John Kelly said about him in 2016 and 2021.
Secret pod: On the show today Sarah and I talked about this newsletter👇 and also whether or not Kamala Harris has done everything possible. Oh, and also about the “daddy’s gonna spank you girls” analogy that conservatives have embraced as the proper model for the role of the executive branch.
It’s not very cheerful. But it’s pretty good. You can get it here.
1. Fascism
One of the things we’ve learned over the last decade is that a strongman can’t take power by himself.
He needs a popular movement behind him. But he also needs the support of pliant institutions and the submission of elites. Only when these three legs of the stool have been assembled can the authoritarian exert his will to power.
So what does Donald Trump have? He has 30 percent of the country eager to follow him to the gates of hell and 47 percent of the country willing to vote for him, no matter what. That’s a popular movement.
He owns the Republican party, body and soul. He has coopted the entirety of the conservative intellectual movement. And his corruption of the Supreme Court is so total that in the last year the High Court has invalidated a Constitutional provision in deference to his presidential campaign and invented a grant of presidential immunity in defense of his criminal liabilities. That’s the institutional component.
And we all know that Trump has broken Republican elites and forced them into submission.
Yet there’s a difference between knowing something and seeing it.
Over the last few days, a buddy of mine went through the archives digging up statements from people who are now Trump’s biggest defenders. Only when you’re confronted with what these Quislings actually said 8 years ago can you appreciate the scope of their depravity.
But before we start, I want to be clear that this is not about dunking or scoring points. The reason I want you to see these statements, up close, is because they constitute a warning. If Trump returns to power and moves to fulfill his authoritarian promise, these people will not oppose him. They will excuse, defend, and enable.
Come and look. Do not avert your eyes.