Beware the abuser's logic ("you made me do this"). Trump is attacking every institution that might check his power. They all have faults. Those aren't the reason he's attacking them. - ThreadSky

brendannyhan.bsky.social • 67 days ago

Beware the abuser's logic ("you made me do this"). Trump is attacking every institution that might check his power. They all have faults. Those aren't the reason he's attacking them.

Reposted from Don Moynihan

There are a bunch of articles like this, which argue that Trump is going after institutions because of their failures.
The reality is Trump is going after institutions - bureaucracy, military, judges, lawyers, media - because he is an authoritarian who wants control.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/u...

Comments

billthepony.bsky.social•67 days ago

Fascists always see self defense as aggression

Because the fascists themselves can simply never be wrong

xeynon.bsky.social•67 days ago

"The aggressor is always peace-loving. He would prefer to take over our country unopposed." - Clausewitz

billthepony.bsky.social•67 days ago

This is also something people get wrong about "Non-Violent resistance"

It is the people who are supposed to be non-violent...

That does not mean there won't be violence.

But it would be the violence of the state and non-state actors.

You must be prepared to face violence, Just not be violent

pbronez.me•67 days ago

Yes, Trump/Musk are destroying institutions with illegal methods to seize power.

But government under-performance created the space for them to exploit.

Trump’s just greedy, but Musk/Thiel are greedy AND buy Curtis Yarvin’s assertion that we need a CEO to fix things.

pbronez.me•67 days ago

Our institutions have already failed. They are not useless - their wanton destruction creates real harm - but they are decidedly inadequate.

The Left knows this - it’s the motivation for the Abundance dialog. Ezra Klein, Marc Dunkelman, and Yoni Appelbaum all write about the same inadequacies.

pbronez.me•67 days ago

The Trump/Musk solution comes from Curtis Yarvin.

“a long-planned strategy to transform American democracy into corporate autocracy, written in plain sight and now being followed step by step.”

https://www.thenerdreich.com/reboot-elon-musk-ceo-dictator-doge/

pbronez.me•67 days ago

For the moment, Trump/Musk have power and are maximizing damage. The only question that matters is: what comes next?

An American CEO can make big changes, but they will only serve the rich. Authoritarianism is not only morally wrong, it’s ineffective.

Solution: MORE, BETTER DEMOCRACY.

pbronez.me•67 days ago

After Trump II, America must walk a new path:

🗳️ upgraded democratic systems

⬇️

🤝 collaborative problem-solvers

⬇️

🏛️ renewed institutions

⬇️

🚀 Effective policy solutions

@fwdparty.bsky.social is fighting for this NOW and need your support to win.

Join us!

https://home.forwardparty.com/join?recruiter_id=323250

tgf6anth.bsky.social•67 days ago

Time was student protest erupted massively.

cv-danes.com•67 days ago

Part and parcel for an openly criminal regime.

kle138.bsky.social•67 days ago

To me it’s more that their flaws and cracks are why they are buckling so easily, in some cases hardly putting up the pretense of a fight. That’s not the same as the supposed “faults” outlined by Trump and echoed by the NYT (too woke!), but I do think a bully has a nose for weakness. So much weakness

veracitas.bsky.social•67 days ago

Every institution has flaws. The Constitution itself seems like a flawed document that survived because of good actors. Does that mean we should rip that up too? Oh wait....
Maybe that's tomorrow's story for the Traitor and the complicit media?

blobodelendaest.bsky.social•67 days ago

Enough Americans voted Trump in because the institutions failed and they wanted change.

But Trump treats them with an abusers logic to ensure they become compliant.

His supporters and voters are ok with this because they failed.

Both explanations exist parallel to one another.

pbronez.me•67 days ago

💯💯💯

We can’t just say “oh no! You broke it!” when Americans believe the institutions have already failed.

The only credible alternative is genuine reform that dramatically improves institutional effectiveness.

This is hard, slow work, and @fwdparty.bsky.social is doing it.

vsapiro.bsky.social•67 days ago

This is important. "You made me do this" is the logic of an abuser. So is making the abused feel isolated and thoroughly dependent on the good will and mood of the abuser.

ronaldpetracca1956.bsky.social•67 days ago

An institution does not have to be perfect to be worthy of defense. Trump is attacking these institutions not because of what they do wrong, but because of what they do right, or could right if they had the courage.

tonysomo.bsky.social•67 days ago

And sadly so many of them apparently have no back bone and do not seem understand how blackmail works.
Trump’ll be back for more.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply