democracywork.bsky.social
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I don’t have the heart to do it, but a parody of this paragraph—one that channels the voice of a German liberal newspaper as it discusses the early tenure of a certain chancellor in May 1933—almost writes itself.
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No good reason not to frame it this way: “Despite lacking a single national leader, the anti-Trump movement has coalesced around a clear message of opposition to Mr. Trump‘s policies and his attacks on constitutional rights.”
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I still fear that catastrophe—mass econ privation, coupled with brutal crackdown tactics, etc.—is possible. But it's now clear that the regime won't remake US society without a real fight. Trump moved to fry the frog instead of boiling it, and the frog is now hopping-mad.
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Example: If you go to the Google homepage, what you see is an apolitical slop rendition of contemporary's American life. That, I tell myself (Am I oversimplifying?), reflects what the middle deciles of the US population knows—or doesn’t know—about the coming of fascism to these shores.
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Here's hoping that other Dem strategists will follow Pfeiffer in having this dual epiphany:
1. It's the autocracy, stupid.
2. Politics is about shaping, and not just following, public opinion.
He also offers great notes on how to shift messaging. My fave: "Corruption Explains Everything." 3/3
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Until quite recently, Pfeiffer explains (I'm paraphrasing here), he viewed this moment as normal enough to justify continued use of a traditional, poll-driven messaging framework. But now he sees that something new and ominous is afoot—a pattern of "democracy falling into dictatorship." 2/3
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One of the great lessons about democratic backsliding is that democracy and authoritarian regimes are not binary. There will not be a single moment when democracy ends and authoritarianism begins. But some moments certainly symbolize that transition, and this is one of them.
bsky.app/profile/mari...
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So much now turns on how much force basic human empathy will have in our politics. It’s no small thing that Elon Musk and others have launched an attack on the very idea of empathy—on the sense of “that could be me.” 2/2
www.salon.com/2025/04/11/m...
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And just don't say—well, don't say stuff (e.g., "sometimes tariffs are an effective tool") that complicates the core message. It's *politics*, not a public policy seminar. Just say: Trump doesn't know what he's doing, he's wrecking the economy, and he's creating enemies for no good reason. Not hard.
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Highlights from the @parkermolloy.com piece:
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Fighting against Trump’s dictatorial ambitions and fighting to keep his hands off matters of material interest to Americans (Social Security, the global trade system) are two great political tastes that go great together.
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Key idea: “When you have a liberal society, you fight over policy. When that society is under attack you regroup to defend it.” For better and very much for worse, we live in interesting times that make the fight over big ideas like “democracy“ unavoidable.