Historian Rick Perlstein has dubbed this dynamic the “right wing ratchet.” It only ever goes one way, toward ever more radical things that would have seemed outlandish months ago but are now just the new normal, with more ratcheting into previously unthinkable territory to come. - ThreadSky

sethcotlar.bsky.social • 16 hours ago

Historian Rick Perlstein has dubbed this dynamic the “right wing ratchet.” It only ever goes one way, toward ever more radical things that would have seemed outlandish months ago but are now just the new normal, with more ratcheting into previously unthinkable territory to come.

Reposted from Nicholas Grossman

As awful and stupid as Trump Term II is, and despite my expectations it'd be very bad and very dumb, some things are still so stupidly bad that my brain rejects them.

"No way," I involuntarily think. "That's just too dumb, even for this." But it's real.

This post is about Dan Bongino. (This time.)

Comments

optimist-press.bsky.social•16 hours ago

A lot people use words like "dumb" and "stupid" to describe Musk and Trump, when I think they really mean, "nefarious" and "evil," but their minds have rejected the bitter for so long, they can't identify it when it's right on their tongues.

atholmountain.bsky.social•13 hours ago

did you see anything from the town hall here in coeur d'alene this weekend? seems like a good example of what you're talking about

sethcotlar.bsky.social•16 hours ago

They will almost certainly never course correct themselves, but they can be defeated.

thebestjoel.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Exactly. They will not stop, however they can BE stopped.

nonplussed73.bsky.social•15 hours ago

They can never course correct, because their motivating principle is staving off boredom and anomie.

cpanza.bsky.social•16 hours ago

No movement, left, right, or populist, will ever police itself - it will continue to move into more and more radical and unheard of territory until the opposition stops it. That's just how it works.

mikeilikemike.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Reactionary conservatism is like being on a never ending treadmill of loyalty tests, and the incline and speed of the treadmill escalates endlessly. As a movement, it constantly litmus tests itself to remove those at the edges for whatever constitutes the current id of the movement.

ericleitzen.bsky.social•12 hours ago

Bingo

mgallagher.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Yep. https://bsky.app/profile/self.agency/post/3lixsx2yb7s2b

jenebbeler.bsky.social•16 hours ago

I feel like they are ratcheting too fast for people’s brains to catch up. I can’t imagine that the congressional GOP is cheering this move. Or anyone who has anything to do with national security. Even the NYT is struggling to normalize this one.

bityz.bsky.social•15 hours ago

The ratcheting happens quickly:
1933 Hitler gets power
1 yr. Hitler becomes dictator
5 yrs. annexes neighbour
6 yrs. takes Poland
6 yrs. creates ghettos
6 yrs. starts extermination of people with mental and physical disability
7 yrs. mass deportations
8 yrs. starts extermination of Jews

mikeilikemike.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Most of these people made a bargain years ago: accept constant humiliations in return for a pin to wear on your suit. Being a politician in current times means checking your conscience, and increasingly your brain, at the door.

goldengirlswhit.bsky.social•14 hours ago

I can, you’re assuming they care.

egsaba.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Isn't this why people used to say they were "wingnuts," cus they only turn more right?

texasgeologist.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Following the 21 steps in Hitler's Rise to Power

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