Greg McKnight

First, read the quoted tweet. And let's try again to explain why we're at risk of fascism: if elected, Trump is no longer in control of it. 1. Fascism isn't a simple phenomena; i.e., Trump's a fascist, QED... Nope. 2. Rather, fascism requires an extremely rare set of conditions to emerge, but when it does it represents a new, stable state of a complex adaptive system 3. Incentives, constraints, feedback loops etc determine its possibility (it's usually impossible; it's now probably 50/50) 4. Because, if Trump wins, all of those system factors stop holding back and reverse to start encouraging fascism 5. First, incentives promote intraparty competition for heightening extremism (see tweet below, which is one of hundreds you could pick from across GOP social media in the past 24 hours: taking cues from Trump's rally language, it's not an outlier, increasingly it's actually the mainstream currency that holds the group together) 6. Second, once he wins, and that intraparty competition for extremism demands its electoral due, the reinforcing feedback loops kick in, between: A) institutional submission (eg Washington Post Editorial Board), elite acquiescence (eg Mitch McConnell), elite abetting (eg Elon Musk), in-group bloodlust (see, eg, rallies), and B) POTUS's authorization to carry out these increasingly depraved and extralegal activities of what he thinks the group demands; even if he doesn't totally want it himself, as any good politician or entertainer he gives the group what it wants. 7. So, not only does really terrible sh%^ start to happen, it becomes the end toward which the system maintains itself. That is, constant bad sh^& becomes the overriding goal of the American political system because it's the food the authoritarian party eats to stay alive; this happens because it promotes the authority of the party while keeping what they perceive as the enemy off balance. So terrible things happening actually make the system stronger, not weaker. 8. Third, constraints break. SCOTUS has already ruled that POTUS is basically a king for any enumerated power. They have no idea what they've unleashed. Under this doctrine, POTUS can replace the entire governmental civil service with loyalists to him, not the Constitution. This isn't speculative, Project 25 specifically expects this. He can offer to pardon all who break the law and command that the military assume civilian control of any dissent (he's expressed his interest in doing both). He now has total control of the full force of the US government. 9. It won't be civil war yet, but it will be blanket deployment of the DOJ, police and military to silence anyone or anything that would challenge their control. 10. Blessedly, our founders set us up as a federal republic. Governors will push back, and they have a lot of power. There might be severe push back from a combined uprising of some elites and street-level popular revolt. Unfortunately, all of this resistance will give POTUS the excuse he needs to really unleash the militias. 11. Beyond that the future is unknowable. In the worst case scenario, God forbid, there's no point in writing anything else. There is no France coming to help us against King George. The bond market collapses. Economic depression. Lots of other really bad things. Darkness descends. 12. The people will wonder how it happened. They didn't vote for this, but now they can't vote it out. They didn't know their history. They thought the price of milk, a porous border and gender confusion was America's biggest problems. Little did they realize they had history's most blessed gift, and they squandered it. The point is that this chain of causation isn't very speculative at this point. All of the incentives, the feedback loops, the lack of constraints, and the in-group bloodlust are already here, with references from today's news. The only question is how bad and dark does it get from point 7 onwards. And an important point is that it's already underway, but once it gets the power of the presidency on its side, it's actually out of Trump's hands at that point. He will no longer be in full control of it, even if he wanted to stop it. And he won't want to anyway, because it gives a narcissist the power and universal spectacle that is its deepest spiritual lifeblood. My followers know all of the above because I've said it and they know how I think. I'm not fear mongering, but I am trying to scare anyone who might read this to think deeply and clearly about the risks they're taking on. So share this post with a zoomer or millennial who can vote, let them know that what we face here isn't normal, that literally nothing in this world is worth the risk of the above, and that the probability of this happening is much higher than people think if they start to think in terms of bigger picture dynamics. There is still time to stop it.

Girdusky to Hasan: I hope your beeper doesn’t go off

Yeah good point, we used to fight nazis not vote for them

🇺🇸🇵🇷 Puerto Rican Veteran Emmanuel Aviles Cruz, from Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, served nine years active—five in the Army and four in the Marines, with three combat tours. "My people are not trash. My island is not trash. And this November 5, Americans like me, Veterans like me, and Boricuas like us, will be voting for Harris/Walz. We deserve respect!"

Elizabeth Bellak, 93 year-old Holocaust survivor, warns America to take his words seriously.

*MUSK THINKS HE CAN REDUCE US GOVERNMENT ANNUAL SPENDING BY $2 TRILLION

Race is remarkably stable. 47% of country is MAGA or open to MAGA; 53% isn't. The goal of Harris-Walz is to coalesce as much of 53% as possible. Today, Liz Cheney and Bernie Sanders are on the same side. That's not a bad coalition. The differences in polls are about the percentage of the 53% that Harris is getting. Trump stays stuck at 47%. If you were for Trump, you were for Trump months ago. You are looking for someone else to be acceptable. He's functioning as the incumbent. Harris is winning a larger percentage of R's than Trump is of D's. She's winning independents. Could Trump win? Sure. But is there any element of the campaign that Trump campaign is performing at a higher level than Harris campaign? Think of it as a sports team match-up. She has better organization, more money, a better message and is performing at a much higher level than Trump. Most candidates are trying not to make mistakes at this stage of the presidential race. Exhaustion is a key factor. But Harris is improving. Maybe because she hasn't been a candidate for a year and a half. In campaigns, the question you ask every night is would you rather be your campaign or the other guy? I'd rather be Harris.

Kick in her door in the middle of the night, put her in handcuffs, and send her and her kids back to where she was born. And do it on camera as a warning to anyone who thinks they can violate the sovereignty of my country without consequences.