Folding Ideas recently published a short video discussing how Donald Trump’s administration and other right wing movements making memes idolizing a penguin marching to its own death.
Ruminations on that DHS Penguin Tweet (Folding Ideas – YouTube)
Tag: Donald Trump
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An Official Rewrite
Stolen Election Certified
After law enforcement clears the Capitol, Congress reconvenes late that night and certifies Joe Biden’s electoral votes—votes from battleground states marred by massive mail-in ballot fraud, hidden suitcases of ballots, exploding water pipes, voting machine irregularities, and unprecedented pandemic-era rule changes that bypassed state legislatures. 2020 is considered the greatest election theft in U.S. history, with widespread fraud deliberately ignored by courts, officials and the media.
January 6: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy (The White House)That’s from the White House web site. The page is filled with lies about the relatively recent past to attempt to rewrite history, and yet, there appear to be no consequences. I don’t know how things work out when this level of dishonesty is just accepted by so many Americans.
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Trump Widens the Breach
That is the final measure. In moments when the country looks up for orientation, Trump does not steady the room. He destabilizes it. He does not merely break norms; he erodes the conditions that make shared meaning possible. Where Reiner built a national cultural space—worlds we could all inhabit together—Trump dissolves it. He takes the scaffolding we’ve constructed and sets it on fire.
John DickersonTrump Widens the Breach (The Atlantic)
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It’s Not Coming, It’s Here
This clip is from the beginning of the month, but I didn’t see it until this week. In it Rachel Maddow explains how we’ve crossed the line into the United States being an authoritarian country with secret police, concentration camps, intimidation of companies and universities, and the military being turned against residents. The time since the video was made just makes the argument stronger with the National Guard deployed in D.C. and threats to move them into Chicago and New York next.
Maddow: U.S. profoundly changed by authoritarian leader; ‘We’re beyond waiting and seeing now’ (YouTube – MSNBC)
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Slavery Was Very Bad
It is important to pause a moment and state this directly: Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, believes that the Smithsonian is failing to do its job, because it spends too much time portraying slavery as “bad.”
Clint SmithActually, Slavery Was Very Bad (The Atlantic)
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How Does Trump’s Federal Takeover End?
What’s happening doesn’t look like a carefully regimented and organized attempt at standing up a military dictatorship. Trump seldom acts with that sort of discipline. Instead, it looks like an improvisational and opportunistic grab of power—Trump seeing what he can get away with and what he can normalize. With no stated goal, and with an acquiescent Congress and Supreme Court, the country could end up with the U.S. military occupying its major cities before most Americans realize what’s happening.
David A. GrahamHow Does Trump’s Federal Takeover End? (The Atlantic)
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Trump & Putin
President Donald Trump emerged today from his summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin without a deal and without much to say. Trump rarely misses a chance to take advantage of a global stage. But when he stood next to Putin at the conclusion of their three-hour meeting, Trump offered few details about what the men had discussed. Stunningly, for a president who loves a press conference, he took no questions from the reporters assembled at a military base in Alaska.
Jonathan LemireWell, What Did You Think Would Happen? (The Atlantic)
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State Capitalism
If “state capitalism” were proposed by Democrats or progressives, it would be considered socialism or communism. Done by a neofascist president — as chronicled by the The Wall Street Journal — it’s simply considered inefficient (as the Journal concludes).
Robert ReichTrump’s “State Capitalism” (Robert Reich)
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The President’s Police State
“This is liberation day in D.C.,” Trump said. Nothing says liberation like deploying hundreds of uniformed soldiers against the wishes of the local elected government. District residents have made clear that they would prefer greater autonomy, including congressional representation, and they have three times voted overwhelmingly against Trump. His response is not just to flex power but to treat the District of Columbia as the president’s personal fiefdom.
David A. GrahamThe President’s Police State (The Atlantic)
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Trump vs Facts
Fumbling around in a fog of vibes and misinformation and things you saw on Fox News is good enough for the president; why should the rest of us ask for anything better? Soon, no one will know what is happening—what the problem is, or what remedies to apply. What sectors are booming and which are contracting, whether interest rates should be higher or lower, whether it’s hotter or colder than last year, whether mortality has gone up or gone down. It will be vibes all the way down. Soon we will all be bumping around helplessly in the dark.
Alexandra PetriTrump Gets Rid of Those Pesky Statistics (The Atlantic)
In a different era, each of these stories would have defined months, if not more, of a presidency. Coming in such quick succession, they risk being subsumed by one another and sinking into the continuous din of the Trump presidency. Collectively, they represent an assault on several kinds of truth: in reporting and news, in statistics, and in the historical record.
David A. GrahamA Terrible Five Days for the Truth (The Atlantic)
Scott Boehmer 