3 ms·
“Helps no one” except probably winning elections, given the “he’s a fascist” messaging (while true) didn’t seem to resonate.
by llamaimperative 2y ago
“Helps no one” except probably winning elections, given the “he’s a fascist” messaging (while true) didn’t seem to resonate.
- throwaway894345 2y ago[flagged]
- lesuorac 2y agoI'm not sure the crying wolf is accurate. It's like shouting that the bridge is going to collapse because you see a few supports buckle. Anybody with eyes can see the bridge is standing and heavy ass trucks are driving on top of it. Trumps first term was relatively neutered because people just refused to do what he asked. Those supports are gone now though and like the bridge collapse the observable changes happened slowly and then suddenly all at once.
- throwaway894345 2y agoI would agree with you if I had been talking about using "fascism" to describe first-term Trump and his hardcore supporters, but I was very specifically referring to the application of the term toward liberals and progressives who were deemed too moderate on identity politics. And to be clear, by "too moderate", I mean stuff like "advocating nonviolent protests" and "criticizing the weaponization of Title IX at universities". I think warning about Trump fascism was appropriate and legitimate, but I think using the label as a lazy cudgel to get liberals and progressives to toe a poorly-conceived line did a tremendous amount to erode the term's significance and rhetorical power.