So, uh, the Trump rally in DC is off to a good start

"That was quite a loaded and inaccurate question" -- Jen Psaki to Peter Doocy after he characterizes the Biden administration looking at public Facebook posts as "spying"

"Our biggest concern here, and frankly I think it should be your biggest concern, is the number of people who are dying around the country because they're getting misinformation that is leading them to not take a vaccine" -- Jen Psaki to Peter Doocy

22 minutes apart. You cannot make it up

STEPHANOPOULOS: You recently gave Trump a 'Champion of Freedom' award, despite the fact he continues to spread lies about the election and insurrection. Doesn't that endorse that kind of behavior?

RICK SCOTT: I gave him the award for the right reasons ... he worked hard.

Chuck Grassley is laser focused on the big issues

Grassley is having some trouble

Lindsey Graham asks about caravans

it's like Hannity wrote these questions

oh, well if Trump-loving Republican AGs say there's no problem with threats of violence school board members, then I'm sure it's fine

Chuck Grassley just now on the Senate floor, without a shred of self-awareness

"The president has every right to discuss ideas & strategies with his closest advisors ... for robust discussion" -- Grassley is talking here about Trump's attempts to scheme with the DOJ to overthrow a free and fair election

Those dismayed at what is evidently considerable support for Trump must remember that fascism isn't a fad. It takes time to grow. It's been growing a long time. It will take a long time to root out. This will be the work ahead, even if Trump holds on for now. 1/

I think, too, we shld see past 1:1 conflation of American racism w/ fascism. Former is prerequisite of latter. It's always been there. Fascism hasn't. Fascism is racism surging *&* converging w/ multiple tributaries of violence (fantasy & fact), grievance, & personality cult.

So on one hand, Trump isn't an aberration; on the other, yes, he is worse than what's come before. I believe Trumpism is an inevitability. I also believe there is real historical reason to hope that its defeat--not yet, whoever wins--is also an inevitability. 3/

There have been U.S. fascisms before. The Klan, of course, & its politicians. I think also of the 1930s New Order of Cincinnatus, which elected a governor. They rejected the sieg heil salute as "*too* fascist." Emphasis theirs. They wanted just the right amount. 4/

And there have been plenty of racists in the White House. Trumpism is different--in part because of its vile wink, its grotesque "irony." Real fascism, the metastatic kind, is marked by a perversion of wit. That's how it gathers up fellow travelers. 5/

(THREAD) Media has yet to do a deep dive on precisely what Trump *said* in his January 6 speech in DC—a speech now called an "incitement to insurrection," and the basis for an article of impeachment coming Monday. This thread unpacks the speech. I hope you'll read on and RETWEET.

1/ First, many don't realize that while the name of the *rally* was "Stop the Steal," Trump spoke flanked by banners that read "Save America March"—Save America being the PAC Trump has used since the election to scam voters out of more than $300 million for "election defense."

2/ It appears, therefore, that the link between Trump, his opposition to Biden's January 6 certification in Congress, and the insurrectionist march on the Capitol is one that comes, incredibly, with a paper trail—as it appears Trump *paid for* the seditious "Save America March."

3/ Seconds into his speech, Trump says, "These people are not going to take it any longer. They're not going to take it any longer...They came from all over our country. I just really want to see what they do." It's an astonishing admission he thinks something is going to happen.

4/ Trump then seems to catch himself, repeating the phrase "I just really want to see" but now adding "how they [media] cover it [the Save America March]." It's hard to know, therefore—perhaps deliberately—whether "what they do" means "what media does" or "what the marchers do."