Timothy Snyder: The claim that Trump won the election is a big lie.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1347212082035519489.html

1/10. The claim that Trump won the election is a big lie.

2/10. A big lie changes reality. To believe it, people must disbelieve their senses, distrust their fellow citizens, and live in a world of faith.

3/10. A big lie demands conspiracy thinking, since all who doubt it are seen as traitors.

4/10. A big lie undoes a society, since it divides citizens into believers and unbelievers.

5/10. A big lie destroys democracy, since people who are convinced that nothing is true but the utterances of their leader ignore voting and its results.

6/10. A big lie must bring violence, as it has.

7/10. A big lie can never be told just by one person. Trump is the originator of this big lie, but it could never have flourished without his allies on Capitol Hill.

8/10. Political futures now depend on this big lie. Senators Hawley and Cruz are running for president on the basis of this big lie.

9/10. There is a cure for the big lie. Our elected representatives should tell the truth, without dissimulation, about the results of the 2020 election.

10/10. Politicians who do not tell the simple truth perpetuate the big lie, further an alternative reality, support conspiracy theories, weaken democracy, and foment violence far worse than that of January 6, 2021.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

1. K&R.

He's an expert in this stuff.

[pat_k]

2. The big lie is to be exploited to advance voter suppression.

The truth that must be told must include the examples of voter suppression. The rules that demonstrably disproportionately disenfranchise voters in more populous and blacker and browner areas. The long lines in urban areas that cause too many to turn around and go home. (Orchestrated by under allocation of resources.) The sloppy voter registration purges that disenfranchise legitimate voters.

We need to quit defending the election as the "best ever." In many states, voter suppression resulted in an UNDERCOUNT of Biden's support.

That must be part of the truth.

And we MUST mobilize our fellow citizens to stand up for truly free and fair elections, free of such tactics.

[Bleacher Creature]

3. I've been really fixated on this point these last few days. Thanks for posting.

It makes my blood boil when I hear people like Cruz and Hawley claim that they are just trying to be sure that their constituents concerns about the election are answered. They are G-D Senators who know full well that Biden won fairly, and if their constituents are confused it is their job to tell them the truth.

[scarletwoman]

4. The thing is, republicans have been gaslighting people for decades.

It's the only way they can get elected.

The 2020 election Big Lie is just the latest - and maybe the biggest - iteration of the repug playbook.

[Bucky]

5. Repeat it often enough, then people will believe it.

I mean, not everyone will believe it. Most people won't. But enough will be gullible that you can divide society and manipulate yourself on to the top.

The only part of this familiar strategy that Trump failed at was using that moment of divide to actually take over the country. Comparing Trump to Hitler or Mussolini misses two key factors: the American Left and political Center did not back down from Trump, and Trump's crew was too incompetent to pull off the mechanics of a coup.