This letter is... something. But, it illustrates two points. First, most Americans don't realize that the majority of of the GOP base thinks this is a religious war for the soul of the nation. They're willing to abandon democracy FTW. 1/n

The other illuminating part is where they insist Trump is a Christian. I agree with @C_Stroop the "real" vs. "fake" Christian debate is unhelpful. However, if someone thinks religion is "b******t", they're not Christian regardless of how you define it 2/n https://t.co/HFCDG5LY91
It always amazes me how strong the cult of personality is. They're completely willing to rearrange their beliefs to support Trump (grab 'em by the pussy). They're willing to ignore the evidence he regards them as rubes, suckers, and morons. 3/n
Of all the awful things he's done, bilking his followers with fake raffles somehow stuck with me as just about the sleaziest. He's already rich. Even Rand Paul, Hannity, Carlson, Cruz, Cotton, and Hawley don't stoop this low. 4/n https://t.co/ZdqyjAimjp
On February 26th last year, I predicted that the US would handle the pandemic poorly for a lot of reasons: poor scientific literacy, bad employers, poor laws against endangering employees, lack of hospital beds, lack of preparedness. But, I whiffed badly on one thing... 5/n
I never dreamed that a third of the nation was willing to lick light poles and catch a potentially lethal or debilitating new disease to "own the libs" or prove a political point that the President was right and doctors were wrong. 6/n
Culturally, politically, we've reached a point of no return. They're completely immersed in unreality, and radicalized enough to die for their beliefs, be they religious or political. Honestly, there isn't a difference between the two anymore. 7/m
Trumpism is a holy crusade on the side of God. To be against Trump is to be against God, and vice versa. Supporting Trump is an inseparable part of their religious beliefs. I'm old enough that I remember a debate we had right after 9/11. 8/n
We asked ourselves if something was a religious or holy war if only one side thought it was. Here, today, now, we're at the same point. A secular America that thinks this is an argument about policy and politics, and a religious America that thinks this this is a war for God. 9/n
Given the pedestal we put religion on culturally and legally, I don't think secular Americans are ready for this conversation.

But they should be, because it's going to determine if we end up a democracy, or a competitive autocracy. 10/n

More from Politics

"3 million people are estimated not to have official photo ID, with ethnic minorities more at risk". They will "have to contact their council to confirm their ID if they want to vote"

This is shameful legislation, that does nothing to tackle the problems with UK elections.THREAD


There is no evidence in-person voter fraud is a problem, and it wd be near-impossible to organise on an effective scale. Campaign finance violations, digital disinformation & manipulation of postal voting are bigger issues, but these are crimes of the powerful, not the powerless.

In a democracy, anything that makes it harder to vote - in particular, anything that disadvantages one group of voters - should face an extremely high bar. Compulsory voter ID takes a hammer to 3 million legitimate voters (disproportionately poor & BAME) to crack an imaginary nut

If the government is concerned about the purity of elections, it should reflect on its own conduct. In 2019 it circulated doctored news footage of an opponent, disguised its twitter feed as a fake fact-checking site, and ran adverts so dishonest that even Facebook took them down.

Britain's electoral law largely predates the internet. There is little serious regulation of online campaigning or the cash that pays for it. That allows unscrupulous campaigners to ignore much of the legal framework erected since the C19th to guard against electoral misconduct.

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