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

My piece in the NY Times today: "the Trump administration is denying applications submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services at a rate 37 percent higher than the Obama administration did in 2016."

Based on this analysis: "Denials for immigration benefits—travel documents, work permits, green cards, worker petitions, etc.—increased 37 percent since FY 2016. On an absolute basis, FY 2018 will see more than about 155,000 more denials than FY 2016."
https://t.co/Bl0naOO0sh


"This increase in denials cannot be credited to an overall rise in applications. In fact, the total number of applications so far this year is 2 percent lower than in 2016. It could be that the higher denial rate is also discouraging some people from applying at all.."

Thanks to @gsiskind for his insightful comments. The increase in denials, he said, is “significant enough to make one think that Congress must have passed legislation changing the requirements. But we know they have not.”

My conclusion:

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