This morning, a lot of people thinking about The Turner Diaries, so here is some history. Turner Diaries is a novel that imagines a successful coup by white power activists who take over a homeland, then the US, then the world (1)

Several of the methods used in the book appeared in yesterday's insurrection. One is the "Day of the Rope," in which "traitors" (including members of Congress, people in interracial relationships, journalists, etc) are publicly hanged. Yesterday the mob erected a gallows (2)

...Yesterday the mob erected a gallows and people took selfies in front of it. (3)

Turner Diaries also prominently features an attack on the U.S. Capitol, though somewhat different than what we saw. In the book it's a mortar attack. But significantly, the point of the attack is NOT mass casualty, but showing people that even the Capitol can be attacked (4)

Turner Diaries places enormous importance on the protection of white women. The fact that a white woman was shot yesterday will fit into this narrative (a story that also goes back to Vicky Weaver's death in the Ruby Ridge standoff) (5)

Narcissistic rage is one of the darkest and deadliest forces known to mankind. Before it erupts, it usually simmers and percolates for a long time, fueled by resentment, envy and entitlement, the latter always aggrieved as the narcissist's need for...

...adulation and glory is insatiable and he can see the world populated by the undeserving, inferior people who nevertheless dare to be happier and/or more successful than he is.

It thus creates enemies out of the innocent and often weak who become vessels for the narcissist’s hateful and envious projections.

These sustained projections form a basis of an attitude called the narcissism of minor differences, first described by Freud, where we exaggerate..

...small differences in people who are our neighbors (...) in order to feel superior to them and exclude them from our group. This attitude, like anything else based on fear and hatred, easily infects others, already narcissistically predisposed; and the sharing makes...

...the hateful projections grow and spread.

The co-existent phenomenon of collective narcissism, which intensifies the in-group ties (and which is unsurprisingly associated with authoritarianism) at the expense of excluding and demonizing those who do not belong to our group...

Now that the political calculus has changed in US...

I don't accept the notion that one must critique both right & left in the same way or even give equal time to critiquing them in order to have a fair & faithful public witness. Why?

1. Critiques that aim for equal time will end up missing underlying dynamics of power & responsibility. Those w/ power are responsible in different ways than those w/out it. And those who claim the name of Christ have distinct repsonsiblities from those who don't.

2. Critiques that posit right/left as mirror images miss that while each may operate on different principles, they do so w/in the same set of social shaping forces. IOW, they might be swimming in different directions but they're in the same stream

3. Critique emerges from a specific ethos & is directed to a certain audience. Critiquing those outside your tribe is so much easier than those w/in it. B/c of this, faithfulness might sometimes mean more focused critique of your own group & less of your ideological opponent.

4. Critique of opponents requires extra work to do fairly b/c it means understanding their arguments as they understand them. It requires asking right questions, hearing answers, & being able to find true sources of disagreement, not superficial ones.

Some early theories on went went wrong with the pre-election polling this

Before we go into what went wrong, let's just call a spade a spade here: this was a bad polling error. It's comparable to 2016 in size, but pollsters don't have the excuses they did last time.
This year's polls would have been *way* worse than 2016 with a 2016 methodology

There are really two halves of polling: the quality of the sample you get, and the adjustments you take to improve the representativeness of your sample.
Since 2016, pollsters got better at the adjustments, but the underlying sample got worse

To my mind, the easiest way to see it: the crosstabs on white voters nationwide, particularly whites without a degree
In 2016, the polls *did* show Trump doing way better among those voters.
In 2020, they did not. And they were dead wrong.
Same story with seniors.

So what happened? How did the samples get that much worse over the last four years, especially among white voters without a degree and seniors?
At this stage, it's really just speculation. We'll know more later--it's too early for an autopsy.
But here's some early speculation

Follow up thread on Eric Coomer.

New: Dominion Voting Systems employee SUES Trump campaign and allies https://t.co/7dEEapCEYI via @MailOnline

New research into anti-immigration rhetoric, which I'll try to summarise in this THREAD.

It basically suggests that the emotive use of metaphor & hyperbole in anti-immigration rhetoric drives base support & INCREASES their likelihood of political

Typical anti-immigration rhetoric used by right-wing populist nationalist parties presents immigrants as outsiders, who are framed as a threat to the populist nationalists idealized nation.

In their anti-immigration rhetoric, politicians typically use strong, vivid, & negative metaphors & hyperboles to frame their political statements.

There is agreement that, at least for parts of the electorate, such populist anti-immigration rhetoric can be highly persuasive.

Metaphor & hyperbole can spark emotions by eliciting a vivid image & can increase perceived message intensity.

Metaphors can activate connotations attached to intense & negative concepts, like war & other threats, & hyperboles can exaggerate danger & emphasize threats.

When metaphor &/or hyperbole are used to frame a political issue, they not only add a rhetorical flourish, but they transfer conceptual content as well: they can promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, problem evaluation, &/or a possible problem solution.

[THREAD] There's a lot of talk about divisiveness and unity right now. The country is at a low point and if you take the politics out of it, it is an opportunity for each of us to take a hard look at how we contribute to both divisiveness and unity. I've been thinking about /1

all the times that I retweeted something snarky, posted a meme that reinforced stereotypes about 'the other side', used words that I would never say in front of my mother or my child, and generally just gave into visceral, knee-jerk reactions to things I disagreed with. /2

That's not to say there wasn't plenty of crap that deserved strong pushback and loud protesting. It's our role as citizens to not only elect our representatives but also hold them accountable. The vitriol is optional, and I chose it more often than not. I don't know if I can /3

really change, but it's clear to me that I should at least try not to make things worse. I am a very different person now compared to 2016, capable of a sort of hatred I'd reserved for very few people I personally knew who did things I considered unforgivable. Not this. /4

Not hatred for a group of strangers who oppose what I believe in, just as I oppose what they believe in. Some may be vile, despicable, truly dangerous people. Most are probably not. I have led a privileged life. Born in comfort from parents who encouraged critical thinking, /5

Here are there I’m seeing surprise expressed at the white women players in storming the capitol.

I want to talk about that because I’m not surprised.

I’m not surprised because as a fiber artist I’ve seen these women for DECADES.

Thread.

These are the women who were tone policing knitters of color on newsgroups and mailing lists in the 1990s.

These are the women who don’t see color and just came here to do their craft thing and why does everything have to be about politics?

These are the women who were doxxing and swatting other crocheters in a group I moderated (and shut down) in 2005 on livejournal.

These are the women who, along with their hovering spouses, have open carried in my handspinning classroom.

These are the women who made lists of anti-trump fiber arts teachers and circulated those for harassment.

These are the women who post reviews on Amazon saying “she’s a racist who banned me because I’m white.”

These are the women who hate it when someone says “fuck.”

These are the WHITE WOMEN who say “stop the hate! This is supposed to be about the knitting.” Or spinning or weaving or whatever.

A great read from @sulliview. I agree with it.

There are a few things to note here.

1) White journalists not only ignored, but actively silenced Black and POC colleagues who signalled alarm about Trump's white supremacy

2) The open, intense theater of white journalists and politicians being shaken by Trump's violence and danger NOW is fundamentally insulting to POC.

Watching Maggie Haberman be shocked at the man she openly enabled -- despite warnings -- is a bleak journalistic spectacle.

3) Someone very smart mentioned that it's natural that people recognize danger when it's "close to home." yes.

But the surprise and shock of white journalists now is also an admission that they never saw Black and POC colleagues in that same home. That home was a white project.

Lastly, in 2020 when Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets and were met with state violence -- and Trump threatened worse-- white journos often seized on a narrative that the protests were "riots" and protesters should "follow police orders and you won't get hurt" ...

...Black protesters and organizers pointed to hours of footage showing that police, on Trump's incitement, purposely harmed and hunted BLM protesters. They also harmed white marchers. BLM advocates noted that you cannot be "lawful" when the police are breaking the law...

G’morning from the Capitol, where we’re about to have a pro forma session in both chambers during which nothing will get done. This begins at 9

In the meantime, here’s what we said in Playbook this morning.

Headline: "Cyclone of uncertainty and chaos"

WITH 27 DAYS LEFT IN HIS PRESIDENCY, and the nation on the doorstep of Christmas, DONALD JOHN TRUMP has sucked Americans into a violent cyclone of uncertainty and chaos.

HE IS PARDONING CRIMINALS at a breakneck clip. Last night it was MANAFORT, who was in prison on tax charges, R STONE and CHARLES KUSHNER, IVANKA's father in law. Earlier this week crooked politicians and other unseemly actors. @BenSasse called the pardons “rotten to the core.”

>@maggieNYT and @nytmike put it this way: TRUMP “is at perhaps his most unleashed.”

@maggieNYT @nytmike TRUMP -- as he has so many times before -- has thrown the government he is supposed to be leading into an intractable crisis.

HOW NANCY PELOSI AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY PLAN TO GIVE AMERICA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

HR 1111-The Democrats and the UN Plan to Seize Control of the Government

Completely destroying US Sovereignty & place our country under a One World Government

Trump may be best remembered for his use of Twitter as a bully pulpit to stoke controversy or browbeat opponents, but the noise his tweets generated often distracted from the big policy changes he made over his four-year term https://t.co/shNVNMoDfg

During his rollercoaster presidency, the focus was often on what Trump was saying and not on what he was doing. But a review of his policies shows that he had a real effect on people’s lives. Here's a closer look 👇

➖ China:

The Trump administration put China’s rise in the spotlight and helped forge a bipartisan and increasingly adversarial U.S. view of the world’s second-largest economy

From a raft of tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports to sanctions against top officials and a muscular use of penalties against top Chinese companies like Huawei, ZTE, SMIC and TikTok owner ByteDance, Trump hit Beijing on a variety of fronts

Tensions have risen especially over the past year with Trump repeatedly blaming China for the coronavirus, which originated in the city of Wuhan. The two global powers are increasingly at odds over a range of other issues, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea

#BidenCrimeFamilly

Sleepy Joe was a wonderful father.
Hunter went on to make millions for his old man and family off of our backs.
Bet this is all a lie, all manufactured, right?
Here is a story
Joe Biden and his first wife, Neilia, had three children: Hunter, Beau and Naomi.

In 1972, Neilia and Naomi, died in a car accident.
Joe eventually married a woman named Jill (his current wife).
He already knew her because she had been Hunter's babysitter at the time of the car accident. (Yeah, THAT seems normal- marry the babysitter).

They had a daughter named Ashley. Ashley lives 'a quiet life' and is frequently in and out of rehab for various substance abuse issues.
Now sadly, the sanest, most normal one of the 3 surviving kids, Beau, dies in 2015 from a brain tumor.

He had been married to Haillie and they had 2 children, a boy and a girl named Natalie, who was 11 yrs old when her dad died.
Enter Hunter Biden, in 2015, to "comfort" his brother's widow. Mind you, Hunter is married at the time, to Kathleen Biden, since 1993.

He starts screwing around with his dead brother's wife in 2015..his wife Kathleen finds out about it and they separate. Hunter moves in with his dead brother's wife, Haillie,and her two kids and they have a grand old time.
He ultimately gets divorced from Kathleen in 2017.