I thought often during the latter Trump years about the contrast with Barack Obama's "stray voltage" strategy, which involved saying provocative and often flatly untrue things to prompt discussion of Obama's preferred topics for political gain.
More from John Hayward
More from Trump
1.) Here’s the transcript: Coincidence it is “18” screenshots to capture? I think not!💥🇺🇸💥🇺🇸💥 https://t.co/wrfqjjW6hw
PRESIDENT TRUMP: THIS MAY BE, THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH I'VE EVER MADE. 12/02/2020
— GEORGE NEWS (@GeorgenewsOrg) December 3, 2020
(Use English/French Subtitles and READ every single word) #GodWins https://t.co/ZJ9racUF6o
Picking up on @henryfarrell's comments here, one implication of my work on democratic breakdown is that the US should harshly punish GOP leaders who attempted to keep Trump in power despite losing the election and fomented insurrection to advance that effort. 1/n
I wrote a book a decade ago that used game theory to explore the ways democracies die and what that tells us about how and why they sometimes survive. 2/n
One implication of the formal model in that book is that normative commitments to democracy may matter less than expectations about the benefits and costs of trying to subvert democracy. 3/n
It's great when all the major players (ruling party, opposition party, and military) believe democracy is good in itself. If they don't, tho, then what matters most are their beliefs about how easily they can seize power and how costly it would be to try and fail. 4/n
I think it's pretty clear that many key players in the GOP don't see democracy as a good in itself ("we're a republic, not a democracy"). So that shifts their attention to their ability to usurp power and the costs of trying and failing. 5/n
1. Short thread - on the various claims we're seeing from Republican politicians over the last few days that the Democratic push for accountability is "divisive." Damn right it's divisive - that is what it has to be.
— Henry Farrell (@henryfarrell) January 10, 2021
I wrote a book a decade ago that used game theory to explore the ways democracies die and what that tells us about how and why they sometimes survive. 2/n
One implication of the formal model in that book is that normative commitments to democracy may matter less than expectations about the benefits and costs of trying to subvert democracy. 3/n
It's great when all the major players (ruling party, opposition party, and military) believe democracy is good in itself. If they don't, tho, then what matters most are their beliefs about how easily they can seize power and how costly it would be to try and fail. 4/n
I think it's pretty clear that many key players in the GOP don't see democracy as a good in itself ("we're a republic, not a democracy"). So that shifts their attention to their ability to usurp power and the costs of trying and failing. 5/n
@WestJournalism DemoKKKrats just LOVED the BLM/Antifa rioters when they descended upon DC! Nancy Pelosi even Tweeted:
https://t.co/MbXFf5Xc4u
I would like to see Democrats produce even one shred of evidence or just one example of President Trump calling for insurrection. Just one. That's all.
https://t.co/MbXFf5Xc4u
I would like to see Democrats produce even one shred of evidence or just one example of President Trump calling for insurrection. Just one. That's all.
We welcome the presence of these activists, and we strongly urge the Capitol Police to allow them to continue to organize and participate in our democracy.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) November 13, 2018
