I want you to understand something:

Twitter didn't just nuke @realdonaldtrump today

They nuked the top 35% of his most influential users/followers/thought-leaders.

Why did they take the dramatic and unprecedented step of doing this so suddenly, to perfectly rule-abiding users?

The clearest lens through which I view the 1776 Report, Trump's apologia in response to the 1619 Project, is the same lens for viewing our overall political divisions: one of competing theories of American Exceptionalism:

Is America exceptional? How? Why? 1/x

The 1776 Report postulates that America is _inherently_ exceptional. We don't have to do anything in particular to be exceptional, and we remain exceptional no matter what we've done. It's deeply interwoven with white Christianity: a faith in inevitability of God's plan. 2/x

This religious inevitability of exceptionalism sharpens a lot about the Trump phenomenon, probably often confused for white supremacy, when it's really religious conviction. America simply can't lose, and they're defending America against critics, naysayers, and threats. 3/x

Trump's loss has caused complete disorientation. They view their faith as being challenged. They rise up in fulfillment of prophecy. They exegete the Constitution as sacred text for God's plan to keep Trump in office. They become apocalyptic at the end times. 4/x

But if the Constitution is their Old Testament, the 1776 Report is their gospel. It's important to distill the kernel of their faith: America is, always has been, and always will be inherently exceptional. That's what underlies the right's patriotic correctness. 5/x

Trump biographers—including me—and many Washington journalists are telling America that (a) Trump will never stop his coup attempt, (b) there's no bottom to what he's willing to do, therefore (c) there's no final "victory" over Trump we can celebrate.

I hope America will listen.

Donald Trump is a profoundly damaged mind. Everyone close to him who gets escape velocity from his madness says so. Friends. Employees. Family members. Trump's pathologies make him an ongoing danger to America that Biden's DOJ and intelligence officials *cannot afford* to ignore.

Too many journalists wrote pieces tonight calling the SCOTUS decision in the Texas lawsuit a "fatal blow" to Trump's coup. Listen—the coup was never going to succeed and Biden was always going to be sworn in. The question is what the country will look like when (and after) he is.

So you have a man on a mission to destroy this country who has it within his power to do so and you think his pathological scheme will cease because of a court decision? The "coup" concept will unfold over as long a period as Trump needs for him to get what he wants: total power.

Lara Trump will run for the Senate in North Carolina, they say. Ivanka Trump is mulling a Florida Senate run. Donald Trump Jr. is mulling the Montana governorship. The GOP may be the "Trump Party" by 2024.

This is an ongoing effort to build an autocratic dynasty and end America.

THREAD: To cap off the Trump era, I interviewed a politically diverse group of constitutional scholars, presidential historians and experts on democracy to put together a definitive list of Trump's ten most egregious abuses of power. Here's what we found.

1) SUBVERTING THE 2020 ELECTION. There is broad agreement that Trump's worst abuse was his relentless effort to undermine the vote and overturn the legitimate results. No POTUS ever tried a political coup like this. It's simply un-American, experts said.

2) INCITING AN INSURRECTION. We all saw what happened on January 6. Trump incited a rally supporters in DC to attack the US Capitol while electoral votes were being counted. He got impeached for it. A permanent scar on his legacy, experts said.

3) ABUSING THE BULLY PULPIT. Different than other abuses because it's speech, not actions. But still, experts said this was a very big deal. His nonstop lying, attacks, racist rhetoric, and fanning of flames was deeply corrosive to our political culture.

4) POLITICIZING THE DOJ. Trump repeatedly crossed lines and violated norms that have been in place since Watergate to create independence between the WH and federal law enforcement. Wielded DOJ as a weapon against enemies and shield for himself and allies.

1/ The Left DESPERATELY wants you to believe that Trumpism = domestic terrorism. As always, they provide NO proof. They will point to the Jan 6 Capitol attack, when right-wing extremists mixed with Antifa infiltrators to carry out a pre-planned attack...