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Gwen Diehn's avatar

Maybe you, Jeff, can explain why in many states felons can't vote; yet a felon can be on the ballot in all states.

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Karen Zack's avatar

As always, your insights are powerful but terrifying.

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Zack's avatar

There are plenty of books and resources about what it looks like when countries slide toward fascism, some of which offer solutions on how to stop the rot. What I haven't seen -- and I'm hoping they exist -- are resources; guides; practical manuals on what to do when fascism arrives, despite our best efforts.

There's still some time to procure those, if they exist. Enough for us to internalize them; prepare ourselves for what we may very well face? Maybe; I hope... that's all I currently know how to do.

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Warren Zimmerman's avatar

Have you tried the writings of Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder, an expert on fascism etc. He is now a Substack writer, too.

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Vicki's avatar

Creators have been sharing books and other information. I have too. It's one of the ways I contribute from out of the country.

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Jon Notabot's avatar

Jeff you really do a thorough job making certain your ideas are communicated exactly as intended. You fill in the hairline cracks most of us writing types fail to seal, or even recognize. There is little to no room for misinterpretation in your communication - so long as we the audience are listening with a similar level of investment.

Candid is this brilliant telling. Thank you.

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Andy Adams's avatar

I'm glad you're writing here, Jeff. The past few days have been rough and I suspect the worst is yet to come. Please keep going. We need you.

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Dogmother2's avatar

I wish you were able to shine your brilliant light on things less dark than what feels like the beginning of the Dark Ages 2.0.

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Jeff Sharlet's avatar

Thanks. There's a very different, unrelated book in the works.

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Elizabeth Wade McCullough's avatar

Well said, as always. Thank you for writing. It at least makes me feel like I'm not crazy.

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Geoffrey Dewan's avatar

Jeff.

Thanks for this but I have to disagree with your narrative a bit. 9-11 was not the hinge point of history you posit here.

If Trump v. U.S is a more significant narrative event than J-6 then surely Bush v. Gore was the trap door to the rabbit hole from which we have yet to emerge. There’s even a cruel symmetry to those two “decisions” inasmuch as they’ve now brought us firmly into the phantasmagoria you cite.

Go back and re-read Antonin Scalia’s missive from Hell on 12/10/2000 and tell me what sense it makes as anything but a crude attempt to brutally twist reality to reverse engineer the law and the Constitution to suit his own perverse ends.

The vote counting had to be stopped because the 14th Amendment promised “equal protection”… and the different methods of marking ballots in the different Florida counties violated that principle?

I mean, WTF?

And the icing on the cake was his statement that he, who had once made a great show of solemnly stating that since Supreme Court rulings were nearly sacred inasmuch as they formed precedent for ages and descendants to come, must be issued cautiously and in the broadest terms, now concluded this carnival of tortured trash with the statement that this particular decision was only valid for this particular case and should never ever be exhumed as precedent before any future case.

Again I say, WTF?

The American democratic republic surely ended at 10 PM 12/10/2000 and has obviously never recovered. The headline events up to the present day, 9-11, Katrina, J-6, etc. have just been historical footnotes to that historic betrayal.

Act I that opened with Bush v. Gore has now concluded, appropriately, with Trump v. The United States.

Act II is now about to begin.

That’s the narrative that I’m living in and I’m sorry to say it provides little to no solace but thanks for supplying a framework to organize my feelings a bit.

All the best,

Geoff Dewan

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C. Jacobs's avatar

This is a great point. I remember Putin being interviewed by an American news service, maybe 60 Minutes, some time after the Bush v Gore election. He was asked about Russian elections and their fairness. He smirked and cynically replied through an interpreter that Russian elections were settled at the ballot box, and America just had their President chosen by people on a court. I never forgot that and it's seemed prescient ever since.

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Geoffrey Dewan's avatar

Sorry. 12/12/2000

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Louanne Greiner's avatar

Yes. Thanks.

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Tomatotop's avatar

Thank you Jeff. I think you ended it perfectly. I will share this with many people.

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Rebecca Weitzel's avatar

Very depressing, yet somehow comforting, last words.

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Charlotte Crist's avatar

Ok, I had to look up 2 words just to follow (blame the Nuns for just being worried about My Soul) and Yes, I’m scared shitless! My first reaction was To Leave, and it Still nags at me. My 75 year old brain thinks like a man. That came about by being sandwiched between three eclectic Brothers. My odd interest revolved around Cults, Serial Killers and Politics…pretty much in that order. I’ve kept an eye on Trump since the 70’s sensing the man would be trouble beyond being plastered across the Tabloids. I have a hard time believing he won fair and square. From his insane words and actions to the fact he broadcast he “didn’t Need the Votes”. Why would he say that? And Why did he Act Surprised when he did win? Call me skeptical. He knew the Horrid People he would pick for his Cabinet and yet That wasn’t Leaked. Very uncharacteristic for a narcissist. What else did he “know”? I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I fear J6 was the Dry Run and Powers-That-Be learned from their mistakes exactly How to Win w/out actually winning! Trump and Party don’t need to extinguish the Free Press, they are Already In His Pocket w/Click Bait! And the Writers are Correct, he is not the Leader, just The Figurehead. He wanted Hitlers CROWDS at all cost, Someone obliged And Here We The People Are.

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Andra Watkins's avatar

I keep telling people this about Republicans in my writing about Project 2025 here. What’s behind 45 is so much more extreme and ugly. I grew up in Christian Nationalism. I know how it subjugates and destroys. And Democrats can’t stop fighting about window-dressing and unite behind the necessity to defeat the fascists now. Whatever happens will be gruesome and ghastly. Thank you for your work.

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DebConner's avatar

aside: So true. Dark humor kicks in, ala 40 year old virgin: "Know how I know you're fascist? You say the U.S. is republic, not a democracy. Know how I know you're fascist? You say January 6 was totally peaceful"

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Colleen McGloughlin's avatar

“the epitome of smarm” 🏆

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Susan Lionheart's avatar

President Biden was just coming back from several trips overseas where he pushed himself and also wasn’t feeling well! trump never worked during his initial four years squatting in the Oval Office, he is a danger to our country and the world!

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Joanna Hannah's avatar

You are spot on, but I can't read Steve Bannon’s psychotic fantasies. These crusades will end the US, and honestly many want that for various reasons. But none of them are prepared for what war against ourselves means, and the aftermath of a civil war. Death, destruction and despair.

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