You can see exactly the same behaviour with Tulsi Gabbard's attempt to distract the public from the Epstein story with her attempts to prove Obama interfered with the 2016 election. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
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Long before these troubled times, on my visits to the US, I often marvelled over the abundant adherence to strict bureaucratic routines in all aspects of life. On this surface level, I was reminded of the old Soviet Russia. And now they are indeed becoming the same. Lies and empty institutions
aug 29, 2025, 11:17 am • 0 0 • view
That is the true threat: disordered counterpublics are no longer fringe. They are reshaping institutions themselves. Figures like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard act as bridges, pulling epistemic closure into the democratic system, corroding it from within.
aug 28, 2025, 9:30 pm • 137 15 • view
This is terrible for democracy, but great for authoritarianism, where loyalty trumps reality. It's exactly what's happening in the US, Trump's coalition of disordered counterpublics capturing institutions and destroying their democratic functions from within.
aug 28, 2025, 9:31 pm • 138 20 • view
And how easy it was to do with so little resistance is appalling and mind boggling for those of us experiencing it directly.
aug 28, 2025, 9:35 pm • 14 1 • view
More like feelings like "fun", joy, revenge and fear trumps reality in authoritarian systems (or wannaby variables) rather than loyality. Disloyalty is actually one of the problems of authoritarian regimes often leading to their disfunktion and downfall, no?
aug 29, 2025, 5:17 am • 0 0 • view
That’s true, authoritarian movements thrive on emotion: fear, revenge, even a sense of “fun.” But structurally, once they capture institutions, loyalty becomes the organising principle. It’s the filter for truth, the basis for purges, and the condition for survival inside the system.
aug 29, 2025, 5:41 am • 6 1 • view
How do you think this will end? Will the institutions be strong enough to correct this, or will US slide into full authoritarianism?
aug 28, 2025, 10:26 pm • 1 0 • view
It will take an uprising, prepared to use physical force to stop him. A Civil War to wrench authority away from him. Trump won't stop now. Opposition is uncoordinated and leaderless. Trump will use every power to keep it that way. (Putinisation of the institutions is already 80%++ complete.)
aug 31, 2025, 3:45 pm • 0 0 • view
The problem is, if people quit from institutions because they balk at the demands made on them it just results in them being replaced by loyalists, but if they aren't loyalist some excuse is used to get rid of them.
aug 29, 2025, 11:05 am • 3 0 • view
I was recently reminded of Lysenko, & the disastrous results of relying on science that fits a narrative- rather than science in its proper process. www.storybehindthescience.org/lysenkoism
aug 28, 2025, 9:34 pm • 2 0 • view