Corroding democracy by cheapening it is the point. Making a vulgar example of it — see how little this is worth? See how I can degrade this thing you …

…fanatics don’t want it to happen — they throw out some crackpot arguments which make no sense — but basically they just want to burn it all down. The entire global economy goes into a tailspin like the 1930s. America missing a debt payment? LOL …

Millions of Americans began to see Trump as something like an Omnipotent Father Figure. More importantly, they began to have precisely those feelings for him — the feelings wounded children might have towards “good” parents. Feelings of warmth, affiliation, admiration, even love. Hence, when Trump directed them to be hateful, ignorant, foolish, bigoted, even violent — they seemingly obeyed. This is how demagoguery works, at a psychosocial level: the demagogue plays the Omnipotent Parent, and the flock adopts the posture of the Wounded, Helpless Child, whose role it is to obey the parent, because the parent is the Only One who truly loves them. Cherishes them. Will keep them safe. In the insecure, vicious hell that their lives have become.

…t are we really saying? Well, we’re saying that we don’t take our media diet very seriously at all. I was there when Twitter began — not in the room with Jack and Ev, but one of its first serious users. And back when it was fresh, I loved it. But it changed. Back then, the internet was coated in the gloss of idealism. Back then, the world’s richest man wasn’t Voldemort on Mars, either. Things changed. The world went super far right, and instead of becoming a community protecting itself against that, Twitter legimitized it. And for the last few years, even though it made great strides, and a group of noble people worked ve…

Being a child thrust into the limelight and swarmed by media and fans is traumatic. Talking about the trauma and starting a conversation is the first step to changing things for futur…