Should I Care About a Coup?
I'm not sure if you noticed this but, a former president was indicted this week for attempting to overthrow our government.
It's not an exaggeration to say the trial and verdict will be one of the most significant events in U.S. history, yet for many Americans, the news barely registered.
The significance of the indictment is especially heightened when you consider this: the person charged with a coup attempt might be our next president. I'm not exaggerating. Donald Trump currently leads, by far, in the race for the Republican nomination, and he's tied in a matchup against President Joe Biden.
Yet, it feels to me like most Americans don't fully appreciate the peril that lies ahead. It may be that our news and media have treated us to daily alarmism for so long, truly big news is met with a yawn. We can certainly hope for the best, but we should prepare for heightened political extremism in 2024.
So, what do we do with friends and family who continue to be uninformed about the lies promulgated about the 2020 election and J6 insurrection? Here are 3 suggestions:
1) Nurture those relationships. In many cases, they are motivated to avoid contentious topics. That's understandable. Engaging with empathy rather than anger or frustration can reduce the chances of hurting the relationship.
2) Speak the truth. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away. Truth can't win on its own, it needs people to fight for it.
3) Read the indictment, and encourage others to do the same. It's only 45 pages and written clearly, without much lawyerly gobbledygook. It will help you better understand the severity of the charges and the evidence Jack Smith has gathered to make his case. It's easy to find a copy on the internet. Here's AP's version, or The Bulwark has a version you can listen to.
What Else We're Reading
"How I Went from Ultra-MAGA to Never Trump and Never DeSantis"
For many years, I voted Republican. I was an Ultra-MAGA, four-time Donald Trump voter (twice in the primaries, and twice in the general elections). I voted for Ron DeSantis in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial primary and general elections. I was a right-wing pundit whose writings were read by millions. I wrote text for Trump's voter outreach call scripts pro bono. I made volunteer calls to voters on behalf of the Trump and DeSantis campaigns.
And I am here to tell you that I was wrong about all of it. Through a slow and painful process, I went from Ultra-MAGA to Never Trump and Never DeSantis. How? My personal and political epiphany occurred gradually and then all at once, to paraphrase Ernest Hemingway.
"For Boebert and Greene, faith — and Christian nationalism — sells"
“We cannot, as a church, legally give her an offering, but I’m going to tell you how you can give to Lauren,” Perdue said, making sure to recite the URL for Boebert’s website and project it onto the screen.
“I’d like at least 50 people in this room to join me by donating $100 — I’d like to give her at least $5,000 from Charis Christian Center today,” he added, noting he planned to donate himself. “Do it today, so she knows it came from us.”
"Musk threatens to sue researchers who documented the rise in hateful tweets"
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has threatened to sue a group of independent researchers whose research documented an increase in hate speech on the site since it was purchased last year by Elon Musk.
An attorney representing the social media site wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate on July 20 threatening legal action over the nonprofit's research into hate speech and content moderation. The letter alleged that CCDH's research publications seem intended “to harm Twitter’s business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims.”