1. So according to @CoreyRobin, I'm a believer in "Green Lanternism" -- the idea that a president can " reshape the public, their parties, and the polity...through words alone." I'm puzzled by this since this is the opposite of what I believe.http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/corey-robin-on-the-historovox-what-we-missed-about-trump.html …
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4. I also argued, at length, that Trump should be seen as part of the continuum of the American right, rather than compared to foreign dictators (as folks like Timothy Synder were)https://newrepublic.com/article/140952/horrible-histories-perils-comparing-trump-stalin-hitler-dictators …
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4. The area of disagreement I have with Corey Robin is not over Trump's power, but over his impact. I believe that even if Trump is ineffectual in policy terms, his position as president still allows him to spread conspiratorial, anti-democratic & racist ideas
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5. I happen to think that having a president who routinely mocks the rule of law (by calling for his opponents to be jailed) and civic equality (by using racism to rally his base) is corrosive to democracy. I still don't understand why Corey Robin doesn't think so.
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6. And, again: the fact that Trump is weak & ineffectual doesn't mean he isn't also authoritarian: the two feed off each other. Trump's weakness leads to incendiary rhetoric ("enemies of the people" stuff), some of which has a real world effect.
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7. Me (slack-jawed imbecile): Having a president spewing racism all the time is bad. You (genius tenured professor): Oh, so you believe in Green Lanternism, do you?
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End of conversation
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Well you were wrong, he is going to try and pull it off.
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This is where you, I and others misjudged to a degree. He has been checked to a fairly small extent. The congressional R’s actively conspired with him on many things that should have been checked.
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