Teri Kanefield

It's what I've called the Outrage Cycle. It's a simple, effective formula. Trump says something outrageous and provocative designed to excite his base and rile his critics. Each time he does this, he accomplishes four things . . . 1/https://twitter.com/strychninelove/status/1252985299501801473 …

He keeps his base excited He enrages his critics He batters democratic institutions, and He fulfills his campaign promise to “protect” his followers from their “enemies” To make this even more effective, he includes in the outrageous statement lies and nonsense. . . 2/

Including lies, nonsense, and errors makes the technique more effective because his critics spend time unraveling the nonsense, pointing out the mistakes, and disproving the lies. This keeps his critics busy. It also keeps them spinning, which wears them out. Win-win. 3/

Wearing out the opposition causes them to give up. Keeping them spinning keeps also them in the moment. It's what Timothy Snyder calls the Politics of Eternity. You forget that the future can be different. You feel powerless to break out of the cycle. 4/

Because Trump is dangerous and doesn't care if people die, this creates a genuine dilemma. If you get outraged you feed the beast: The more outraged you are, the more euphoric his base feels because they're socking it to the libs. It's a self-fulfilling cycle. 5/