Thank you for putting this together! I was thinking it would be great to have a spreadsheet tracking these things and so I did some googling and found this. What would you think about adding a column that has "action items" for each row, linking to things like specific call scripts to call representatives, organizations we could donate to, etc?
I have lived through so much political chaos growing up in Africa, but looking at recent events, we see that the duplicitous rule of the Boris Johnson factor is now collapsing into the assault on freedom, justice, and the rule of law. The West will have no moral high ground to retreat to and defend.
Trump is shifting the Overton Window - intentionally!
The Overton Window is a concept in political science that describes the range of ideas and policies considered acceptable or mainstream in public discourse at any given time. Shifting the Overton Window means moving this range to include ideas that were previously seen as extreme or unthinkable. This shift can happen gradually through cultural, political, or social changes, or more rapidly due to significant events or influential figures.
Another big thank you for your work and you are right people can normalise authoritarian behaviour. With Trump and his lackeys we see wave after wave and it can be exhausting. It is important for communities to stand together and continue to highlight and challenge such abnormalities. In doing so and logging the changes over time it is possible to create a road map back to normality in the hope that Trump can be removed when his second 4 year term is up!
Yes, it needs documenting. Reminds me of the 2000s .. climate change was theory but the "climate signal" starting to appear above the noise. Promptly, a massive professional PR strategy to deny what we saw, trash science and scientists I was in health science. We spent spare time reading climate science and documenting, studying the PR tactics. To understand what techniques were used, to persuade people to believe untrue as correct, and impact of this on our country. . And here we are again.
The 2000s, it was one sector, fossil fuel coalitions, protecting its business interests. The background was still normal enough, and accepted enough, to show them up. .Today, their target is that entire normal background.
And this. If they can keep it up for just a decade ... it becomes normal .. because kids grow up knowing nothing different.
Another good piece Christina – but I worry about your need to continue to document the US authoritarian catastrophe. Surely others are doing it/will do it? Or is it that the US commentariat (who should be better placed to do the job) are so cowed that they dare not?
The thing is, we know it’s a total shit show and there’s so much happening precisely because they are deliberately ‘flooding the zone’ as Bannon and others have pressed for. I just worry that by the 2028 you will have become totally consumed by the task. Is it worth it?
Yes normalization is a problem, but I’d prefer it if you sometimes discussed normalization of other issues such as Covid, which has gone away – or has it?
I feel like I've said the same things about Covid over and over and that there is little value in continuing to say them. There isn't much happening with Covid in the UK right now - prevalence has been low for months. There will be more waves in the future and I will highlight those when they happen. Bob Hawkins does an excellent weekly Covid update: https://bhawkins3.substack.com/s/covid-weekly-update . I expect to write a bit more on the Inquiry as things come up too.
Right now, what Trump is doing to science, health, environment, democracy and the international order is simply more important to me and writing about it helps me make sense of it. I'm sorry if that's disappointing! You can choose to only subscribe to Covid posts in this substack if you like ?
Thank you Christina for another wise and pertinent post. It chimes with my recent memory of Martin Niemöller's "First they came ... and I did not speak out. Because I was not ..." We are entering those times again.
Such an astute and timely post— it is exhausting and there’s a tendency to “ tune out “ for self protection. This should be mandatory reading, again and again
I think we also need to remember that an unmitigated pandemic is also ‘ not normal’ - it’s not only the US that is experiencing normalisation of the abnormal.
In fact, I would go further and say that what has happened with regards to Covid- both back at the start of the pandemic, and the continuing erasing of this ongoing serious health threat has massively contributed to where we are now- Covid denial and minimisation, misinformation, disinformation, anti-science and anti-vax propaganda paved the way for exactly this kind of scenario. But I think you wrote a post on this some weeks ago- how it wouldn’t take much for these things to happen in the UK- so apologies if I’m going off on one. I just think the UK as it is, with our current administration, never mind if other parties came to power, has some quite similar issues, especially with demonisation of poor, disabled and migrant people- not as extreme, but heading in similar directions.
Thanks for taking the time to shine a light. Your posts have achieved that for myself and my family throughout the Pandemic and now during this sickening presidency. It is so important to keep that light shining and I wish you the strength to continue.
Thanks again for reminding us what sane thinking looks like 🙏
Thank you for putting this together! I was thinking it would be great to have a spreadsheet tracking these things and so I did some googling and found this. What would you think about adding a column that has "action items" for each row, linking to things like specific call scripts to call representatives, organizations we could donate to, etc?
The spreadsheet says it all 👍👍 but I wonder if the Trump administration are using it to monitor their own success….
That’s what ‘living with’ a pandemic is.
Absolutely spot on Christina . Normalisation apathy and acceptance are Democracies biggest dangers .
I have lived through so much political chaos growing up in Africa, but looking at recent events, we see that the duplicitous rule of the Boris Johnson factor is now collapsing into the assault on freedom, justice, and the rule of law. The West will have no moral high ground to retreat to and defend.
Trump is shifting the Overton Window - intentionally!
The Overton Window is a concept in political science that describes the range of ideas and policies considered acceptable or mainstream in public discourse at any given time. Shifting the Overton Window means moving this range to include ideas that were previously seen as extreme or unthinkable. This shift can happen gradually through cultural, political, or social changes, or more rapidly due to significant events or influential figures.
Another big thank you for your work and you are right people can normalise authoritarian behaviour. With Trump and his lackeys we see wave after wave and it can be exhausting. It is important for communities to stand together and continue to highlight and challenge such abnormalities. In doing so and logging the changes over time it is possible to create a road map back to normality in the hope that Trump can be removed when his second 4 year term is up!
Yes, it needs documenting. Reminds me of the 2000s .. climate change was theory but the "climate signal" starting to appear above the noise. Promptly, a massive professional PR strategy to deny what we saw, trash science and scientists I was in health science. We spent spare time reading climate science and documenting, studying the PR tactics. To understand what techniques were used, to persuade people to believe untrue as correct, and impact of this on our country. . And here we are again.
The 2000s, it was one sector, fossil fuel coalitions, protecting its business interests. The background was still normal enough, and accepted enough, to show them up. .Today, their target is that entire normal background.
And this. If they can keep it up for just a decade ... it becomes normal .. because kids grow up knowing nothing different.
Another good piece Christina – but I worry about your need to continue to document the US authoritarian catastrophe. Surely others are doing it/will do it? Or is it that the US commentariat (who should be better placed to do the job) are so cowed that they dare not?
The thing is, we know it’s a total shit show and there’s so much happening precisely because they are deliberately ‘flooding the zone’ as Bannon and others have pressed for. I just worry that by the 2028 you will have become totally consumed by the task. Is it worth it?
Yes normalization is a problem, but I’d prefer it if you sometimes discussed normalization of other issues such as Covid, which has gone away – or has it?
I feel like I've said the same things about Covid over and over and that there is little value in continuing to say them. There isn't much happening with Covid in the UK right now - prevalence has been low for months. There will be more waves in the future and I will highlight those when they happen. Bob Hawkins does an excellent weekly Covid update: https://bhawkins3.substack.com/s/covid-weekly-update . I expect to write a bit more on the Inquiry as things come up too.
Right now, what Trump is doing to science, health, environment, democracy and the international order is simply more important to me and writing about it helps me make sense of it. I'm sorry if that's disappointing! You can choose to only subscribe to Covid posts in this substack if you like ?
Oh no, please carry on and I will continue to read. I just worry that it will be bad for you, who are precious to many of us here. Or is it cathartic?
"Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein."
I agree with PSBaker -- it's interesting and valuable to read thughtful analyses of this "elephant-in-the-room" issue, for most of us, surely.
Thank you Christina for another wise and pertinent post. It chimes with my recent memory of Martin Niemöller's "First they came ... and I did not speak out. Because I was not ..." We are entering those times again.
Thank you Christina.
Such an astute and timely post— it is exhausting and there’s a tendency to “ tune out “ for self protection. This should be mandatory reading, again and again
I think we also need to remember that an unmitigated pandemic is also ‘ not normal’ - it’s not only the US that is experiencing normalisation of the abnormal.
In fact, I would go further and say that what has happened with regards to Covid- both back at the start of the pandemic, and the continuing erasing of this ongoing serious health threat has massively contributed to where we are now- Covid denial and minimisation, misinformation, disinformation, anti-science and anti-vax propaganda paved the way for exactly this kind of scenario. But I think you wrote a post on this some weeks ago- how it wouldn’t take much for these things to happen in the UK- so apologies if I’m going off on one. I just think the UK as it is, with our current administration, never mind if other parties came to power, has some quite similar issues, especially with demonisation of poor, disabled and migrant people- not as extreme, but heading in similar directions.
As ever, clear and perspicacious. You are a wise woman Christina.
Thanks for taking the time to shine a light. Your posts have achieved that for myself and my family throughout the Pandemic and now during this sickening presidency. It is so important to keep that light shining and I wish you the strength to continue.