TWO NEW TWEET STORMS BY @ezlusztig

I've made no secret of my man-crush for One Man Twitter Blizzard Elliott Lusztig. The man wields his Twitter account like a surgeon wielding a scalpel. It truly is a thing of beauty to behold, particularly on days like today, when he comes up with two fantastic threads full of information and ideas to get you thinking in new ways about things. Like for instance, in this first Tweet-storm, where he manages to focus in on something that I have yet to see addressed as clearly and succinctly as he's done, here:

1. The willingness of the GOP to abandon the free market in the face of a revolt of the growing white underclass is profoundly revealing.
2. In some ways it's the most important thing to happen in 2016. For years liberals decried the racism in ostensibly race-neutral policies.
3. What does the free market have to do with racism, conservatives asked. The free market is about creating wealth and efficiency.
4. But now that the free market isn't working so well for white Americans, Republicans are suddenly sounding like anti-market protectionists
5. The only conclusion to draw is that GOP commitment to the free market was always mainly about protecting interests of a white overclass.
6. So many GOP social & econ policies of that past three decades have had their roots in implicit racism. Free trade is one of them clearly.
7. 2016 was revolt of white Americans against aspects of globalization previously suffered mainly by minorities.
8. The deeper meaning of Trump is that, if the free market comes into conflict w/the class interests of white people - goodbye free market.
9. A gesture toward a Marxist interpretation of the 2016 election that is surprisingly plausible in broad outline.

See what I mean? It's not that I agree 100% with his interpretation necessarily--not sure I understand, for instance, precisely how free trade is inherently "racist", for example--but there's an intriguing idea there, worthy of further exploration by academics and journalists.

Meanwhile, when iut comes to today's second Tweet-storm, yer old pal Jerky is completely on board...

1. This article is not so much wrong as wrong-headed. Trump is Fascism Lite, maybe, but still fascist.
2. Berman's 1st criterion: Fascists were nationalists. Trump meets that easily. Not in Mussolini's sense, but unquestionably.
3. 2nd criterion: Fascists have "a deep suspicion of capitalism." Trump's attack on capitalism is deeper than is being reported - much more.
4. Fascism is anti-democratic. So is Trump. My god, how could there be any doubt about that by now?
5. And last: Fascists embrace violence. Trump is a man who offered to pay the legal fees of someone who sucker-punched a protester.
6. Trump is not Mussolini because America 2016 is not Italy 1930s. It's less the character of the movement than the nature of the times.
7. Trumpian Fascism can only get away with so much in a peaceful America at 5% unemployment. Trump is not Hitler because we are not Germany.
8. If you don't think Trump would put Muslims in concentration camps if we let him: Watch this video.