- This is what happens when Donald Trump attacks a private citizen on Twitter (WaPo) "About a year ago, 18-year-old college student Lauren Batchelder stood up at a political forum in New Hampshire and told Donald Trump that she didn’t think he was 'a friend to women.' The next morning, Trump fired back on Twitter — calling Batchelder an 'arrogant young woman' and accusing her of being a 'plant' from a rival campaign. Her phone began ringing with callers leaving threatening messages that were often sexual in nature. Her Facebook and email in-boxes filled with similar messages. As her addresses circulated on social media and her photo flashed on the news, she fled home to hide. For Batchelder, who studies history and gender studies at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H, the abuse continues more than a year later. Five days before the election, she received a Facebook message that read: 'Wishing I could f---ing punch you in the face. id then proceed to stomp your head on the curb and urinate in your bloodied mouth and i know where you live, so watch your f---ing back punk.' This is what happens when Trump targets a private citizen who publicly challenges him."
- Donald Trump is going to get somebody killed (WaPo) "Donald Trump presents real dangers of the abuse of official power, given his contempt for democratic norms, his vindictiveness, and his evident taste for violent retribution. But we should also be very concerned about his eager encouragement of hatred and violence that bubbles up from below. With a president who will be regularly propagating crazed conspiracy theories and singling out individual citizens as targets of his displeasure, it’s only a matter of time before another of his well-armed supporters decides to take matters into their own hands, and this time finishes the job."
- The story behind Trump's tweet attack on Chuck Jones of the United Steelworkers (LA Times) "When President-elect Donald Trump tweeted out attacks Wednesday night against an Indianapolis steelworkers official, he wasn’t just letting off steam; he was seeking to stifle dissent and weaken a powerful labor union. One can imagine that, with such a precedent, many business leaders, union officials and others might grow reluctant to speak out against Trump. Anyone who believes in robust, pluralistic democracy should be worried that a national leader, so soon after being elected, is assailing labor unions with an eye to weakening them."
- Sorry America, You Have to Pay Attention to Trump’s Tweets (Wired) "It’s possible Trump doesn’t appreciate the ripple effects his tweets have, that he’s just speaking his mind without consideration of the consequences—even when those consequences include threats of harm. Whether he intends his missives literally or figuratively is immaterial. His team did not return requests for comment, but experts agree: Trump’s intentions are beside the point. His tweets have weight, and cannot be ignored. 'I [Jeff Hancock of Stanford, who researches lying and the psychology of social media] used to just think he was a bullshitter,' Hancock says. 'I worry that he’s going to be able to shape a substantial amount of people’s perceptions of reality. This is the primary power of authoritarians.'"
- In Germany, the language of Nazism is no longer buried in the past (WaPo) "Hitler and his propagandists wielded a toxic lexicon in the early 20th century, deploying vocabulary meant to exalt ethnic purity and own Germany’s only real truth. And the reemergence in social media, literature and political protests of words that were weaponized by the Nazis is generating a fierce debate here over the power of language in politics, especially as nationalists surge on both sides of the Atlantic. Forces on the political right are hailing the exhumation of such words as a triumph over political correctness and war guilt... In a post-factual world, some reclaimed words are meant to stake ownership over truth." and Anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders found guilty of discrimination (WaPo) "The 'inflammatory' way statements were made at the rally encouraged others to discriminate against Moroccans, the court said, but it found there was 'insufficient evidence' to convict Wilders of a separate charge of inciting hatred."
- An astonishing number of people believe Pizzagate, the Facebook-fueled Clinton sex ring conspiracy story, could be true (Re/code) "Nearly 50 percent of Trump voters think the Pizzagate theory is either true or could be true, according to a new poll released today from Public Policy Polling. Public Policy Polling, which surveyed 1,224 registered voters this week, says that 14 percent of Trump voters believe Clinton is connected to the nonexistent child sex ring, while another 32 percent aren’t sure. Nationwide, those numbers are 9 percent and 19 percent, respectively."
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