Beau Willimon, the writer, producer, and creator of the American adaptation of the hit Netflix drama House of Cards, warned his Twitter followers on Monday, saying a “portion of the American population” wants “a mob-boss in the White House.”
Specifically, Willimon states that President Donald Trump and elected Republicans are “preparing their base for the argument that the president is above the law, an argument applicable only to Trump.”
Willimon began a 12-tweet thread by making the case that the desire to give President Trump “unchecked power” is precisely the type of thing that “gives rise to dictators.”
2. Their agenda is pure power, with no regard for justice, equality or principled government. Their mentality is a ruthless dog-eat-dog, zero sum world in which winners must win at the expense of others, where shame and conscience have no place, and are perceived as weaknesses…
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) June 4, 2018
4. There has been a steady progression from the 2016 election until now of Trump and @GOP leadership preparing their base for the argument that the president is above the law, an argument applicable only to Trump. If Clinton were president it would have been the opposite…
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) June 4, 2018
Willimon uses Bill Clinton as an example of a president who was held accountable by the law, on the same day that Bill Clinton angrily denied that he should have resigned during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. On the contrary, the former president claimed that he defended the Constitution, denied owing Monica Lewinsky an apology for their affair, and asserted that he was also a victim.
Willimon also claims that Republicans don’t seek a “national unity.” Indeed, the House of Cards creator voiced no such dire warnings about national unity when then-Senator Barack Obama denounced Pennsylvanians and midwesterners in 2008 referring to them as “bitter” people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Willimon spent the next few tweets foretelling of a coming Republican propaganda offensive geared toward making Trump “above the law.” A movement which the Hollywood writer claims the GOP base is “hungry for.”
Though, after warning of dangers to come, Willimon reminds his followers of the tools they have to resist the “suppression and gerrymandering attempts” from the right.
11. We must vote with overwhelming numbers in every election large and small. We must continue to put corporate pressure on those who stand to profit from Trump by showing them dictatorship doesn’t pay. We must continue to raise the voices of those who empower the marginalized…
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) June 4, 2018
12. Most importantly, we must never descend into despair or apathy. We have the power when we choose to wield it. We must be unrelenting & forward-thinking. We must remain strong & not hand over our nation to those who would so easily disavow its precepts and potential.
/Thread— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) June 4, 2018
In many ways, the specter of President Trump that Willimon describes comes quite close to the “above the law” figure of President Underwood (Kevin Spacey) in House of Cards. Though, while the Kevin Spacey character certainly did whatever he had to do to win, legal or not, Willamon’s central contention appears to by not only that Trump wants to be a dictator, but that the base of the Republican party also wants him to be a dictator. An assertion not supported by evidence, anywhere in his thread.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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