Friends,
We decided to do another deep dive today — this one on Trumpism and fascism.
With the election less than five months away and Trump escalating his fascist rhetoric and signaling his intent to use federal troops to round up undocumented people inside the United States and put them in camps, we felt it important to show the close parallels between Trumpism and neofascism.
Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and, if so inclined, take our poll.
Trumpism is fascism, and fascism is the political manifestation of psychopathology...specifically, the driving need to dominate and control, coupled with a total lack of conscience. This cluster of characterological traits can develop as a result of chronic and massive failures of empathy on the part of caregivers in the first three years of life.
Amphetamines produce those symptoms, were invented in Germany in the 30s, and were used heavily by the Nazi storm troopers. And the Nazi regime was fascism on speed, complete with the burnout... And Trump's skinhead fans are generally speed freaks as well. The food news is that so many were arrested after the Jan 6th insurrection, and they have had a chance to see the consequences. when they aren't jacked up.
Interesting. Trump and his staffers may snort Adderall.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-white-house-drugs-speed-xanax-1234979503/
I think we all kinda' knew that, yeah?
2Peter from what I am told by someone who participated in a college course on Facism, Hitler and his leaders were using methamphetamines, which explains a lot. Take 1 psychotic lonely personality, add testosterone and a couple portions of speed to produce 1 toxic stew. A simple but destructive recipe.
Captagon has been found in contemporary terrorist groups as well. I heard it was found on the bodies of Hamas fighters. Not sure about how valid that is, but it wouldn’t be surprising. It gets the empathy right outta there.
Yes- Trump is a psychopath
Great point, Madeline! This is the very same thing I've been trying to point out and warn about in education from the very young on up, for 35 years now. It's the emotional intelligence damage, resulting in personnel deep wounds and often the emotional diseases that grow from them: sexism (the primary superiority/inferiority caste system structure, racism, and all "other-isms" enforced by control and violence. I focused on how the Far and Religious Right learned this before we did, and started their takeover even under Reagan's administration militarily toned education attack: "A Nation at Risk". We were, from their autocratic and emotional/culturally abusive standardized education overly imbalanced to STEM "testing", actually damaging the human minds and hearts of almost all the children we were 'processing' through that model. It resulted in deep learning damage, turning the innate and necessary social-animal emphasis on human connection and empathy to thrive/learn together, to competitive machining the human education/upbringing for the surest short-term result for profiteers. What we are actually all "paying for' is the resulting deficits of understanding of how to problem-solve in individual lives in an increasing disconnected, transactional and calloused society/neo-liberal world. I saw this more than 30 years ago, and warned at that time, specifically that it was a "underlying value system implicit control" that would literally result, "in a character as characterless and venal as Donald Trump, as a national leader." I wrote that in 1989, using the biggest "famous bufoon" that I could use as an example. Sadly, I truly thought I was exaggerating. It is why I went on to found The Transformative Education Forum (tef-global.org). It is the heart that we damage first and can then be manipulated in hate, anger, fear against others, the most affectively by insatiable greed's control, but for all humanity's and even planetary loss.
I agree, June...when adults damage a child's good feeling about him/herself, then stuff him or her with what THEY want the child to believe, we deform their capacity to care about themselves and others. A child's first "teachers" are the parents. They unconsciously and sometimes consciously send messages to the child based on how they treat him or her. Those messages can enhance or corrode s child's sense of self-esteem. The educational system takes over from there and can do ill or good depending on the belief systems of the adults in charge.
I was a preschool and elementary school teacher until I was 35 and I think it's one of the most important professions, but the least valued and the least compensated. Thank you for telling me about the transformative education forum that you found it ♥️😊
For many Americans “fascist “ is a dirty word, worse than “communist” and “socialist” but I doubt the definition of any of these is clear. Donald calls his enemies all of these because they are hated labels. It really doesn’t matter what the word means if it is a despised label.
If we need to define the word as the name calling continues we are already in a losing situation. The voters that matter will not likely follow the debate on who really fits the word.
What I have seen is that if we say Donald is senile, he will pickup that word and say Biden is senile. It’s a tactic. “Trump crime family” leads to “Biden crime family.” “Trump is a threat to democracy” leads to “Biden is a threat to democracy”
It’s like the playground. “I am rubber you are glue. What you call me bounces off and sticks to you.”
We need to do more than use labels and phrases. They have the response that muddies the waters for the uniformed. need visuals short and frightening examples.
Very important point, DK. Thank you!
Yes DK, the right-wing under Trump simply picks up our words and throws them back at us but that doesn't make the words or what they mean any less relevant . I don't cave in just because the other side tries to dominate the frame. I think it's important for all of us to retain the legitimacy of our own perspective and not allow ourselves to be erased just because the other side tries to do that.
Well stated. My fundamental concern is purposeful ignorance magnified by disinformation. Party labels have become quaintly archaic in the “firehouse” of garbage folk consume…and as the old techie saying goes…”garbage in, garbage out”, or even older, “you are what you eat”!
Folks who refuse to face established fact are pathological…the late, great Bob Dole was often quoted, “you can have your own opinion, but not your own facts.” (Mic drop)…
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/former-trump-voters-say-lock-him?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=87281&post_id=145416290&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&r=zc69i&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Madeline, i 100% agree with you on the definition of psychopathology. My only addition would be that, it actually affects a good majority of all politicians, not just republicans.
Miami-democrats are right wing Republicans. Dino.
As a card carrying member of the Democratic Party, as a Miamian, a member of the local Executive Committee, that's bullshit. As a matter of fact, Democrats out register Republicans in Miami Dade County. The mayor of Miami Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava is a Democrat.
It is true that we have a lot of people who live here who support a dictatorship ala Fulgencio Batista, Francisco Franco, Rafael Trujillo, Juan Peron, et al and see Trump as a caudillo. Those who are citizens, register as Republicans.
Can't tell you how many people who live here have an abuelo named Adolfo, Francisco or Jose Antonio (named for José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish Fascist) in honor of their heroes.
In 2020 Trump lost Miami Dade, but won the state by 3.2%. It is true that Democrats underperformed in 2020 and 2022. This year, we have abortion and marijuana on the ballot. Some Republicans are flipping. https://rvat.org/
Register Democrats--save Florida and the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/all-volunteer-ops
Yes, vote, and remind them of this: El tramposo dice que te quire ayudar y como todos los tramposos lo que quire es robar.
Read STRONGMEN:Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Trump is a fake "strongman." He is a liar, a scapegoat-er, and a flip-flopper. He also despises women and thinks that their most important concerns should be up to the states to resolve.
I just had a conversation with a MAGA man yesterday. He told me that trump is a strong leader, a DEVOUT Christian, a good businessman who knows how to make money. So kinda the same old story but this time devout Christian is added which I wasn’t hearing in 2016. He is concerned that social security won’t be there for him but he’s fallen for the GOP scheme of making us invest our ss in the stock market. My impression was a man that is disappointed in where he is in life and sees the trump illusion as what he wants to be.
True and so sad. We seek false security when we enclose ourselves in mental bubbles.When someone tries to pierce the bubble s/he is perceived as a threat. Reinforce their beliefs and you own them.
Victor read the book
I get her substack mailings. She is great.
The system Trump is building looks a lot like Animal Farm. The MAGAs look like the horse, his plan to hire loyalists within the admin reminds me of the dogs and I think we all know who the pigs are...
And the sheep!
One would hope your literary reference is not lost on today’s consumers.
But, I applaud your use!
Please don’t insult the pigs. 🐖
Orwellian pigs belong to a special category of beings. The sheep, it seems, are all the same.
Professor Reich: i'm currently reading a book that details the last months (mostly day-by-day) before hitler siezed control of 1920s germany, which was a functioning, abeit imperfect, democracy (quite like america today, actually). although the author never mentions modern america in the book, he doesn't need to because this is parallels what we are experiencing first-hand. truly the stuff of nightmares.
for those interested, the book is takeover: hilter's final rise to power by timothy w ryback (amazon US link: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0593537424/grrlscientist-20/ )
We just watched the new six part series on Netflix that shows the why and how Hitler got power in the first few episodes. It is frightening how similar Trump is to Hitler.
Hi, I think I saw that on PBS a couple of years ago. Very eerie how much alike those and these times are.
Wasnt there a National Geographic series?
Name of series?
Perhaps this explains our infatuation with Zionist and Israel. As I see it Israelis are closest to the Nazi than any other group.
Mehrdad, someone once asserted: "Whatever you defeat, you become."
Of course the Islamist would pipe in with that b.s. DAESH, HAMAS, or Hezbollah.
Doesn't matter that you have a 1400 year old war of extermination against the Jews, does it, playing the victim,as you aggress and wipe out or subdue the infidel is the leitmotif of Islam.
At least the Saudi's don't hide it, they have a sword in their flag.
And I thought this thread was about the MAGA cult and their flirtation with "alternative facts"
With your mindset, you will fit just at home with the MAGA cult.
I calls i as I sees it. You injected Israel into the conversation, .
I am what I am, an independent minded person. I am able to admit that a broken clock is correct twice a day, once a day if on a 24 hr clock as I am
And while I am a progressive in most things, I will not eat the whole pizza or pie. And I am not an ideological purist either. So know I don't fit just at home with MAGAts anymore than I fit at home with Leftists.
But I do know that I will crawl over broken glass to vote for Biden, just to keep Trump out of office, even if sends 2,000 lb bombs to israel. Those that won't are voting for Trump
How's them bean Yahya.?
You got one thing correct, you are who you are and your comment{S] here has been a good indication of that.
And that is your problem not mine, because I don't give a shit what you may or may not think. Your problem, not mine.
I believe Hitler took full control in 1934.
Thank you for sharing.
i agree -- trump himself is rather stupid, but he is the front man for a much larger nazi conspiracy -- but in this book, hitler does not look like a brilliant or politically astute man, either. he rather bumbles along, a petulant toddler, really, screwing up frequently, but LEARNING FROM HIS MISTAKES, unlike the government and other authorities of the time, who refuse to look at what's happening in front of their very eyes.
"Bad Faith" is a documentary that can be rented from Prime video for one dollar. I recommend it because it shows the history of the Christian National movement since before Reagan that has led to them wanting to destroy democracy. It was an eye opener for me. Hartman recommended it in his report yesterday and called it brilliant. Now I need to find Robert Reich's video on fascism. I learn so much from the substacks and the participants in the comments.
Trump is really pretty simple to understand. He just wants to be KIng. But the people using him want so much more and they are the scary ones. https://newrepublic.com/article/167499/new-apostolic-reformation-mastriano-christian Feel free to reply and add any new names you come across.
If Trump succeeds in becoming King, the Christian Nationalists (really the New Apostolic Reformation which is actually more than Christian nationalism) will get rid of him at their first convenient opportunity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Apostolic_Reformation.
You know some of these folks already. https://hartmannreport.com/p/america-is-under-assault-by-a-cancerous-ceb (Leonard Leo, https://newrepublic.com/article/167499/new-apostolic-reformation-mastriano-christian
And for those still involved with religion, regardless of faith, there's this:
https://www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/what-christians-need-to-know-about-the-new-apostolic-reformation.html
Thank you for sharing.
"Bad Faith" is free right now on Tubi with no commercials. Everyone needs to watch this documentary.
https://link.tubi.tv/7VJsT5ItgKb
Oh Lord....
Thank you!
Fortunately the Constitution is very specific about Treason:
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."
That's it.
What you likely mean is Sedition. "Sedition is inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority to destroy or overthrow it."
But I'm not sure that only the FBI can be the investigating agency....the US has many law authority agencies capable of investigating and arresting although the FBI is primary as it is an arm of the Justice Department.
Trump is trying to place key people in places of authority to stop any Justice investigation if he gets in office
Yes, but so much more. He wants to essentially nullify the Legislative branch....and the judicial. Within the Executive branch he would be all powerful with the ability to hire and fire with no oversight. In other words, Trump wants to run the US as a business. The model is his business which has no board of directors. Within the Trump Organization Trump is KING. That's the model he will use to remake the US.
And, of course, the king has control of the treasury
He reminds me of King George III. And his business model is about as successful .
Did you know George 3 suffered from a disease that made people think he was "Mad' ?? Not dementia. And he peed purple.
So what is the definition of war nowadays? It seems that there’s a propaganda war going here. We used to think of war as using deadly weapons.
I suppose it must be declared to be a war.
From today's WP
https://wapo.st/4e7oSAl
Trump plans to claim sweeping powers to cancel federal spending
Trump really doesn't need Putin. If the voters here elect him in November, much as Napoleon did, Trump will crown himself King
Of course that presents other problems/issues but Trump is pretty easy to read.
I voted for <Trumpism is more dangerous to America> because his victory would allow Putin & Xi free reign to use their superior supersonic missile technology against Europe, Taiwan, us and the rest of the world. Trump's rabid MAGA supporters will unleash terror on Americans worse than the KKK did. And, Putin's drone-supplying Ayatollah pal, and his minions, will unleash the Armageddon fight Evangelicals want against Bibi & his ultra-orthodox bloc
What you describe is not improbable, hopefully sanity will prevail…but I would offer these few observations:
* Nature is a self correcting system
* humans are best understood as the latest in a constantly changing hierarchy of predator and prey. We are the current “alpha.” Collectively…
Since we, the human race, seem intent on damaging the essential life systems of Gaia, we should expect a correction which may be one more mass extinction
Mass extinction is where we are headed, either from nuclear war or climate change. The politics, the self-centered ideologies, and the financial incentives are there.
Humans are quite numerous, but it doesn’t take a mass extinction for just one species to die out!
In earth’s evolution, it’s all in a day’s happenstance.
Yep, there's no upside to a 2nd Trump presidency......except possibly Christian Nationalists. These folks are already at work preparing to the day after. Once Trump is elected he will swamp the Executive branch with True Believers of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) whose job it will be to convert America to a Christian Nation. You may know some of these people already. Leonard Leo, Mike Flynn, Marsha Blackburn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tim Scott....a very long list.
It seems that Christian Nationalists have nothing to do with Christ. It must be a convoluted belief system.
I think it's figure out where you want to go then pick and choose among the texts to find the justification. Again, not really sophisticated as most followers are not raging intellectuals. Just has to pass the smell test of a dolphin (hint: they can't).
Az, The problem is that Russia has not been declared an enemy. You can declare an enemy without a war. Witness Al Qaeda, DAESH, ISK.
There is a difference in definition between Treason and Sedition, though they both be inspired by the same actor (source).
Trump committed, commits, Treason for Putin, for transactional reasons.
His followers commit sedition, out of loyalty to Trump, who commits Treason for Putin.
All roads lead to Putin, but the intermediary is Trump. Even though the MAGAt crowd are Putin partisans.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/11/politics/steele-dossier-fbi-durham-danchenko/index.html
Much of the Trump Putin sniveling started with this lie.
Putins contempt for NATO was due in large part to the 2014 coup that overthrew Ukrainian democracy in favor of a Victoria Nuland appointed turd. The United States military got its ass handed to it in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Both Sargent Billy and the United States are great at starting things they can’t finish.
But if they would admit when they lied or were wrong that would be a good idea.
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I expect that Melania is tfg’s day to day handler, and she answers to someone near Putin.
I agree with you. There could be a blitzkrieg of an insurrection this time, so fast it will make our heads spin.
That's assuming that he doesn't win. Which, terrifyingly, he might, given those who can't bring themselves to vote Democrat because they "don't like" the present leader or have preferences stronger than the need to keep Trump out. The same people who "didn't like" Hilary Clinton and gave us Trump the first time.
Yes- if you notice the non committed don’t want to talk politics in casual conversation - I always point out that staying at home and not voting is a vote for Trump - that usually scares them .
I watched Stephanie Rhule, on the 11th hour last night, I never watched it before, but caught it and it was a round table of average persons, demographcally split by generation, gender and race.
There was the young black guy, made great points, but got hung up on race and white inustice to blacks. His points were valid, but not his conclusion that blacks were justified in sitting out the election. Nobody,not even Stephanie raised the issue, that not voting was in fact a vote for Trump.
Maybe not voting doesn't count in blue and red states, but in swing states and here are only five this election, AZ, NV, MI, PA, WI AZ has 10 electoral Votes, NV 6, MI 15, WI 11, PA 19.
The election is going to be decided in MI, PA, WI, three states that have a Muslim Population in the 100,000's who have threatened to sit out the election, and MI and PA have black populations over 20%, and many also threaten to sit out the election, to give Biden the fingr and punish the Democrats.
But they are only punishing themselves, if Trump wins, then there will be no chance in 2028 to undo the damage that they did, and when the hammer of Thor, wielded by Trump and his white christian nationalists come down on these people, it will be too late to have their regrets.
I am sure there were millions of Germans who regretted voting for Hitler in his referendum. He was not elected as Chancellor but appointed by Bismark, but was confirmed by a referendum.
Billy, you’re a liar and you deserve to lose. The reason Trump is going to win is because you’re delusional. The 50 lying snakes at the FBI that swore that hunters laptop was a Russian hoax crapped on this country’s credibility. The j6 hearings where no one can say exactly how many agents were in the crowd. Were they instigating the violence. The DOJ has brought no charges against Trump in 3 plus years. Either Garland and Biden have failed to prosecute the most heinous crime in our history (except for that nastiness in Dallas) or they both know if you start peeling that onion, even you will be crying.
The trials have been a sham. The one I have always wanted to see was Georgia and somehow the left crapped their pants on that one. Every goddamn one of them comes up in the election year? Thats the most banana republic thing ever.
You guys can clutch your pearls. It’s going to be painful. But if we get to2028 and don’t live in post apocalypse caves, maybe just for a second ask yourself, In the face of the new Hitler, how did you nominate a genocide loving, geriatric moron like Biden and only a heart beat away is Kamala Harris. I don’t know how you can be so stupid and indignant at the same time.
With people like you to confect idiotic outbursts of synthetic bullshit, the USA is finished anyway, by arid stupidity.
Chuck, C., I don't know where you get the idea that Biden is weak or "genocide-loving". Likely it's his interaction with Netanyahu, which, if you look at the whole picture, there's an image of Joe Biden walking a tightrope. Biden is enforcing our alliance with one of the many "western" countries sworn to support each other. If the USA fails to support Israel will he then begin to betray France, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Finland, and on and on? Of course not, but that's not how the NATO alliance will see it. The alliance is important to maintain. The children in Gaza need protection that Biden can't provide, whether he helps the Yahu or not. We're all appalled at how Israel is conducting the war. I've written to Biden to stop sending weaponry, but in my gut I know he has no real choice. If we withdraw our aid, defying NATO, Israel will sink back to the familiar forever conflict with continued occasional bombing in Palestine, and the children of Gaza will not be made safe, regardless. By providing armament, perhaps the hardships there will end sooner. Think it through, as Biden has. It's a first-class tragedy, but get it right.
.-- . .-.. .-.. ..--..
Chuck, Kamala Harris is smart, experienced, and qualified. Your misogynism, racism, and cynicism are contemptible.
Not "Bismark", actually Bismarck, but by von Hindenburg.
Right, my fault, I keep getting them Germans all mixed up
REcent report in The NY Times that many new American citizens, former migrants themselves, plan to vote for Trumpty , as they think he will be border tight. They cite folk pouring over the border since Biden's Presidency, only now slowing down. This is so dangerous. Many are from Catholic, conservative social backgrounds, coming to the US and dragging us backwards. What a joy..
Among those Vicki, is Mayra Flores, herself an illegal immigrant, now a Congress critter for 18th US District, She is about as far right as you can get and she isn't alone. It seems that the worst of the anti immigrant crowd are 1st and 2nd generation immigrants be hey Ms Flores, Nimrata Halley or Vivak Ramaswamy.
Sally, I don't like or trust the Clinton's but no way could I have voted for Trump.
In fact 2016 is the first time I registered to vote since 1968, just because of Trump. My mind was made up when he came down the escalator and opened his filthy mouth.
Unfortunately I am not voting for. I am voting against and it is not the lesser of two evils. I don't consider Hillary or Biden evil either. I have issues with both, but I have a bigger issue with Trump. I pegged him for what he is, and what harm he will do, the moment he opened his mouth. And I knew nothing about his history in New York., New Jersey or business.
William, I agree. I was turned off by Trump from his "Apprentice" days; I couldn't watch him for more than five minutes. I like your view of the regular democrats you've named, but I urge you to take a more thorough look at Biden before you dismiss him as the candidate you're only voting for in order to defeat his evil opponent. Biden has done a spectacular job as president, and he also carries an understandable disrespect for public relations, in which he fails at every turn..
Upon reading all your posts, was wondering if I have an alter ego out there 😉
Trumpism is indeed fascism. He may be too ignorant to realize that because of his greedy reptilian pea brain. (Sorry to all peas out there).
And you might consider apologizing to the reptiles, too.
To a lesser extent, perhaps. Mea culpa, reptiles!
They're owned too. No one can save America, unless...... Biden can be a dictator first, before the election. Trump can't be allowed to control our military. And like you said, Trump isn't smart enough to pull this off by himself. Some accessories are obvious, but others are devious. I'd say your definition "trumps" Klaire's.
How long can we let this go on? Come on USA get it together!
It’s such a shame that we can’t enjoy such heartfelt moments which President Biden currently delivers in his speech last week. Without being overshadowed by this felon who appears unstoppable!
Az: YES! TREASON! I wish more of us would pull that word out of its hiding place!
It’s called Project 2025 written by the folks at The Heritage Foundation.
I think I just read that the CEO of that org announced he will be retiring but first they are looking for a replacement. The right wing keeps the young inflow, just like they did with the Supreme Court. The Dems need to be mentoring and preparing more young people. They have not kept up and now we have a very old presidential candidate!
I recognized trump as a fascist from 2017. But them I am old. In 1939 I was 6 years old when WW2 officially began. I asked my father what fascism meant and he told me. How rich men liked it because it made them more money. And certain types of people were bullied and killed because they were different. During the nearly 6 years of war I learned more and more about fascism. But also about propaganda, the partner of spreading fascism.
IF ONLY, the different systems of government were taught in schools. Children aren't as stupid as adults think they are. By the age of 18 everyone should know: True Democracy only existed in Athens Greece for a very short time 2000 years ago. It only works in very small groups. What we have is a representative democracy. But even representative democracies only work for those who care. It's up to you to vote for the candidate who shares your view of how the country should be governed. Even then, you should stay in contact, if you disagree ask why a certain vote was made
Unfortunately with social media being owned by the candidate himself spewing lie after lie to the public. - the truth about Trumps fascism isn’t getting out -
Yes. And we need to be rid of FOX "news". Propaganda machines.
This is my thinking also. How about a national Civics exam before voting? Certainly before running for office. Yes. Representative Democracies only work for those who care.
Democracy does not work for donkeys. They do not like the burden, but what can you do about it; all humans are the same---except when a man shows up with a carrot in hand.
Or before being graduated from high school...
Yes, Fay ; Democracy requires participation.
Thank you Laurie.
I read that certain countries require or mandate that citizens vote. Australia, for example. There are fines for not voting!? I'm not sure that would be a panacea. It depends on who the candidates are. Hopefully. There would be good choices.
Mandating voting is not enough. Putting government education in schools is not enough. People need critical thinking skills. In this red state, the GOP are always putting ballot candy into the election statements for bills. The recent one will be that non-citizens cannot vote. That’s already the law! But they want to put it in so people will be fooled into voting their way.
Midwest : yes; that is like them telling voters that "We'll allow you to breathe", after supporting a clean air bill.
Amen, Fay. Complete agreement.
He’a deranged narcissist.
Both of these fit:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/oppositional-defiant-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20375831
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662
Terry F.: Thanks for the first one; I've already visited the second.
Sociopathic narcissist
Keep in mind that the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is that the former is born, and cannot be healed. The latter is made by circumstances and can be healed.
I have read that some studies show that the sociopath’s brain is smaller in the frontal lobe. (I’m not a doctor or researcher.). If that is the case, though, it would seem that sociopathy can’t be healed.
Fascism has been demonstrated and others on this site have described it well. Trump himself is a threat to be sure. But Trump is also a mouth of rhetoric and ignorance. He is led by his ego and quest for power. But he is also limited by his ignorance. I am more concerned about the mealy-mouthed elected officials who follow his path, and those behind him who appear to have both the zeal for power and the intelligence to pursue it. Those who follow in his steps. Trump himself has a limited trajectory. He has unleashed a cadre who will be more devastating to our democracy. We deceive ourselves if we focus too narrowly on Trump himself.
Bingo.
trump has teased that one of his children will rule after him. Just like a monarchy.
Nancy E., thank you for saying all that.
You all hate Trump, so vote Democrat, all of you. Please don't p*** about voting for third parties because you don't like the current Democrat leader. That's how you (and we, the rest of the world) got Trump last time. We don't want him again in his second and far more terrifying incarnation. We don't have a vote. We depend on you to vote Democrat.
And tell all your kids and grand kids. They may not be paying attention.
On the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, how depressing the United States of American is contemplating another Hitler as a leader. Whatever happened to our moral compass of life, liberty and freedom? Why did so many men loose their lives on the beaches of Normandy only to have a corrupt Republican Party stand behind a mad-man? Did my father fight in World War II for nothing?
four feet, your father is what is right with our country! Never doubt that true Americans who value life, liberty and freedom are so very grateful for your father and all of the other military men and women who laid down their lives for the very liberties and freedoms we have today. He did not fight for nothing. Your father, to me, is a true hero!
There’s a lot of uneducated people in America with degrees
No, either your father or my father fought for nothing ! They gave us the chance to become THE designated world power with national prosperity and world cooperation for many decades. But now we are down to a few elderly men and women in wheel chairs on a barren windswept field, filled with crosses in France. Hard to compete with Taylor Swift or Beyoncé or even Donald Trump. But we remember, children of the late 1930s and 40s who are still around.
Joan, G. et al.: I like this vicinity of Reich's chatroom. Most above are speaking my heart. Agree, agree, agree.
Vote BLUE 💙 or we're screwed 😭 😭
It’s more dangerous because it is in the heartland of democracy that has been the defender of democracy globally. Trump. Is. A. Loser.
Geoff - The U.S. was the defender of democracy during World War II. Since then, it has been busy - bipartisan wise - building its own empire, not of territories but of economic and political dominance that empowers U.S. government to 'persuade'/lean on so-called free countries and impinge on their sovereignty. The excuses have varied. Re: Vietnam, it was to save it from the 'yellow hordes from the north' and arresting an inevitable 'domino effect'. More recently, the excuse has been 'regime change'. In fact, U.S. intervention (via the use of the IMF) in Russia under Yeltsin in the 1990s demonstrated that what the U.S. was really about was to destroy economic competitors. This policy was confirmed less than two years ago when the U.S. decided to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea; that was industrial sabotage against 'friends' and 'allies'; it violated their sovereignty.
However, I agree that Trump is a loser. But he's the logal extension of U.S. post-war policy. He's just more honest about it. He hasn't got the brains to formulate a self-serving national ideology. His is simply self-serving in a crass form.
There have been cracks and some (quite a few) failures, but if I had to pin my hopes on any democracy it would have been the USA until around 10 years ago. The trickle down theory has failed the vast majority of citizens, but I had thought the democratic institutions strong enough to fix it. I was wrong.
Geoff - The point I'm making is that a country or city-state can be both democratic and imperial. Gandhi noted that British democracy was a wonderful thing - in Britain - but its empire building had as its aim to maintain enlightened despotism in India. Going back in time, Athens had a democracy of free men, and was one of the world's centres of philosophy and high culture, but engaged in empire building and massacre, also.
Gunnar, you are Sisyphus, rolling the stone of human nature up a hill.
Empire-Democracy. Empire-autocracy.
The American "Empire" (as you call it) is benevolent, and not oppressive, it is flawed (beyond question or doubt) but it swims in the sea of justice and the rule of law.Laws cobbled together by those who are ruled. At least until the Federalist Society had it's judges appointed to the bench by Trump, and until Trump wins (god forbid) election and the Heritage Foundations Project 2025, and Trumps Project 47, are implemented on Jan 20th 2025, then Katy bar the gates, because all hell is going to be unleashed on the U.S.A, then the world
William - There is no such thing as 'human nature' - unless you think that Sigmund Freud outlined it in his psychoanalytic theory. Even then, the ways human express 'human nature' are numerous and highly divergent. In itself, 'human nature' has no predictive value.
You claim that the American empire is benevolent. Well, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. Beating Hirohito and Hitler were benevolent goals; helping depose the elected Prime Minister of Fiji in 1987 wasn't - it was a coup d'Etat and a breach of the rule of law. Likewise, the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea two years ago was an act of industrial terrorism - it was a breach of international law.
America's dilemma is not just about Donald Trump. One problem is that U.S. judges are political appointees. I appreciate that there are reasons for this, but we can now see why it might be a disadvantage.
I am not going to get bogged down in a side bar about Human Nature, needless to say I disagree.
I do not disagree with your other complaints, but again it is wrong to lump them under empire..
Nations act in their own perceived benefit. I myself bitch about Exxon using it's money muscle to isolate Venezuela because it had the temerity to believe that it's oil belonged to Venezuela. Then there are the Banana Wars, the Ovethrow of Mossadegh MI 6 and the CIA), Coca cola funding right wing death squads in Honduras, Dubya invasion of Iraq, his fathers invasion of Panama to arrest a CIA bagman.
I have a longer list than you, but the list is not about empire, that is a wornout Marxist trope. It is all about shareholder value, return on investment, executive salaries and bonuses.
Chase swamp gas if you like I will keep my eye on the target, not illusions like "empire".
I live in the real world of America in 2024, and there are only two choices, a right wing theocratic dictatorship under Trump or a flawed and faulty democratic Republic.
There is no choice.
William - The British empire was also about making money. The East India Company, for example, made a lot of money in India - see for example: Shashi Tharoor interview: How British Colonialism 'destroyed' India - YouTube. - You are right that nations pursue their own interest, and the definition of 'empire' has fuzzy boundaries. But empire has to do with national reach and degree of influnce. During Cold War I we often spoke of the 'Soviet empire', referring not just to its claim to Siberia and Central Asia, but to its influence in Indonesia and Africa and Cuba. Since c. 2008 and the start of Cold War II, NATO has started referring to Russia as an empire. And yet, in terms of territory, while Russia shrunk, it was NATO that expanded during the 1990s.
Empire also has to do with attitude. How often do we hear U.S. Presidents refer to "our power" and "our friends across the globe" in the same breath during their inaugural address? Empire has to do with prestige and arrogance, with the knowledge that wherever you go, you will be listened to with respect, resentment, and obedience. I put it to you that the Vietnam War had less to do with establishing new markets for Coka Cola and more to do with 'extending' the reach, prestige and military power of the U.S. Vietnam was a demonstration case. Maybe this was the psychological reason why LBJ and Nixon kept fighting it for so long.
Mearsheimer says that the U.S. doesn't have an empire but has "imperial ambitions" - see https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/mearsheimer-american-imperial-ambitions
I suppose foreigners are more likely to perceive 'empire' than the nation state that is accused of it. We foreigners take note of 'American exceptionalism' and see in it signs of empire. You Americans probably see it too but read the signs differently. - As I said, the boundaries are fuzzy.
Who did the East India Company make money for? It made it for it's stockholders.
I repeat while Marxists and Liberals kvetchabout Empire, they should be looking behind the curtain. It isn't Governments that are the problem, it is the stockholders who use government as a tool and a weapon.
It is these same forces that fund the political parties, that control the government.
A nation is it's governing body,, the governing body is simply a tool. But you and so many others are stuck looking at the Wizard on the screen and not the man behind the curtain.
In 1600 a group of investors got together and asked,( bribed) Elizabeth 1 for a royal charter (a monopoly) to form the East India Company, to compete with Spain in it's exploitation of the America's. It eventually had enough power to use the English Army, the red coats, in it's drive for profits and power, and you and others call that Empire, when in reality it is a profit making corporation using the collective power of the state.
Same here in America, what Coca Cola wants, what Exxon Mobil wants, what any large financial institution or corporation wants they get, because they have the money and thus the power over politicians.
It isn't empire, it is return on investment, shareholder value, and those that increase it, like CEO's, Lobbyists, Boards of directors are richly rewarded, those impede it pay a price, either politically or personal, but the political is personal, especially when it means loss of life and/or income and social status.
So talk about Empire and Imperialism all you want, but you are yammering at the projected Wizard on the Screen, not the man behind the curtain.
Here is a concept. the USA is a joint venture company, it's shareholders are corporations, who themselves are in competition, at war with each other, let's call it a vessel, USA Inc.
We are passenger and deckhands on the jolly ship America, it's captain is elected by the passengers and deck hands, much like pirates elected their captains, the crew that mans the ship, is also elected.
Every four years a new captain takes charge and orders the ship to veer port or starboard, and after it has veered far enough of course to satisfy the passengers ,that are paying for the voyage, there is an election and a new captain takes over and orders a course correction,putting the ship back on track for it's final destination.
In the meanwhile this joint venture company, needs to protect it's assets and itself, and also secure resources so it sends out arned crew to fend off threats or secure vital resources.
An Empire serves a person, the Emperor, one person not a nation. The Roman Empire had an Emperor. Charlemagne was an Emperor, Napoleon was an Emperor, Victoria was an Emperor.
America has no Emperor, unless Trump is elected.
Wiiliam - Thank you for your thought-provoking post!
I will focus on the British Empire because it is the one that I know best. You seem to reduce the Empire to the shareholders of the East India Company (EIC). Yes, EIC raised its own army in India; it saved the British government money and effort. Then came 1857 and the Mutiny or War of Independence, and after it had been put down, Queen Victoria (the British government) took over the military occupation of British India.
Because India was not just a colony to be squeezed of its raw materials - although of course that was one aspect of Empire. India was also a prestige thing - big in area, populous, requiring travelling judges to uphold law and order, and a network of spies to detect groups of restive natives. In fact, Britain had a civil service In India, quite a bureaucracy. And missionaries, out to abolish suttee, for example. Britain had set herself the task of civilizing the country. To believe that this apparatus and purpose was simply to make money is a form of commercialist reductionism, William, and maybe your attempt at letting the U.S.'s empire off the hook. After all, who can object to be bit of international commerce in far-flung corners of the world? Sounds innocent and well-meaning enough!
Empires do not simply serve one person. Where do you get that from? Mind you, following the debacle of 1857, Queen Victoria became the Empress of India. But actually, India dwelt in the hearts of many others.
So, prestige is an important element in Empire maintenance. An example: in 1976, the artist Val C. Prinsep is given a commission: to paint as many of the Rajahs as possible. The plan is to then combine all the portraits into one large painting - a prestige piece. The way he talks about his father is telling; his father spent 33 years in the Indian Civil Service - "an example of unselfish devotion to duty and unassuming ability found in many of those who have by their unrecognized labours made India what it is" ("Imperial India. An Artist's Journeys", p. 2).
Sure, Princep was an "accredited painter to the Government" (p. 74), so he was paid. But this is not simply about money. The way he speaks about his father's "service" to India is the way a member of a colonial family conceals from himself the true nature of Empire.
But I can see that I will not convince you. You don't like the idea that your country might be engaged in empire building. Maybe you find the thought vulgar. Your country is more refined than that - more honestly commercial. Be that as it may be!
I think you are stuck in a paradigm, left over from when Kings ruled all,or people thought that they did.
The EIC, it didn't become the BEIC until The Acts of Union, in 1707 passed by the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, led to the creation of a united kingdom to be called “Great Britain” on 1 May of that year.
None of what England then Britain did until Elizabeth I was for the King or Queen,and it is royalty that is Emperor. Sir Benjamin D'Israeli declared Victoria to be Empress, and thus Britain and Empire.
Kings, Queens, Emperors need a medium of exchange, money, they obtain this via taxes and loans.
Edward I borrowed money from the Jews of London and when he couldn't pay back the loan, he banned Jews from England
The Fugger Brothers of Italy, were a wealthy Florence banking institution, and made out loaning money to crowned heads.
They loaned money to Ferdinand and Isabella, who refuse to pay it back, they didn't have the money That bankrupted the Fugger brothers. Still in the need for money, they evicted all Muslims and Jews from Spain, and confiscated their property, in their need that backed Columbus voyage and he set sail for America on the very day the eviction edict took place.
Frances I of France, needed money so he borrowed it from the international financial institution known as the Knights Templar, unable to repay the loan he had the Pope declare them heretics,manufactured evidence and thus not have to repay the loan, and while at it he tried to confiscate their wealth,but the Knights spirited it away.
If you insist on seeing Empires as Nations I can't dissuade you, however the driving force behind Empire are not royals or president or Prime Ministers, except in the case of Putin, Hitler and Mussolini.. Certainly inot in America, not with it's turnover of Presidents and Congress critters.
The driving force is what would be called today, Capitalists, Plutocrats, billinaires and were called in their day adventurers. That was the term used for people who put up money and invested in the East India and London Company of Virginia.
Talking of the latter, it was not Imperialism that motivated the formation of the London Company of Virginia, it was profit. A group of investors, one of whom was my ancestor, bought stock in this venture, called a joint venture.
The purpose of which was to exploit the gold and silver, which they believed lay in abundance in that land across the Atlantic which the Spanish were explotiting and making them wealthy and the base of the Holy Roman Empire.
They prevailed upon James I for a charter to go forth and exploit the country.
That was in 1607, the quest came to naught, and were it not for Turkish Tobacco seeds carried by John Rolfe, the enterprise would have ended, just as the Virginia Company of Plymouth ended. There charter was formed by a group of Plymouth, England merchants who wanted to exploit, the Northern part of Virginia, which at the time was the entire east coast from the latitude of Roanoke to the Latitude of Maine.
James 1 hated tobacco, a foul smelling weed, and the Virginia Company would have come to an end, but for the efforts of a distant cousin named Nicholas Ferrar,who was a shareholder, a member of the governing board as well as influential in the religious life of England.
Two years after the disastrous attack by the Powhatan Indians,known as the Jamestown massacre, and because it had not found gold or silver nor returned a profit,on ay 24, 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I due to overwhelming financial problems and politics, and Virginia became a royal colony,
Still England was not an Empire
There followed the English Civil war and with the victory of Cromwell, royalists fled to Virginia like geese, They became the planters the upper class, supplanting the old upper class of adventurers.
Still England was not an Empire. Whether or not an idea lies in the breast of many people, it is not an Empire
Nothing dwells in the hearts of others, because people are too involved with the affairs of surviving
I really don't know what you are arguing for,other than you have this idea (is it sincere or propaganda) that there is an American empire and thus all Americans are complicit, and that I am trying to get America off the hook. I am not,but you are trying like hell to put America on the hook. perhaps because it is the cornerstone of your political ideological foundation or agenda.
And don't forget Chile
Indeed!
Very well put and understood.
OK Gunnar, you have painted a picture of the pimples on the ass of the U.S.A., Now what is your solution, and what are the unintended results of your solution. Or do people think that far ahead, content with pointing fingers, calling names and venting their spleen, but nary a solution.
Fair question, William! - Well, one solution is to take back the power of the masters of the universe and their corporations. One step toward this would be to stop private election campaign contributions and introduce state-subsidised contributions instead. Another would be limit private access to Congress men/women. On a grander scale, maybe there should be a public conversation about the role of the U.S. in the international domain. This would involve a reassessment of the use of international influence. It would include a debate about so-called 'rule-based' versus international international order - see https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/leiden-journal-of-international-law/article/choice-before-us-international-law-or-a-rulesbased-international-order/7BEDE2312FDF9D6225E16988FD18BAF0
All this ought to lead to a conversation about the role of taxation and the role of government. Most of us would say that, as a matter of principle, most of our tax money should benefit us in various way. (Some libertarians would disagree, but then most libertarians are young, able-bodied and inexperienced, or they stand to inherit). These days government regard tax money as 'theirs', not ours. The solution is somewhere in-between, but the conversation must establish the cut-off point. I am mindful of Social Contract theory, and the need to re-visit it - see https://www.worldhistory.org/Social_Contract/
All this would be a good start.
Deep-seated racism has been and remains a very big stumbling block. You say that there is no such thing as "human nature; do you imply that the human mind is a tabula rasa?
Victor - Absolutely not! We are born with different levels of intelligence, for a start. We are also born with different emotional reactions - phlegmatism; reactivity of the nervous system (Hans Eysenck), etc. We are even born with different micro-behaviours, inherited from one of our parents.
As for racism: it's learned behaviour - learned from family and wider culture or sub-culture. The most vivid personal example of this was during my brief stay in Darlington in northeast England in 1980. I was attending an informal party of young white and Black English people and was struck by how well they got on. Complete integration. Absolutely no sign of racial tension!
Yes, racism is learned behavior, a tendency towards tribalism, on the other hand, appears to be innate. So, it seems, is status-seeking.
I agree with you Gunnar, I really do, but I live in reality, not the world of what if's, wanna be's, my druthers, and the reality is that we have the best government money can be, literally. You don't get elected,much less re elected without serious financial backing, unless you live in a racial cultural enclave . and even then they have to fight it out in the primary, which means money for propaganda, and people are a sucker for propaganda, even in Scandinavia, brand power, they believe in brands, you can sell them anything if it is shown on TV,. It is a people problem, there is little in the way of critical thinking and perception among the general public, few have time, and those that do lack the facility.
To proceed to achieve your goals, you require a majority in the House of Representatives and a 60 votes out of 100 in the Senate. Lot of luck Gunnar.
What do they say about wishes. If they were horses beggars would ride.
Realistically changes like you propose are monumental and drastic, they can only be achieved via deceit, manipulation or surreptitiously. grdually one increment at a time, because the real powers that be, the corporations and billionaires like Musk, Peter Thiel, Jaime Dimon, keep a watchful, very watchful eye on political developments
The only way to achieve your and my goal is by a radical sweep of all elective offices by genuine progressives, and that is a tall,tall order.
Meanwhile I live in the real world, and the real world presents to choices, one between an outright pervert, a rapist, a thief, a grifter, a traitor named Trump and a bumbling, imperfect but well meaning man named Joe Biden.
There are no other choices Gunnar., so who will it be?
William - I was asked about my solutions, so I listed a few. Of course they are idealistic, and you are free to call them unrealistic if you want. Democracy was idealistic and 'unrealistic', too, once upon a time. Still, it's good to have goals to work towards. Signposts. Reminders.
What are those solutions? If you listed them I don't see them.
Here is the situation. Only problems have solutions. For some things there are no solutions, human nature, like the need to breed, are only solved through drastic and lasting measures like sterilization and old age. and even then old age is not a solution, and the need to breed is a biological imperative, motivated by a thing called orgasm, which in turn is motivated by hormones.
There are difficulties, difficulties have no solution, attempts to solve a difficulty only exacerbates the situation, makes it worse.
Inequality is not a problem, it is a difficulty, any attempt to solve the problem fails, and only leads to greater problems. The Bolsheviks tried to solve the problem, supposedly, by using drastic measures to eliminate the middle class and dissenters, but they didn't get rid of inequality, they only removed the rungs out of the ladder, the middle class, leaving only the top rung and the bottom rung.
In the USA they tried to solve the problem of inequality via affirmative action, but that only exacerbated the situation as there was a violent and vehement reaction and in their zeal the attempt elevated some personalities who had no business being elevated as they lacked the qualifications and ability to do the job, Clarence Thomas comes to mind.
All you can do with a difficulty is to ameliorate it's affects.
You can't solve a difficulty.
Racism is a difficulty, not a problem, because it has no solution, even if the whole world was brown, there would still be racism, brown eyes vs blue eyes.
The genocide of Tutsi's in Rwanda by Hutu's was a race war,yet both were black, they differed in stature, shape of head and nose.s, Tutsis being described as tall with thin noses and a lofty bearing, as opposed to Hutus, who were short, stocky, and flat-nosed. The Tutsis were sometimes even described as 'false negroes', as Europeans with black skin.
Shall we discuss the middle east, we can't do so without discussing religion.
To start with not all Arabs are Muslim, but 99.99% are, Arab is not a race,it is an ethnic identity based on one's native tongue. Jew is not a race either, it is an identity based on tradition,not a religion.
There are white, yellow, black Arabs, There are Muslim and Jew (Druze) Arabs.
Kurds are not Arab.
There are orthodox Jews, secular Jews, atheist Jews and even Christian Jews (Jews for Jesus), but no Muslim Jews,unless they are converts or descendants of same like Metin Kaplan.
So Jew is an ethnicity not defined by Race or Religion
Arab is not an ethnicity defined by race or religion
Christianity is not an ethnicity defined by race or religion
Hindu is not an ethnicity defined by race or religion
Same with Buddhism, or any other identity.
So we are left with the worlds greatest destabilizers, Religion.
Religion knows no ethnicity, it is trans national, trans ethnic.
An example, there are three Slavic nations in the Balkans, all cousins, all Slavs, but they differ by religion, Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox, actually four
Bosnia Muslim, Kosovo Muslim, Croatia Roman Catholic, Serbia Orthodox all enemies of each other yet all are Slavs. Rome called them Illyrians, Constantine was one.
We now get down to the problem of religion. It is not a problem because their is no solution, unless there is a great awakening and mankind realizes that religion doesn't solve it's problems and provides security, but causes them.
Back to the mid east, the conflict between Muslim and Jew is 1400 years old, it started with Muhammad beheading the entire Jewish tribe of Quaryza in Medina because he wanted their wealth, it is in the Quran.
And became a holy war, in the hadith of al Bukhari, verse (sahih) 129/1296, book 56, hadith 139, where it says "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem) (copy and pasted from the HAMAS covenant)
The day of Judgement is the end times, when the Mehdi/Mahdi will appear and all of the world becomes Muslim. it is , when Allah will decide how people will spend their afterlife. Yawm ad-Din , day of judgement will not come until all the Jews are obliterated.
Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved. On top of which Jews are occupying what Muslims believe to be sacred Islamic soil, especially the Dome of the Rock.
Russian aggression is a problem, however and there is a solution, Putin dies, and the oligarchs which are his power base and henchmen, along with him.
Still it will require a massive overhaul of the Russian mentality, for them subservience to authority, serfdom and slavery is part of their cultural inheritance from Jenghis Khan, through the Tsars, through the Bolsheviks to Putin.
The Russian ethos and legacy is Imperialism, conquest, obliteration of ethnic identities. Well not with Stalin, he incorporated the various ethnicities into the Soviet Union, so long as they served him and his purpose.
Putin is trying to do the same, with the exception of Ukraine, perhaps the Baltic states as well, there is in genocidal mode.
Muslim Chechnya rebelled because they felt that their ethic identity as Muslims was under attack by Orthodox Russia, Putin found a solution to that problem, by recognizing the leadership of the most ruthless Muslim thug as president, now he has a Muslim satrap.
There along discourse.
William - Thank you again for an interesting post!
You write, "Racism is a difficulty, not a problem, because it has no solution, even if the whole world was brown, there would still be racism, brown eyes vs blue eyes". - My example for Darlington in northeast England in 1980 suggests that - whether a problem or a difficulty - there is a solution, but maybe we haven't studied the issue from the potentially most productive angle.
You also write, "Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved. On top of which Jews are occupying what Muslims believe to be sacred Islamic soil, especially the Dome of the Rock". - Well, Norwegians have a 'sacred place', too, namely Eidsvold, where our Consitution was drafted and signed by a group of respectable middle-class men. Even so, we have forged friendship ties with both Denmark and Sweden. The reason is that the circumstances and context for the earlier conflict have fallen away. That's what is needed in the Middle East. One stumbling block - among many - is the (by now) much-debated Empire.
You furthermore write, "So we are left with the worlds greatest destabilizers, Religion". - I'm not so sure about that. The great destabilisers are demagogues who happen to feel in a religious mood and who are inclined to use religion to climb the sleazy pole of fame and infamy.
In fact, there is an ecumenical movement, where representative cognoscenti from various world religions meet to explore common ground - and discuss how to defend each other against common evils like secularism, materialism, Marxism, atheism, and unholy doubt. So, in Britain we were blessed with an archbishop who defended sharia law and a parallel sharia court system in Britain. This came as a suprise to many Brits - see https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/archbishop-of-canterbury-clarifies-defends-remarks-on-shariah-law-1.698017
This means that you conclusion, "Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved" - although expressed with logical certainty - could be incorrect.
You assert, "The Russian ethos and legacy is Imperialism, conquest, obliteration of ethnic identities. Well not with Stalin, he incorporated the various ethnicities into the Soviet Union, so long as they served him and his purpose". - Yes, you are right: Stalin tolerated ethnic minorities and even promoted them on the 'everyday' cultural level, but within the national state-framework of the Soviet Union. In the United States, such a process used to be called "the melting pot". I'm not sure what it's called now, in our current age of diversity, polarisation, and assertive thinking.
As for Ukraine: Putin sees it as part and parcel of a wider nuclear-strategic issue of Russian self-protection: the problem of keeping one's adversaries at arm's length, always and everywhere. I agree that this is a phenomenon that marks out super-powers and/or narcent empires. The Monroe Doctrine has the same aim. It is sometimes referred to as 'areas of interest'.
I overllooked an important difference between Judiasm and Islam and Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
The Scandinavians share a cultural heritage, and a racial one at that.
Jews and Muslims do not, In fact their cultures are at odds with each other, and Islam demands subservience, not only of Jews but of your culture.
As regards Sharia in England and Norway, or Islam in the west. Bear in mind that when you are a guest in some one else;s home, you are on your best behavior
In New York city, where there are a lot of orthodox Jewish communities, Jewish family law (Halakah or The way to behave) is practiced, only to the extent that it doesn't conflict with secular law. The communities even even their own family courts.
If a Jew doesn't like the rabbinical ruling, then he leaves the community and is then subject to the laws of the state.
Sharia is more than family law, it is law that governs society. Female Genital Mutilation is permitted, because women are not suppose to enjoy sex, and indeed it is practiced in Muslim communities in America, especially among the Somali community in Minnesota. Homosexuality is punishable by death, leaving Islam (irtidad) is punishable by death, and has indeed been carried out in America, disrespecting the Quran and Muhammad is punishable by death. Honor killing is permissible, and indeed many cases of honor killing in America.
Polygamy is permitted in Islam, and despite secular laws against it, it is still practiced (also by Fundamentalist Mormons, who have more than the four wives permitted by the Quran)
Sharia is much more than family law
Here is the problem that Islam has in Europe and even in Norway, and it accounts for the rise of the right.
Islam has never undergone the reformation of Christianity, and it can't.
For instance there is no substantial difference from a westerners POV between Sunni and Shia Islam. Their's is an intramural fight over who is the successor to Muhammad., not one of doctrine, ritual or tradition.
Were it not for Charles Martel in 732 at Potiers' or John III Sobieski at the gates of Vienna in 1682, Europe or most of Europe would be Muslim and living under Sharia.
If you are a misogynistic, homophobic , female dominating patriarch who can stop what they are doing and pray five times a day, then Islam is for you.
But here is what accounts for the rise of the right in Europe.
When a minority culture reaches 17% of the population, there is a tipping point, in which the values, practices, traditions of that minority population bleeds over into the majority population,and women start wearing hijabs, not wearing short skirts, men became authoritarians over their wives and children., conversions become more frequent, and before you know it, there are Sharia law side by side with secular law, eventually, Secular law is replaced.
And it isn't about race, although there is some of that, it is about culture.
Islamic culture and western culture are incompatible. Water and oil, and there is no emulsifier.
I personally,and most people I know, could not survive in an Islamic society.
We would be dead.
To be fair, there are Christian cultures, in America, that are just as bad, and are even more threatening. They threaten to take over this country via Trump.
They are called Evangelicals, Dominionists, The New Apostolic Reformation, an extreme group of Christian nationalists, sees Trump as the anointed person to help create a Christian state.
They are transdenominational, includes Protestants and Catholics.
Dominionism was found by R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz's father Rafael.
it seeks to restore order and like the NAR replace the constitution with Mosaic laws.
The Mosaic laws are the 613 laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, well not all of them, not the inconvenient ones like don't eat pork, shell fish or wear clothing of mixed fabric,only the ones of social control. Like death for less than faithful Christians, rebellious teenagers, atheists, adulterers and the method of execution is stoning, because stones are free.
In the case of these Christians vs Islam the fight is not cultural, because they are on the same side of the culture war. It is religious.
Islam is supremacist, exclusive. It accords Christians and Jews,the right to their worship and traditions, so long as they accept second class citizen status as dhimmis.
The History of Christianity, since Constantine, is all or nothing. The reformation ameliorated the harm of Christianity, after hundreds of years of war, torture, slaughter and burning at the stake, there has been a detente between Christian factions, and they have proliferated, but they stand united against a common threat.
Myself I don't give a fuck, so long as I can live in peace, in a society rule by secular laws. If women allow themselves to be brainwashed into objects, like Islamic women and the women of many Christian communities, that is their business, so long as it isn't the law and culture I live in.
If your government is regressive, backwards and unable to even feed it's people, like for instance, Afghanistan, then that is their problem, and we shouldn't bail them out, for their choices, and it is their choice, for like Mao said, the revolution(govenment) swims in the sea of the people.
When the people can't live with their choice, their government, their culture, they flee to a more prosperous and free culture, but drag with them the garbage that created their misery, as if it were precious gems, and try to remake the host culture that welcomed them, into the same pile of shit that they fled.
Thus the rise of the right in Europe.
America is different, here it is pure racism and the fear that maybe low wage unskilled migrants, who can't speak English will take away high paying jobs that require skills.
However the culture of North, Central and South America is Christian, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Catholic and ultra conservative at that, a perfect fit with the homophobic, misogynistic culture of Christian America, so the only reason for anti immigrant politics is racial and economic.
The economic complaint is a farce, because the immigrants do jobs,that Americans feel are beneath them and don't pay well enough.
So it is racial. And I don't care about race, I wish the whole world was brown.
There would be one less reason for conflict.
In America it is racial in Europe it is cultural, with a smattering of racism.
I have no idea of what you are talking about vis a vis Darlington. I repeat a difficulty has no solution, and a difficulty is not a problem. You have heard of solving a problem or problem solvers, ever heard of difficulty solvers
You can't compare a religious/ethnic war between Muslims and Jews, to
Norway, Sweden and Denmark,all of which are Scandinavian and share a common origin and history. The attempt to do is does not speak well.
What is with you and your fixation on Empire? And the only Empire in your lexicon is America and the west, but not Russia and Islam.
You sure are a Putin apologist and partisan, you have an excuse for everything Russian and Putin.
Again, what is it with you and your obsession with Empire.?
What gives?
Biden ain't bumbling; he just walks like an 81-year-old man with pain in his body. He had only two years when he could get something done, and did he ever get something done!!!! Get with his record and stop complaining about him!
Sandra B - Well, Biden installed Janet Yellen; in an age of neoliberalism, this was no mean feat but not much commented on here in Britain. In this sense, Biden is well-meaning. However, when it comes to Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip, he seems to have a blind spot.
I'm not complaining about him Sandra just being honest in my opinion with a Trump lover, cheese lighten up a bit don't be so defense. I'm 85, had a cancerous tumor removed in my brain, size of a tangerine, 7 years ago, and ten bouts of radiation afterwards, Result I stutter in speech and typing, and my sense of balance is shot.I would fall on my ass if there wasn't furniture and walls to grab.
Lighten up. I will crawl over broken glass to vote for Biden.
Cheese wiz.
William F., I'm sorry I was so abrupt. I overreacted. Glad to hear you survived such a medical attack as you had.
"that has been the defender of democracy globally"
Seems like you have drank that Koolaid they have been feeding us since birth.
But I could not agree more about tRUMP.
Just because there is a vote does not mean there is a democracy, and there is no democracy in any Islamic country, not with gender apartheid, an official religion, official punishment and death of gays, not with killing of unbelievers., and second class status for Christians and Jews (if you can find any in the countries), Most have no Jews.
For centuries Jews found safe refuge in Muslim Egypt and Muslim Palestine--then the Christian crusaders came. You probably know that Hitler regarded himself as a Germanic crusader.
And lets not forget that currently Iran is home to the largest Jewish community in Middle East outside of Israel.
This is news to me. Can you elaborate? Are they held as hostages (to deter Israel)?
Well, then perhaps you need to reconsider where you get your News at. Jews have lived in Iran for centuries and they have their own representative in their Parliament. You may also want to google 'Iranian Schindler' to learn who Iran saved Jews during WWII.
Of course, none of these will be beneficial to the Zionist/AIPAC propaganda.
Are you saying that Iranian Jews have their own parliament?
Not their own parliament but their own representative in the Parliament. It was suppose to the "the Parliament" and not "their Parliament" Sorry for the mistype.
No disagreement with this view regarding the Islamic countries, of which just about nearly all their dictators are in power courtesy of the USA.
But as you put it, they don't pretend to be a democracy unlike the Zionist Israel which arguably has murdered far more than all those dictators combined.
Mehrdad - Re: your second paragraph: Yes, with the possible exception of Suharto of Indonesia - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto
It's well to remember that Suharto had the full support of the U.S. president at the time.
Good point, Gunnar, but keep in mind that this was before the downfall of Communism.
Victor - Suharto presided over the mass killings of non-Communists, as well as Communists: ethnic Chinese, irreligious people and trade unionists, for example. Also, many people took the opportunity to murder neighbours they disliked for non-poltical reasons. The real figure, according to people who visited Indonesia at the time, may have been 2-2-1/2 million.
It seems that Suharto was not all that different from Pol Pot. No? Yet he had US support, didn't he?
Oh how wrong you are. Zionists' haven't murdered more people than all Islamic dictators combined. Just the body count of people beheaded after Frida prayers in front of mosques exceeds the body count of people killed in combat by the IDF, then you have to talk about the ongoing massacres in Iran by the Ayatollahs and Republican Guard, or Saddam, how about DAESH,ISK, Hezbollah, the list goes on.
What is your problem with the Jews having their own state". There is one Jewish ethnostate in the UN and 57 Muslim ethnostates.? 193 states in the UN, the Jews are really underrepresented, I would say that they sit alone in a hostile environmen, literally and fighting for their lives.
There would not be the present trouble had not the Arabs attempted a genocide of the Jews on Nov 1948, again in 1956, again in 1967, again in 1993, and like the insane people they are, they haven't learned a lesson and keep coming back again and again, and promising to do so forever until the land is Judein Frei, as Yaha Sinwar said, they are a nation of martyrs, well not him, but the idiots he get to die for him.
We know that at least 37000 have been murdered just in last 8 months by the IOF.
So, if you want to put the records of the Zionist OCCUPIERS against all Islamic dictators, be my guest, you might as well add the Nazi record so your team look even better.
I am not defending those dictators which are in place because of the US backing, I am condemning those dictators AND the genocidal Zionist all together.
With that I have nothing else to say to you as you are obviously OK with genocide.
Free Palestine from the River to the Sea and Free USA from the Atlantic to the Pacific from the Zionist/AIPAC cancer.
Killed as collateral damage, we killed more French our allies in WWII, 20,000 alone in the invasion of Normandy.
Quite different than the brutal up front and personal Rape and murder of women, infants, toddlers, elderly and disabled by the terrorists of Islamic Jihad and HAMAS, wouldn't you say.
And while at, how about complaining about the full on genocide of Ukrainians by Putin. Ah but that doesn't bother you, only Arab deaths county.
What is happening in Gaza is not Genocide, Genocide is the intentiona obliteration of a people or group, accoding to the UN Convention on prevention of Genocide, there is no such intention on the part of Israel, at least not published, However Israel has a right to defend itself against people who seek to genocide the state, yes Israel has been threatened with genocide since 1948, HAMAS has it in their covenant, Islam has it in their sacred text, Muhammad started it when he beheaded the entire Jewish tribe (60 ,six at a time in the Market Place of Medina, which is a sacred Islamic city.
While there is a real genocide going on in Ukraine people like you are silent.
Hypocrite.
Racist rants are ignored.
That slander doesn't work on me. Truth is truth. HAMAS has raped and murdered women,infants, toddlers, elderly and disabled. I bring up this facts and you call them racist.
That tells a lot about you.
I think you forgot the raping on cats, dogs and those fish in their fish tanks.
Flushed.....
You have quite the ego don't you. Fact is that you are of no account.
We can study the history of fascism in Europe. We can see the evil and destruction. Trump on the other hand was just getting started during his first and only term as president. We can only imagine how it would have developed had he gained a second term. What we have learned from this experience is that a great number of people in and around our government at the time were really bad actors who came out of the closet when they saw the opportunity. In my opinion Trump himself is not capable of following a plan or of any consistent behaviour. He does provide an enviornmeent that allows evil to thrive. He is a loathsome and dangerous narcissist. But I doubt he could even provide a definition of Fascism.
Trump doesn’t need to know what fascism means - he’s has plenty of very evil People behind him guiding and instructing him just like Hitler did.
Starting with the two Stephens: Bannon and Miller.
Trump would not have to define fascism because he’s everybody’s favorite useful idiot.
Rob - You write, “Trump on the other hand was just getting started during his first and only term as president”.
Not sure what you are referring to. He didn’t start any new wars. He broke the self-imposed U.S. embargo on talking to North Korea. He broke new ground. He didn’t get very far, but then we don’t know what happened behind the scenes. Trump was up against a Washington Consensus that predated his administration by decades - a consensus that enjoyed blaming North Korea for being ‘isolated’ and ‘insular’ when in fact it was the U.S. that had isolated and embargoed it.
Yes, Trump tried to push the envelope against the Consitution, but never got very far. My impression as a non-American is that the Consitution and its defenders were robust. Yes, I am aware that Trump threatens to bend the Consitution if he is granted a second term. I don’t see how he will be able to do any of this. Please enlighten me. I would suggest that there is a lot of moral panic behind your sentence, in response to Trump’s empty appeals to his supporters and undecided voters. Unlike Hitler, he will have no military force to back his ambitions.
Gunnar, I am not sure how to enlighten you. You have equal access to the same information I do. (I live in London). You seem to have come to a different conclusion. You are free to do that in a democracy and you can freely communicate you opinions. I don't think that would be the case in a fascist state. And that is where Trump would take the USA.
Rob, I'm with you.
Rob - Yes, Trump might do that - if allowed to do it. But American checks and balances appear to be robust because they are defended by so many at all levels of society and government. Trump needs careful supervision; he needs people and institutions to say 'No!' The U.S. has one big advantage over Britain: a written constitution. Even so, when Boris Johnson tried to prorogue Parliament, he found himself confronted by our legal system and was put back in his box. As long as people and institutions are prepared to stand up and say, "No!" there is little danger of a coup d'Etat either in Britain or the U.S.
I think you are naive Gunnar, making friends with Kim Jong Un will only lead to him invading South Korea. All he wants is permission. As I see it your opinion is that assent to aggressors is a virtue, and defense is a vice. Peace at any price. Is that correct. I don't know how else to take your comments Gunnar.
You come off as being the defender of autocratic aggressor nations and leaders. Correct me if I am wrong.
If America is neo imperialist, then it is benign compared to Russia and China. How about the Imperialism of small states, like the imperialism of Serbia. Or the imperialism of Islam. A religion can be and is imperialist. Christianity and Islam are imperialists, or haven't you thought of that.
My bitch with US neo Imperialism is that it is in service to international corporations and financial instiutions, not for the welfare and safety of America. It showed it head in Venezuela when Chavez had the temerity to actually think that Venezuelan oil belonged to Venezuela and not Exxon Mobil, who then mobilized it's power and used the USA, the State Department and the CIA to overthrow Chavez and his government and drive Venezuela into the arms of Iran and Russia. Just like they did with Fidel Castro.
There is a problem in America, not with Americans per se, but with the millionaires, billionaires and corporations that have accumulated so much money, that they have the power to influence policy not only to protect their wealth but to acquire more.
Yet with all of those defects and problems, there are still 100,000 or more people from all over the world lining up to get into the USA.
Meanwhile Norway, Denmark and Sweden are dealing with a problem, that was stopped at Poitiers by Charles Martelin 732 and at the gates of Vienna by John III Sobieski in 1683 an undemocratic, homophobic, gender apartheid, triumphalist and excursionist ideology that if successful will wipe out what remains of freedom, democracy and equality.
Thank you for your long and thoughtful response, William.
You write, "As I see it your opinion is that assent to aggressors is a virtue, and defense is a vice. Peace at any price. Is that correct". - On the whole, this is incorrect. A couple of years before I was born, my country-of-origin was invaded and occupied by the Nazi war machine. I wouldn't like to see this happen again, either to Norway or any other country in the world. The fact that you seem to think so, simply demonstrates your under-estimation of my political philosophy.
Having said this, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, John Kennedy said, "I'd rather my children be red than dead" [quote from "Once upon a Secret: My Affair with John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath", by Mimi Alford, p. 94]. - This, too, is part of my political philosophy.
You mention "the imperialism of Islam". - That's an interesting comment from a person who is American (I presume) - a citizen of the country that has meddled in the Middle East for decades. There is an informal dictum in life (and in politics) that every action gives rise to a reaction. I'm not defending the "imperialism of Islam" but then maybe the U.S. and some of its allies need to reassess its role in the Middle East? I should remind you that back in the day Islam in Spain was enlightened, and that it was the Catholic Church that began introducing anti-semitic rules and regulations. This was probably one reason that Baruch Spinoza's parents decided to leave Spain and settle in Holland.
I absolutely agree with your three paragraphs that start with "My bitch with US neo Imperialism ...". In particular, I agree that the problem is not with Americans per se; it is the politico-financial system that is the problem, and the source of many international problems.
You correctly identify "truimphalist ideology" as a problem. When the Soviet Union was dissolved, the West believed THEY caused it. They didn't - it was the idealist Gorbachev who done it! Furthermore, Gorbachev outlined a plan to transform Europe into a peaceful place. However, the West read Fukuyama's triumphalist and contageous book, "The End of History and the Last Man" (1992), and in our triumph we advanced NATO to borders of Russia. Today, in Ukraine, we reap the consequences. Every action provokes a reaction. Like Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vladimir Putin has been thrown into crisis mode. But whereas Kennedy and Khrushchev were willing to negotiate, the West has refused Putin's repeated pre-invasion invitations to negotiate. That's an important difference.
Nothing I have said is to be construed as a defence of Putin's repressive domestic policies. However, it is as well to remember that when Putin first came to power, he was keen to see Russia become an integral part of Europe - he even suggested Russian membership of the EU. NATO and the EU were confused and uncertain, but it didn't take long for them to recover its Cold War bias and ignore Putin's invitations - as it had ignored Gorbachev's conciliatory invitations 10 years earlier. Could it be, then, that it was the West that erred - that we had made NATO a fetish, a goal in its own right, rather than an instrument whose life-span should have been permitted to ebb away?
Gunnar and William, When I wrote my short comment on DJT and fascism, I had no idea it would evolve into a full-blown debate. I stick by my original points. Gunner, nothing you have said has changed my mind. I assume you feel the same way. I lean towards William’s argument and wonder what the West should have negotiated with Putin about Gunner. Putin seemed to be saying, “Give me the rest of Ukraine (The part I didn’t take when I invaded in 2014. or I will invade you again.” That seems to be a difficult starting point for a negotiation.
I don't know what to do now. I stated my point of view in response to Robert’s invitation to comment. I have no interest in winning an argument, so it is unlikely we will meet again on this subject. If I am tempted to comment on another subject, I will be on the lookout for your difference of opinion. Life would be so boring if we all agreed on everything.
Rob - You may be reluctant to comment further on this subject, and you may be correct in saying we are too far apart politically to reach a consensus. But I think it's worth a try!
As I understand recent Ukrainian history, in late February 2014, there was a coup d'Etat in Kiev, and a new government had itself installed. The coup didn't arise from the peaceful 'colour revolution' of late-2013-January 2014, but came about when masked men dressed in black highjacked the peaceful demonstration and fought and killed police officers in their dozens. Eventually, these masked men prevailed, and a hyper-nationalist dominated government was formed. When counter-demonstrations errupted in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, instead of sending negotiators, the new government sent the Ukrainian army eastward to crush the protesters. As fighting began, Putin decided that the new government in Kiev might send air borne troops to Crimea to oust the Russian navy which was renting the premisses. To avoid this possibility, Putin's special forces took control of Crimea and a plebicite and annexation followed. About two months later, as the armed defenders of the Donbass began to lose ground to the Ukrainian army, Putin secretly intervened militarily; this was in April, I think, as far as we know.
So, the conflict in Ukraine began as a civil war and with the Russian annexation of Crimea. And yes, Putin installed a new military leadership in the Donbass and ensured that the 'rebels' held the front line against the Ukrainian army.
Putin had nurtured another concern - a broader strategic one - namely the presence of NATO on Russia's borders. He suggested negotiations; the West simply didn't react. And this eventually led to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. We blame him; he probably felt that in order to protect Russia's southern flank, he had no real choice - just as Kennedy felt he had no choice at the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
That's really all I have to say about it. Each one of us can decide whether (1) NATO should have responded to Putin's invitations to talk; and/or whether (2) Putin acted responsibly or whether the invasion was an excuse to confront the West on his own ground. Our judgement involves the question whether there is such a thing as 'territories of interest', or not. I think it is fair to say that NATO's intransigence played a role in Putin's decision to invade. This doesn't let him off the moral hook.
As for Putin's motives as they developed following 2014, I can't be sure; I can only guess. He had been accused of arranging the destruction of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014. No evidence supports this. Worse, no logic supports it, either. Putin lacked a motive, but no-one in NATO cared to ask "Cui bono?" (Who benefits?) - Why would Putin destroy a passenger plane which he he would immediately be blamed for - and for which NATO might use as a reason to directly involve itself in the conflict in Ukraine? This would be the last thing Putin would want to risk; he has always been afraid of NATO.
Who destroyed flight MH17? To ask this question is to ask, "Who had a motive?" If Putin didn't have it, who else? I think a faction within the Ukrainian government had a motive: to bring NATO into the conflict with the Donbass population. That's all I can say. I don't expect you to accept it. I'm not even sure that I firmly believe it. But ... cui bono?
Gratias Autem Habeo nullum responsum
You write, "Thanks but I have no answer".
You are welcome!
Bon nuit, Gunnar. Je par pour les cotswold demain matin.
In many ways, neither was Hitler. He couldn't be bothered with the minutiae of day to day governance, and that is where so many of his 'henchmen' came into the picture.
Trump should be fined and sentenced to a jail term for his felony conviction.
No discussion of Trumpism or fascism would be complete without an explanation of the enablers who form the inner circle of the cult and those who become the followers. We need to understand what kinds of personalities gravitate to authoritarian rulers and what socio-economic or cultural dynamics would leave them vulnerable to the con-men who prey on their vulnerability.
Yes. And once understood what can we do about them? It is said to be a cult mentality. How do we re-educate them? Persuade them to change their minds? Propaganda?
I think FOX "news" should go. Ignorance breeds ignorance. It is as if they take delight in our misery. Schadenfreude.
Madeline, I wish my "like" button would work. It seems to be turned off. You and others today are right to raise our awareness of the followers.
Robert Reich - You persist in drawing a parallel between Trumpism and (neo) fascism. That's fine with me. But I'm puzzled. You write well on America's economic system and the dominance of your American 'masters of the universe' and robber barons. My label for it is neoliberalism, whilst most Americans refer to the system as Reaganomics and Globalisation. Globalisation includes the use of so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor%E2%80%93state_dispute_settlement - within all recent international trade agreements. Britain seems to have embraced the system, also - see https://www.fieldfisher.com/en/insights/the-uk-and-isds-latest-developments
This system - neoliberalism - is just as (neo) fascist as Trumpism. The awful thing is that since Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party has adopted a 'soft' version of neoliberalism.
Gunnar You are absolutely correct. But trump derangement syndrome requires calling Trump a fascist. As you know, and anyone who doesn’t let msm dictate thought, actual fascism is merely the corporate takeover of government. Whether we pretend it’s still a democracy I will defer to you or others. But as you point out, Clinton and in my opinion Reagan started this process. To blame one party more than the other is part of the brew. Get the very stupid arguing about abortion guns pronouns fascism and corporate greed will launder money from the middle to the top. All the concentration camps, and genocide are merely an extension of the distraction.
Meanwhile Israel is in full 1939 mode.
So says the AI bot.
Billy! Am I a bot? Or are you a bloviating turd. Remember when Clinton paid for the Steele dossier? The feds knew it was a lie in 2017 but let jag offs like you accuse a sitting president of collusion with Russia. Eight years later you still lie about it but also can’t understand why Trump gains in popularity every day. Good grief you’re not too bright.
Chuck, keep it kind.
.-- . .-.. .-.. ..--.. And yes a bot, you exposed yourself.
William - You write, "So says the AI bot".
This is the sort of reply that a person sends when he is bereft of any intelligent answer. It's a sign of intellectual short-circuit. It suggests that Chuck is absolutely correct and you're lost for words.
Guunar. I have spent some time evaluating your arguments
Here is what I have deciphered.
Empire bad
USA is Empire
Russia victim defending itself from Empire
USA bad, Russia good.
All the rest, all of the other arguments and claims are superfluous and a distraction.
All you've managed to do is to simplify in ways that simple minds do. You've managed to extrapolate beyond the data given. I will try once more. Never let it be said that I'm not patient with you!
Nowhere have I said that Empire is totally bad, and nowhere have I said that "Russia is good". Nor have I ever meant to imply it. I've simply stated that the U.S. is building an empire and this entails being able to lean heavily on other nation states by economic and trade means and 'persuade' them to agree to things that other governments regret feeling compelled to do. I don't think this is good either for the other countries or for America's international reputation. So, the Vietnam War wasn't good for your country's reputation, nor was the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline good for you country's international reputation, especially not among your NATO allies.
Yes, Russia is one of the victims. That doesn't make Russia good. But it doesn't make Russia nearly as bad as the U.S. mainstream media propaganda tell you it is.
Palestine is another victim. Most of the international community are desperately trying to persuade the U.S. government under Joe Biden that supporting genocidal war by proxy is a bad idea. The international community is trying to rescue the U.S. power elite from itself. But we are not an empire; we don't have the clout to persuade the Biden administration to desist. And if Donald Trump wins in November, we won't have the clout to persuade him, either. It is what it is. It would be great if there were an Empire able to persuade the U.S. government - that would be a good empire, William.
With you, I'm up against it! You even deny that the U.S. (and Norway) was behind the destruction of Nord Stream. If you face facts with pollyannish denial, what can I do? What can anyone do? Ignorance is pure bliss.
What you have said, leads solidly to the conclusions I have drawn from your own statements. One doesn't have to say a thing directly
As regards Trump, it is obvious and known that he is Putin's puppet, from his efforts to get Vlad to approve a Trump hotel in Moscow, to asking him to provide Hillary's emails, to his private conference in Helsinki, where they evicted and forbade journalists and all translators save Putin's from the room.
Trump doesn't require persuading when it comes to Putin and other dictators, he is part of their club.
I do not amend or repudiate my assessments of your position, they are a reduction of your many, many words.
Russia is a victim, that alone gives you away. A genocidal aggressor is a victim, What he did to Chechnya to install his satrap is what he is doing to Ukraine and you call him a victim.
You expose yourself.
William - I agree that Putin's war on Chechnya was a gruesome conflict. So was the U.S.'s battle against ISIS in Iraq - see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37702442
Wars against political Islam is brutal, whether it is waged by Russia or the U.S. Frankly, I'm not sure that there is a military answer. Maybe its Russia and we who need to change - in unexpected ways.
I'm going to diverge. You probably won't approve; you say you don't like 'distractions' - but there you are. There is a story circulating:
“The genteel gloss of Cairo’s Abdein area, where Mohamed Amir Atta lived, had faded to shabby disrepair by the early ‘80s, when he entered his teens. The government workers who had once lived well on $100 a month found themselves in a vortex of downward mobility, working second and third jobs to survive. … Atta graduated from Cairo University in 1990 and his father convinced him that only an advanced degree from abroad would allow him to prosper in Egypt. Soon he was headed to Hamburg Technical University on a scholarship. … Atta’s academic focus was Arab cities, specifically preserving them in the face of Western-style development. He returned to Cairo for three months’ research in 1995, and was angered at what he saw. “He said it was a completely absurd way to develop the city,” recalled Ralph Bodenstein, one of Atta’s fellow students, “to make a Disney World out of it.” … In November 1997, he made an unexpected visit to his academic supervisor, Machule, to discuss his thesis, then disappeared again for about a year. There is evidence that he trained at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan around this time. He reappeared in Hamburg in early 1999, from which time investigators connect him with a cell of about 20 suspected terrorists”.
So, maybe one way we need to change is our fancyfree approach to town planning in foreign cities. All I can say is that, by his own lights, Muhamed Atta found the 'perfect' target: a brutalist steel-and-glass twin tower, precisely the sort of architecture he had learned to hate. Having seen Melbourne undergo a ten-year 'facelift' in the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, where the ruins of once-lovely old buildings were marked with signposts saying "Wheelan the Wrecker was here!" - The signposts seemed provocative. So, from this melancholy experience in Melbourne, I have a sense of how Mr Atta may have felt during his years of growing-up in Cairo. I guess the difference between him and me was that I 'moved on', as they sat these days, while he didn't.
Come on. I am not buying that both sides crap, and I don't think anyone else does either. There is a big difference between Bush's criminal war in Iraq and Putin, And Putin has declare Genocidal intentions, and is purposefully, targeting schools, maternity wards and civilians. He has said he wants to obliterate the Ukraine identity and culture he even denies the Ukrainian language, That is genocide, Bush's war was for oil, re election, to beat his Daddy, and for the sake of Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Try again.
If you aren't a Putinista, then you are trying very hard, and no one is buying your swill.
The thing is, William, that if you call me a "Putinista", you thereby throw doubt on you judgement that Donald Trump is "Putin puppet". The more you throw such labels around, the less discernment and credence you give yourself.
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck it is a duck.
Maya D'Angelou said, "When a person shows you who he is, believe him".
You have shown yourself.
Isn't all this just a matter of where the $$ come from? Republicans traditionally get theirs from business/wall Street etc.. while Democrats sought theirs more from the workers. Clinton just said hell, we can do that and began imitating Repubs by talking to Wall Street. Its been a mess ever since.
Terry - No, neoliberalism goes beyond money and flirting with autocracy; it seeks the complete dominance of government that aims to structure society in the interest of money - and to infuse this ideology at the grassroots.
The most thorough analysis on this topic is "The New Way of the World: On Neliberal Society", by Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval, especially chapter 9: "Manufacturing the neoliberal subject" (pp. 255-299). It is a good book, well translated from the French, but written almost like a text book. I'd definitely recommend it; however, if you'd prefer something easier to read, I'd suggest "The Limits of Neoliberalism: Authority, Sovereignty and the Logic of Competetion", by William Davies. Or "The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy", by Noreena Hertz. Or "The Austerity State", edited by Stephen MacBride and Bryan Evans. There is also a book by Edward Luce called "The Retreat of Western Liberalism". This is in many ways an excellent book but Luce doesn't name neoliberalism as the culprit - except once, on p. 196!
The logic of competition: it is efficiency vs. human rights. As Prof. Reich points out, the key issue is who benefits and by what means.
Your wrong Terry, neo liberalism is taking government out of business. Putting government in Business is the classic definition of fascism. That is what Mussolini meant and did when he coined the term. His Chamber of Deputies was comprised of CEO's and Representatives from Italian corporations.
Lenin even said of the Soviet Union, it is State Capitalism, it was a combine of seven trusts organized along resource lines.
Thanks for the references. Neo liberalism is a political philosophy, am I correct?
Neo-liberalism is a power philosophy created in 1938 (Lippmann, Hayak, Mises, later Friedman, etc) that saw politics as a vehicle to assure free-markets AND influence social issues. So, it's both political and economic -- but economic at its core.
Free markets, John, by neo liberal definition, are those devoid of government regulations, so it's use of politics is to rid the market of government regulations, that is why a major cause of Republicans is to dismantle the administrative state.
Correct. But to "rid the market of government regulation" you must have CONTROL of government policy, as the 1938 Lippman meeting concluded. Hence, neo-liberals use control of politics as a vehicle to establish de-regulated policies. Neo-liberals successfully lobbied Jimmy Carter (and Congress) to dramatically reduce Cap Gains tax rates in the late 1970s. This was followed by Reagan-Thatcher going "all-in" on neo-liberal policies in the 1980s, which dramatically reduced govt regulation while also reducing net tax rates on ultra-high incomes. Since 1980, these neo-liberal policies have redistributed HALF of middle-class wealth into the top 10%, and mostly the top 1%, and mostly again into the top 0.1%. At current rate of wealth redistribution, by 2050 the U.S. will become a kind of serfdom, with over 50% of national wealth held by the top 2% families and trusts.
John L. - You're absolutely correct. This probably sounds strange to William Farrar, so may I quote from my favourite book on neoliberalism, namely "The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society", by Dardot and Laval:
"... far from clashing with the logic of competition, [the government's] task is to remove all the obstacles to the free play of the markets by a veritable policing of the markets, one example of which is the struggle against cartels" (p. 86). - "The state must obviously start by respecting equality of opportunity in the competitive game, by abolishing anything that might resemble priviledge or protection granted to some special interest at the expense of others. One of the doctrine's main arguments, which we come across in other liberal currents, is that one of the principal tendencies in capitalism - excessive concentration and cartelization of industry - is not endogenous in nature, but originates in policies of priviledge and protection pursued by the state when it is under the control of large private interests. This is why a 'strong state', capable of resisting all pressure groups and free of 'Manchester School' dogmas of the minimum state, is required" (p. 88).
It's interesting, isn't it, that according to neoliberalism, in order to achieve 'free markets', a very strong state must ensure through regulation that the markets remains 'free'.
It just occurred to me that when Hayek wrote "Road to Serfdom" he probably never realized that serfdom would be caused by his own ideology.
Hayek's quarrel was with those who favored a planned economy, not with market regulation. Later in life he explicitly broke with libertarianism, and argued that a modern economy needed a safety net for the less fortunate.
Libertarian ism leads inevitably to serfdom, For it to succeed requires the cooperation of like minded individuals, who respect each other and voluntarily accept the consensus opinion of everyone else.
Doesn't happen in reality, a strong man will emerge, then the strong mans cup bearers, his chamberlain,his courtiers and before you know it back to serfdom.
John, and Gunnar, I'm so sorry that the word "liberal" is part of that movement's lexicon, the way I don't like the word "socialism" in the title: National Socialism (Hitler's fascism). Whenever you see this kind of cross-over it's not a good sign.
Which sounds like an oxymoron. Seems that Trump though would like to fiddle as he sees fit. Sounds like a set up to me.
Yes, neo liberals use government to achieve their ends of an unregulated free market. The statement is intuitively obvious. How else can they achieve that end, and as a matter of fact, that is what much of the political battle field is really all about.
The billionaires and corporations use the power of money, to buy politicians and political powers so they can neuter the government and the agencies created to control them. Nixon created the EPA, and the money powers have been after it (Big Ag, Mining, the Chemical Petroleum cabal) to defang and neuter it or just shut it's doors.
Shut down OSHA the NLRB, anything that interferes the ability of billionaires to buy a new Jet airliner or build a refugee on a mountain top or under the ocean.
OK. I am not arguing with you. What then do you propose as a solution? So neo liberals have screwed up the country, no argument here. They have used the immense power of the purse, to gain favor, no argument there, they have done it with Republicans and Democrats, no argument there.
So where is the argument?
It's less of an argument, and more of a treatise on fundamental greed and fundamental power, perhaps baked in to the human evolutionary condition. A class-cycle that has repeated itself throughout recorded history.
On that we agree, it started when a dude dressed in animal skins picked up the jawbone of an ass or leg of a mammoth and clubbed others into submission.
How does it compare to monarchism?
Terry - I'm not an expert on monarchism. I'd say that absolute monarchism allows for the active interference and regulation by the monarch in his country's economic affairs, whereas a constitutional monarch is supposed to sit back and allow the elected government get on with it.
However, there are hybrid 'systems'. You may be aware that Prince Charles of Britain often wrote letters to Ministers of the Crown, making suggestions, even urging them to take certain steps. We also know that his mother effected a considerable number of changes in various laws - changes that benefitted the Queen and her family. - See for example https://theconversation.com/the-queens-gambit-new-evidence-shows-how-her-majesty-wields-influence-on-legislation-154818 and https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/a36608416/queen-law-exemptions/
The UK is not an Absolute or Constitutional Monarchy ....and there is no UK Constitution. Parliament rules and the monarchy has no say.... no veto.... no approval. The monarchy in the UK is the head of state and can do nothing as far as governing is concerned. Essentially all the monarchy in the UK can do is ask (beg) but never direct or order.
Yes, there are such models as Constitutional Monarchies but I don't know much about them except by their title.
Trump wants to be an Absolute Monarch. That's what he thought he would have by now but things kept getting in the way. He'll make sure that doesn't happen this time around and the Heritage Foundation is running interference to make it so. What fun. Of course the people behind him are Christian Nationalists. If Trump were to succeed it would be because of these people and his administration will be packed to the gills with them. How does King Donald sound? King Donald Jr?
Terry - Your comment on the UK monarchy and the British Constitution contradicts the evidence. The British Constitution is based on tradition and precedence. Hence, Boris Johnson's attempt to prorogue Parliament failed in the face of the opposition from the Judiciary.
So therfore, we have a Constitutional monarchy. The difference is that our Constitution is unwritten - or written down in various places.
As for the British monarch. He/she certainly wields considerable influence sometimes. How much real power - the power to actually override government. This we simply don't know. We assume he/she doesn't do that - but we don't know.
I understand what your're saying but isn't a Constitution by its nature a written and published document? Also your writing it made it seem as though the Monarch had real power of some kind. There's no evidence of that. And yes, you have a Judiciary but not necessarily one with a final say like the US. In any case, the Monarch is really not a player in the UK game of governance....and I've not heard of anyone holding their breath in the last 100 or so years.. As I understand it the UK Constitution is kind of scattered documents (Magna Carta as a founding doc) and of course unwritten Common Law is used to bridge the gaps. Do you think there will ever come a time to pull it all together and actually publish?
Biden has renounced "neoliberalism," because it is incompatible with democracy. What replaces it must be of concern to us, because it can easily slide into crony capitalism and oligarchy.
Gunnar: To help educate you The 14 Characteristics of Fascism. Tick them off, they are all Trumpism. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.bremertonschools.org/cms/lib/WA01001541/Centricity/Domain/222/Fourteen%20Defining%20Characteristics%20of%20Fascism%20slides.pdf
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Are you sure you know what neo Liberalism is:?
Neoliberalism is a policy model that encompasses both politics and economics. It favors private enterprise and seeks to transfer the control of economic factors from the government to the private sector. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/neoliberalism.asp
That means no government control, no regulations, Reagan ism on steroids. R R in his many writings preaches against neo Liberalism.
Define, please, A SOFT VERSION of NEOLIBERALISM.
Thank you
Same thing. The hallmarks of fascism are highly centralized authority, rigid social and economic regimentation, and ruthless suppression of dissent. Look familiar? The American business oligarchs who are backing Trump are mirror images of the German businessmen who supported Hitler.
I'm amazed that all the disaffected people who are ready to vote for Trump can't figure out who's been screwing them for the last 40+ years. It isn't black, brown, Asian, gay, or LGTBQ people. It's the fascist super-rich.
I am English and I live in France, and I cannot help remembering the French Revolution when the poor executed the King and the rich landowners who kept all the wealth and let the poor suffer. The billionaires are the modern super rich who are likely to be turned on if Law and Order is overturned by the Fascists who are behind Trump.
Worst of all is the owner of X who can spread lies freely - stop looking at X.
It's the indifference to their suffering that can make the poor rise up and revolt against the economic elites in any generation.
That's how it looks to me as well, Gerry. It's interesting to me that the Koch brothers, by accounts that I've read, were raised by a Hitler loving nanny. Their parents wanted them to have "a strict upbringing." to my mind that translates as, no tenderness for those babies or little boys. They turned out to be emotionally ruthless even in relationship to members of their own family.
Fascists want three things:
1. Pillage and plunder the people and the nation's resources.
2. Control, exploit, and rule over people.
3. Be insanely violent, ruthlessly cruel, repressive, and murderous without any societal constraints or consequences.
My knee-jerk reaction is to say that I believe “trumpism” is more dangerous to America than “fascism”; however, if those of us who look forward not behind us (mental image of Lot’s wife) #VoteBlueUpAndDownBallot, I believe America will overcome & remain a Democratic republic.
I do hope you are correct Kim, but if Trump wins, then Project 2025, and Trump's Agenda 47 will be the death knell of our democratic republic.
Get off the TRUMP TRAIN
GET ON THE FACT TRACK
Be Responsible for Yourself and Others
Unfortunately the Trump train seems to be fuelled largely by lies (from up here in Canada) and therefore bouncing across the countryside. Without being brought to a careful stop, that train is going to treat the entire planet like Lac-Mégantic. Being responsible requires exposing the lies.
Fact-checking organizations out there; some of these include FactCheck.org, AP Fact Check, Reuters Fact Check, and many more that are tracked by the Duke Reporters' Lab.
Keith - You mention Reuters Fact Check.
The other day I was reading "The Power of News: The History of Reuters" (1992), a book about the British news agency by Donald Read. In chapter 14, the author describes one episode that interested me:
"One problem was how to handle ideology, not least at 85 Fleet Street itself. Derek Jameson has written about the small left-wing cell on the editorial floor at 85 Fleet Street in the late 1940s, of which he was himself briefly a member. ... The left-wingers numbered perhaps a dozen, of whom only three or four were Communist Party members, the rest were fellow travellers. Their leader was Lawrence Kirwan, one of the duty editors. The purge came after Frances Wheeler, one of the group, was found to have omitted an important reference to the Cold War in a speech by President Truman. ... Called to explain himself, Wheeler revealed all about the cell. There were no sackings, but the main figures were removed from positions of responsibility, and gradually left Reuters. Several reappeared working for Tass and other Communist news organisations. The obligation of all Reuter staff to maintain political non-commitment was emphasized by [Christopher] Chancellor in a letter to Kirwan, dated 24 June 1950" - and here comes the hilarious bit - "'Working for Reuters', wrote Chancellor, involved its staff 'in a form of self-discipline and self-abnegation. Those of you who feel strongly on political matters must be doubly careful in the position of trust which working for Reuters involves'" (pp. 370-71).
So, Reuters suppressed a small group, most of whom they labelled 'fellow-travellers'. This took place just prior to the onset of the Korean War. I would suggest that a few Left-wingers inside Reuters at that time might have assisted the news organisation in its fact checking. If you doubt this, I recommend you have a look at volume 2 of "The Cold War and Its Origins 1917-1960", by D. F. Fleming, especially chapter XXI: "The crucifixion of Korea 1945-1954" (pp. 598-660).
I am sceptical about so-called Fact Checks; they usually peddle their own biases, as we all do, myself included. The solution, if there is one, is to read widely and learn from others. This is my contribution to world-wide self-abnegation.
"Read widely and learn from others." Good advice, Gunner. Why do you put your last name in all caps?
Gloria, because in some languages the surname/family name comes first.
I didn't know that, Gunnar
Yes, in Japansese, Chinese and Korean - as in MAO Zedong and KIM Il jung.
As a further example, I could add that there is a Japanese writer whose name is Tominaga Nakamoto (1715-1746). Although Japan traditonally places the family name first, in the English translation of his "A History of Japanese Literature", Shūichi Katō appears to have chosen to adopt the Western convention of placing the family name last. Thus, Tominaga Nakamoto's family name seems to be 'Nakamoto'.
However, the mystery deepens. When I got myself a copy of a book by Tominaga Nakamoto (titled "Emerging from Meditation"), I found that in the preface, the translator Michael Pye addresses him as 'Tominaga'; that is, he seems to treat 'Tominaga' as the family name.
There is another reason, as well. I've found that in English-speaking countries many people are unsure where my Christian name(s) end and the Surname starts. I remove any such ambiguity by writing my Surname in capital letters.
Thank you for the info, Keith.
You’re welcome
We all need to fact check everything with as many fact checkers as possible
I fear that Democrats debate terminology too much. The time for talking or debating is done. It's time for some real meaningful action. Come down from the Ivory towers and make meaningful change happen.
Is Trump fascism? Do birds have wings?
I can't think of anything to say anymore, just that I hope someone kills him, and soon! VERY INTERESTING, VERY LONG ARTICLE in "The New Republic," which I read last night. They have done a very in-depth dive into Erik Prince and his "Off Leash" "chat" group. OMG -- they have plans to kill everyone, and one of their most horrible of members wants to get equipment from Prince that will send Napalm into all of Hamas's tunnels and then they plan to burn anything and everything that's left above ground in Gaza to a crisp. The information contained in this article is very scary. A funny aside: My brother who lives in Michigan, during the Trump admin one weekend in 2020, he and his wife and another couple were having dinner at the local yacht club, and they were talking about Trump and saying how much they hoped he'd drop dead before the Nov. election. A couple tables over from them and well within earshot sat Betsy and Dick DeVos (trump's so-called Secretary of Education [who'd never so much as taught a class in her life!]). They could see the DeVos's yacht parked outside with security detail watching it. My brother told me they were a little worried the Secret Service might show up at their houses. I told him not to worry, and to that I would now add, the people they should have been watching (and investigating) were Betsy's brother Eric Prince, notorious leader of Blackwater, militants, mercenaries, and killers for hire anywhere you want a nefarious job done anywhere in the world! (The DeVos's own AMWAY in Ada, Michigan, so their yacht in slip in the small lake yacht club off Lake Michigan would not be an unusual occurrence. They just boat over from their home on Lake Macatawa, which feeds into Lake Michigan.) "The New Republic" had been working on this investigative piece for a long while, and they think Prince might dissolve this group now that he's learned he wasn't being hacked into by cyber-hackers but by domestic journalist investigators, who knew EVERYTHING
AND PRESENTED THESE FACTS TO PRINCE! ALSO, "The New Republic" is working on an investigation into the SC conservatives and all the money they've taken 😳 from various and sundry people and groups and billionaires. They were asking for donations to their efforts in their prelude to their story, and I would say this would be an investigation well worth funding, people, because what they expose could be the beginning of the end for the John Roberts' court!
You are probably right about Erik Prince. I don't want to see trump dead I want to see him suffer and besides, Trump isn't smart enough - it is those who surround him that pull the strings. Steve Bannon is going to jail! That's one down.
https://www.distractify.com/p/betsy-devos-brother-pardon
Yes, but isn't his RIDICULOUS SENTENCE for only 4 or 6 months?? Certainly a grave miscalculation on the part of "justice" for all the harm he has spread around this world! Perhaps he'll "be taken care of" while he's in the clinker serving that time! Trump's people don't believe in serving the time . . . just doing the crime!
If Trump is murdered, he will become a martyr that can never be defeated. We need him to drop dead of a heart attack in public during one of his rants. And some will still see him as a martyr.
Wait a minute. The Secret Service watching the Devos Yacht? No way.
Cabinet members don't get Secret Service protection By law, the Secret Service is authorized to protect: The president, the vice president, (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the President), the president-elect and vice president-elect. The immediate families of the above individuals.
The children of the President only get protection for one year after they leave offic.
Hi, William. I still have that email. Perhaps I misunderstood, and the implication was that because the DeVos's could hear their conversation, that would provoke a visit from the Secret Service to their homes! SOMEONE was guarding their yacht -- private security or MAYBE EVEN MEMBERS OF BLACKWATER THEMSELVES! I wouldn't put anything past Betsy DeVos! (Maybe Trump passed out Secret Service agents like so many chocolate bars! Who knows?)
https://newrepublic.com/article/182008/erik-prince-secret-global-group-chat-off-leash
Thanks, Mary, for providing this link!
The United States is in denial about its complicity in the rise of Fascism in Europe (as well as within the United States). The historical facts are out there but are being willfully iignored.Why? Its recognition would be an indictment of the financial institutions and deliberate corporate cooperation that enabled the most catastrophic war in our modern historic memory.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your comments here. The depth of information and personal perspective an invaluable contribution. And one becomes aware - through such rememberings - of the complex factors involving real human beings who wittingly or unwittingly become enmeshed in historical events that later are defined by those who by sheer chance were not part of - or were on the periphery of - the making of those events.
Does it matter what we call it? The Republican 2025 document calls for the end of democracy,
the rule of law, abolition citizens' rights, and Trump promises to punish his opponents.
Isn't that enough to make him the country's enemy?
He's fascist definitely fascist. The thing I want us to realize is that business schools around the world churn out more & more little Donald's every semester. We teach what is basically fascism - What business school doesn't emphasize 'drinking the corporate kool-aid (they call it something else, but that's what it is)' & 'buying into the CEOs vision (that's cult of personality)'? The strong man (or woman - gender doesn't matter here) is central to business success. Find me a business text book that doesn't say that.
I don't think we realize that, as a species, we seem to be ok with the fact that fascism is seen as basic to the business cycle & capitalism. Why are we ok with it in Business school?
You are absolutely correct Jess. My undergraduate is Econ, Milton Friedman and the Koch Brothers version of Economics, and I have an MBA where the tried to brainwash me into comparative advantage and outsourcing.
The brainwashing works on youngsters on the make and who want money and success, it didn't work on me though.
I was an an Anthro major as an undergrad, but at one point almost doubled in Econ. I wish I would have. Back then, I didn't trust Econ majors because so many of them were rabidly pro-business. This was the Clinton years & all of them were obsessed with making money in the market.
It wasn't until grad school, when I became much more familiar with people like Krugman & Reich, that I realized that Adam Smith & the frat bros I ran into in college were talking about fundamentally different views of society and business as a means of social good.
It's clear to me now that the miseducation in Economics is on the part of the Business schools.
The brainwashing begins as a Freshman. Econ 101 professor was a Kochian Friedmanite, he had us read the Freeman, a tract put out by the Koch foundations, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), Econ 102, was a liberal our text book was by Paul Samuelson (not much better) in my Masters program they dispensed with the propaganda and we used calculus to solve problems.
Economics, management, finance all of it pseudo science, designed to create monsters.
MBA, degrees ushered in end to old time business ethics and replaced with a new ethic of "me first"
As an MBA, I agree Lon.
A friend recently asked me if ethics are taught in science curricula. I said not to my knowledge, and then started to wonder… are there any courses in ethics in business schools??
I've heard that they do, but in the jobs I've seen, there is overwhelming pressure to agree with the status quo even when it goes against ethics. I say this as someone who started as a cartographer.
'What are all the possible misuses of this map in the future?' was the first thing we were taught. In the modern organization, bringing up that kind of hesitance to whatever is being demanded resulted in pressure to leave the organization. So, perhaps my experience is a bit different from that of others. But, given how dangerous location based data can be to liberty, I think it's pertinent to mention.
We need a bill to give FCC power over cable news networks and a vetting system to weed out mis and disinformation
Fascism was programmatic, it had a strong - but dangerous - ideology. It had its own sick political coherence. Trumpism shows many similar traits to fascism in its authoritarianism but, ultimately, its only programmatic, consistent political line is the rantings of a deranged psychotpath, which is so volatile it literally changes from one day to the next. Nothing ideological about orange Donald. If this criminal liar and rapist does get re-elected as president in 2024, it's going to be fascinating watching all the sycophants in the court of King Donald learn the hard way that DJT's only criterion for political action is what pleases the obese orange tyrant and seeing him cast aside the Lindsey Grahams, MTGs etc. when they fail to deliver what the Boss wants. All these MAGA fools who think Trump is 'on our side' and articulates their legitimate grievances, are in for the shock of their lives when they get a rude initiation in 21st C realpolitik, a la Trump. Be careful what you wish for!!! :)
Paul: Trump is an insecure 5 year old with a pathological need for approval and adoration, and lacks humanity and interest in anyting other than himself.
He has two followings: Sycophants who profit from their proximity to power, and they will always grovel, until like a capo or a soldier, they fail to deliver, so far they believe that fawning adoration is sufficient to keep them in position and power.
The other support group are the insecure, fearful and thus hateful crowd that sees him as their avatar, the physical embodiment of the savior that will trample those that they fear and hate beneath them. Like trampling grapes.
They will worship him, so long as he delivers and he will deliver until there are no more enemies to trample underfoot.
Trump as avatar is them, but with power that they do not have, and thus there longed for savior.
It has absolutely nothing to do with economics, jobs, trade, those are the agenda items of the financial backers of Trump, the so called neo liberal billionaire class.
Our current moment in time is (another) pivot point: we have a choice between uniting in defense of our democratic system, or continuing to permit MAGA (and oligarchic) tactics to divide us. Professor Reich mentioned Pearl Harbor and pointed to the mobilization that ensued, and indeed, that’s the kind of effort needed. We’ve had several pivot points recently, which have failed to unite us: the pandemic, for one, which instead of drawing us together, was quite effectively exploited by Trump and the Republicans to ramp up divisions and fuel anger; climate change is another issue that MAGA and the oligarchs are using to divide and conquer. I keep adding ‘and the oligarchs’ because it’s completely crucial to recognize that the power (and the brains/policy) driving the rage is coming from the oligarchs. They are actively undermining all the aspects of modern American democracy that unite us: equal rights and equality under the law; one person, one vote; a safety net for the weakest and most vulnerable members of society; free and equal education; economic opportunity and upward mobility for all; safe and fair working conditions; etc. etc. That the oligarchs are exploiting the anger of those *their policies* have left behind is both deeply cynical and (in a horrifying way) brilliant. They want to return to a society where wealthy men have the power and property, and everyone else works (without adequate compensation or any chance of upward mobility) to support them.
On a hopeful note, there really are a lot more of “us” than “them.” It becomes a question of helping people to see through their rage - and the misdirection MAGA and the oligarchs are promulgating - to the actual source of their economic stagnation: the system that funnels their potential gains (and our tax dollars) to the űber-rich and their political cronies.
Brilliant and succinct analysis of what is really driving the MAGA base. At some point, we all need to be aware of how the brilliantly nefarious tactics of the tRump and mUsk element of the Uber rich are manipulating us toward division, rage and hatred
Why does it matter, practically speaking, if they’re different or not? Every waking moment is devoted to making the lives of other people more difficult than they need to be. Evil is evil.
I’m too depressed all the time. I love the Biden family.
Joe and Barack are honorable and decent men, which counts for nothing among people who are infatuated with criminals and perverts.
Like seeks like.
Critters lie down, only with fellow critters. Mice don't snuggle with snakes. Gazelles don't roam in a herd of lions.
It is therefore justifiable to call out someone as a MAGAt. If it walks, and talks like one then it is one.
Robert, minute 5:11 / 29:31 of your video shows a vernier caliper measuring the width of a man's nose. What is that all about? What ever that nose-width is, it has to be larger than Trump's brain.
trumpism is worse than just fascism. With extreme racism & malignant narcissism, it's nazism. https://samray.substack.com/p/trumpism-is-narcissism
So many people just don't understand what fascism is, so using that term about Trump doesn't frighten them. How about calling it Nazi-ism or Hitler-ism.
Trump has taken to quoting Hitler. I don't think he's politically savvy, so I wonder who is putting those words in his mouth (Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon?). For sure, he is appealing to the fascist tendencies of Americans with a reality-TV style fascism - using social media is modern day leafleting.
As Trump's own psychopathy blossoms, he more and more resembles Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. All three were/are intellectually lazy, not particularly intelligent,, and lacking the basic learned skills to govern effectively. But they rose to the top on their ability to excite the worst emotions of crowds, a lynch mob switch that sadly resides in all of us.
All three succeeded by recruiting truly evil Rasputins to their teams to do their brain stuff. Hitler recruited Goebbels. It is not clear yet who will be Trump's brain, but I have a prediction that may surprise you: Stephen Miller. He is really smart and he is truly evil. We can only hope that Trump is too disorganized and narcissitic to listen to Miller.
you may be right,Miller is a true latter-day Nazi-you forgot one thing-all 3 thought/think they were/are destined for greatness-you're right about the mob mentality switch-you'd think repubs,who in the main recognize human frailty and fallibility,would see the need to legislate against our worst impulses
I think trumpism is scarier, because unlike Mussolini and hitler, trump is treated as preordained by god and as the savior of America and the world by his acolytes. I guess all three of them could do no wrong in the eyes of their followers but, trump, right now, can do no wrong to most of rural America and half of our “main stream” media. This causes my anxiety levels to remain at their peak.
Hey I live in Missouri drowning in red. Why so red? No opposition to speak of, unopposed all across the state. So I’m voting like my life depends on it!
I grew up in South Africa during Apartheid as a privileged white person. Despite this I joined the Anti-Apartheid movement as soon as I could. Apartheid was right out of the fascist playbook. Books were banned, the education for whites was called 'Christian National Education'. There is no philosophical difference between Apartheid and the MAGA movement. Both are designed to punish thoughts and actions that promote tolerance and freedom.
I use the word Facism all the time. As I see people lined up today on the streets to support, I shake my head. Why do they support a neofacist. Mr. Trump wants revenge and total rule over everyone. He plans to put people in camps. Frankly, I'm scared. I have been so outspoken. Facists GET RID OF DEMOCRACY.
Good expose' in the WaPo today on an engineer who is the Orange Mussolini's man to undo the Constitution: Russ Vought. These are the scariest moments for my country since my birth in 1950. If Trump is not defeated, we may never recover.
The major news networks spend much more time broadcasting Trump over Biden for two reasons. One is that Trump generates more viewers and so more profits for the companies. Trump entices more emotions, more anger. This is good for business and for the news companies. And two, the executives of many of the news outlets support Trump's pro-business views, thinking that if Trump were President the corporations will have yet more power.
Someone please give me an operative word to collectively describe the abhorrent, criminal, mendacious, hypocritical, greedy, ignorant, disgusting, delusional, indecent, traitorous creatures formerly known as Republicans. No animal on earth, no matter how repellent, should be compared to them. They are a previously unknown plague upon the earth. Oh, wait a minute, how could I forget the Hitler worshipping NAZIs? Never mind.
I keep hearing that our ‘Checks and Balances’, meaning Congress and the Supreme Court will stop trump from implementing any of his dangerous policies. Trump will not need or listen to our ‘Checks and Balances’. We are naive to believe any branch will stop him. He’s telling anyone who listens exactly what he will do. Basically do away with Congress and the bought off Supreme Court.
Let's just be 130,000% clear here: if you are unsatisfied in your life, a dictator that DESPISES the working class and thinks they are DISGUSTING is NOT going to help you! He has PROVEN that in his first four failed years.
If you are unsatisfied, I suggest voting for the ADULT MAN who gave you the lowest inflation in DECADES, THE largest medical benefits EVER, and THE largest evironmental bill EVER so YOU can continue to breathe air!
There is ZERO contest and I'm sick of pretending there is.
Naive about level of present day fascism in DNC and Genocide Joe. 50years to be best friends with war criminal fascist John McCain ??
We've had a war on public education for the last 50 years, largely due to the pushback on enforced desegregation. The poorly educated are a perfect target audience for neofascist impulses. And so dangerous to our democracy.
Bring back basic civics education in high schools! People can’t even name the 3 branches of government and how they are supposed to check and balance! Yet they vote!
Wow! What a much needed Klatch! Thank you. I'm reading A Bold and Dangerous Family by Caroline Moorehead which tells the story of an Italian family fighting against Fascism. There are dozens of examples of what Mussolini did that tRump has done and wants to do. Telling us the truth about Fascism isn't as depressing as us not knowing what is going on. It was a fine Klatch! Thank you very much.
Why do we allow lies to be broadcast with no consequences? The lies the blowhard tells are being constantly thrown at all of us...how is this possible? Why isn't the FCC acting on the constant barrage of dishonesty? the devil is the father of all lies...and the devils are working overtime on the destruction of democracy.
Heather & Robert, This is good..to define and remind people what Fascism has done and will do. We still hear many young people refer to Biden as “Genocide Joe”…despite the fact that FELON trump will bring genocide here to LGBTQIA, people of color, remove more women’s rights. They don’t seem aware of Biden’s record breaking accomplishments because they’re not reported but also it must be some TicToc thing or other social media insisting on total focus of Israel/Gaza (it IS extremely important) but they are becoming isolated into hysteria about GAZA when numerous genocides, wars etc slaughter innocent people around the world daily. Where are their screams about this? And to endanger our nation with a FELON, RAPIST, psychopathic seditionist doesn’t alarm them enough. I agree with their protest over Gaza but not their blindness to the danger of letting Fascism spread here.
Thank you so much for talking about this and explaining why Trump and is so dangerous. I am hopeful that most Americans will recognize how high the stakes are in this election and will choose democracy.
As a fervent Bernie supporter and one who voted for Jill in 2016, I forced myself to vote for Biden in 2020 and will do so again in 2024 (and I strongly urge my fellow progressives to do the same) because America is now under assault from real fascists, fake MAGA “patriots” “wrapped in the flag brandishing a crooked cross”. Many of my relatives were German war refugees, and my Great Grandmother “Oma” often told me stories about her time in Weimar Germany during the late 20s and early 30s (she was actually trapped in a Berlin subway for almost a day due to bloody street fighting between fascists and communists) before settling in NYC and opening a delicatessen. She and all the other members of that generation warned me that what happened in Germany could easily happen here and that if it ever did, I was to defend America from the Enemy Within.
Here in NC, that time has already arrived, and we are Ground Zero in the fight against theocratic dictatorship (some of the uber conservative preachers in the mega churches I’ve performed in openly endorse GOP traitors during the service after saying “God told him” that this candidate was HIS “choice”), and I have daily fights with fundamentalist bullies who, in the wake of the Verdict, constantly tell me “Jesus, too, was convicted in a sham trial, but I still follow Him”. I’ve been personally threatened by “them” for playing in the musical “Kinky Boots” (and one of those “religious” Brownshirts recently destroyed a Duke Energy substation with an AR-15 when a nearby theatre held a drag show fundraiser) and had to be locked in the auditorium while doing a saxophone solo with Charlotte’s local trans/gay chorus due to security concerns. It all seems so surreal - never thought that a felon from Queens spewing Nazi propaganda against the Other, those deemed “the Least of Thee, from the putrid lips of his oral sphincter would be hailed as the new Messiah by devoted church goers - but this is the dystopian reality I now inhabit. The words of Reich, Hedges and Major Ojeda (extremely brave hero whose skull was crushed by a WV Trump supporter wearing brass knuckles after he knelt down to put a campaign sticker on his car bumper during the 2020 campaign) give me solace in these dangerous times when the tenets of our Constitution, especially the Separation of Church and State, are under assault by Big “Religion” and Big Money (screw the wealthy and corporate elites, especially the wicked fossil fuel cartel, who fund the insurrectionists promising to lower their taxes and decimate all regulation). NEVER bow down to tyranny, for Justice is on our side in the Existential struggle to save the Soul of our embattled Nation….
I hope that you don't live in a Swing state Rich, because if you did, you and the other Jill Stein voters are the reason that we have Trump .
I had not vote since 1968, and then I voted for Goldwater, but I changed, and when Trump came down the escalator opened his mouth, I got off my ass and registered to vote and I voted for Hillary, holding my nose to do it.; I could see the threat that he posed to our liberal democratic republic
There is a difference between trumpism and what we know as Fascism. I just don't know exactly what it is this early in the morning. I know this, and I find it bizarre. In my discussions with trumpists, they use the word fascist to describe me the left. When I correct them by telling them a person on the left can't be a fascist because fascism is a right wing disease, they then tell me that was true until trump came along. Somehow to that distorted mind, trump has shifted the meanings of words. I get that they don't have enough education to realize there may be a word in the lexicon to describe a left wing strongman who has become a dictator (it isn't fascist) for extreme leftists. That word is "leftist dictator." There are leftist strongmen. I guess it doesn't have the same ring as "FASCIST."
The ultra right MAGATs see the left as a powerful group who is trying to take their rights away from them and force them to think a certain way- no more racism, acceptance of immigrants and lgbt people and their rights, climate change and all the other left wing ideologies they think are being forced on them. Maybe that's true. Maybe we are trying to force a better world on them. I've always been trying to enlighten them perhaps to the extent of force. It's always been to make the world a better place for everyone. The sad and horrible fact is that trump has come along and empowered them. He's made it good to resist change. He's created a huge push back and altered what has always been just a normal battle between the left and the right into something else. He's added something different to the fight. He's added violence. He's made it ok to hate those who think differently. He's made it ok to be violent against the left. He's re-created FASCISM! The bad thing is that trump is not alone. There are others on the ultra right who are using trump for what they think will serve them. They have names like Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller and the hated Elon Musk Rat. Now, we on the left, are left with little choice but to fight back. First, we will try to vote him out, and if that works and he accepts his defeat, which is unlikely, then perhaps we will be on the way to saving our democracy, but if we fail, or he try's to use force to take power, that is a horrifying thought and a whole new game. It should be a horrifying thought to everybody, even to those on the right, but....We shall see!
MAGAts perceive themselves as top of the food chain,. entitled, superior and they see the rainbow as a threat to their socio economic status, and as a consequence a victim of the rising power of racial, sexual, religous and cultural minorities, they really do believe they are victims, and they wallow in that belief.. In the same way southern whites were victims of slaves and northerners. That is what they really believe.
And the problem is that western culture has elevated the status of victim and martyrdom to a prominent position in politics. Who has the loudest and most persistent claim to victim hood gets the most money and attention. The Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I agree with what you said, except I'd say from what I've seen there are two types of MAGATs, at least. There are those who are educated and well off who have been lifelong Repubs who think they are the cat's pajamas. Then, there are another bunch who were likely Democrats at one time, but have lost their industries when companies moved overseas. These are the hat wearing, uneducated ones, but their identity has been lost and they resent everything. Trump appeals to them because he makes them feel good about themselves, again. They may be the most dangerous.
I love you two. Thank you for all you say here. You don’t mention the lack of university accessibility in the US and in England the arts unis and all unis have body blows on funding and student visas. No wonder the kids don’t understand fascism. At least we read 1984 (Orwell). But then that doesn’t show how it starts. We need to get it into schools
Yet again, pathetic drivel and half-baked historicism. In essence, folks like RR, who form the current Intelligentsia of America, have a shared devotion to capitalism, just like their opponents do. He himself is part of a fascist state in reality.
Half baked - have you heard Steven Miller or Steve Bannon talk? Yikes!!
Folks who listen to Steve Bannon and all such framework of speculation - are basically engaged in a form of surrogate activity, free political discourse which makes no difference to their reality. Please carry on...
Troll.
No... Sponge Bob maybe. For the vast idiots who love the free Intelligentsia and capitalism. RR being on mascot of that very racket.
Marxist fool. Johnny one note.
Inside a closed society, on the verge of collapse, as arrogant and as far removed from reality, words like Marxist, communist, anti-liberal, luddite etc etc become fashionable. Instead it is better to follow like sheep, to the drivel of folks like RR. Pathetic American Trash
Says the sheep speaking from within the flock.
sheep don’t use substack… they have better ways to express their reality.
Then go bah bah liittle sheep. This site is on substack. Check the URL you are on.
What a stupid ass you are.
You people are over reacting. Trump is not going to take over the government with a bunch of crazies dressed up like Vikings. It takes an army.
Their goal is to suppress enough votes to bring the election within range of dispute, then count on Republican judges to handle it. On Jan 6, the goal was to delay the certification long enough to get a request to the Supreme Court to stop the certification and throw the decision to the state legislatures. Speaker Pelosi got wind of it and reconvened Congress. The crazies weren’t the plan. They were a cog in a bigger machine.
teri - I don't understand what you are objecting to. To say that "Speaker Pelosi got wind of it" makes it sound like Trump was about to commit a crime. What is wrong or illegal about "throwing the decision to the state legislature"? The fact that the U.S. has this avenue open to electoral contestants must mean that it is fair and reasonable. Is it, ipso facto, a foregone conclusion that whatever the Supreme Court decides is invariably morally and legally correct?
Here is how it goes Gunnar. If the decision gets thrown to the state legislature, Each state, and there are 50 of them) gets one vote. There are 17 Blue or Democratic states and 33 red or Republican states.
The Republicans using cultural war issues, like racism, and misogyny have taken over those states.
If the vote goes to the state legislatures then Trump wins. The population of red states combined is less than the population of blue states. The population of New York and California are greater than all of the red states combined,, save perhaps Texas.
Thus sending the question to the state legislatures is not recognize the will of the people, the popular vote.
I will patiently explain more about our election process if need be.
William - Thank you for your information about state legislatures. I'm at a loss to understand how this state of affairs came about; at one time, it must have seemed fair and equitable - or maybe it was simply a pragmatic compromise between the Federal and State systems? Is the state of affairs that you describe enshrined in the U.S. Constitution?
Yes the state of affairs is enshrined in the constitution. The only way to get all of the states to sign the Constitution and become United was to limit the authority of the Federal Government,and the authority not relegated to the Federal Government remained with the states. The States,per the Constitution are sovereign except where laws are passed, by Congress, which has representation of the states.
The Constitution can only be amended by Congress with a 3/5ths vote and then ratified by 3/4's of the states. Alterntively if 3/4's of the states get together and assemble and vote for an Amendment, then the constitution is amended.
Ok William. Understood. - So the arrangement was indeed a Federal-State compromise, based on the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers opted for a Federal system, and that's what the U.S. has got. So, what Donald Trump tried to do was within that arrangement and within the law.
So, I repeat, it sounds like Pelosi felt that Trump was about to commit a crime. According you (if I have understood you correctly) he was well within his rights but Pelosi somehow managed to block him. Maybe she, too, was withing her rights to do this, I don't know. Maybe this whole thing is yet another benign example of the endless Federal-State tussle which is simply an inevitable part of the American political system, and which we all have to accept in the context of the two-party system. I'm not criticising, just observing. All government systems have drawbacks, not just the U.S. one.
By the way, William, you say something partisan: "The Republicans using cultural war issues, like racism, and misogyny have taken over those states". - Yes, they do, but the main weight behind the voter support for Donald Trump lies elsewhere, namely in MAGA - the blue-collar anger at the total waste of money on endless warfare and on supporting other natins warfare, so-called proxy wars. Republicans used to be fiery supporters of U.S. driven wars globally, but since the Trumpists assumed dominance over the party it has become much more focused on domestic affairs - to the relief of people in many other parts of the world!
Just for the record - and before you offend me by calling me a 'Trump apologist' - I disagree with Trump on abortion rights; he should keep his nose out of women's affairs. I also disagree with his locker-room bragging about his behaviour towards women. But this isn't the first crass U.S. president to grace the world stage: we had Truman and LBJ not so long ago. Even Jack Kennedy had his moments.
/S amirite?
What does "/S amirite" mean, teri?
/s means you’re being satirical. Am I right?
Is Erik Prince still building one for him? They closed the KKK training site in north Idaho, (but I think they are still active) not sure if there's a training area hidden in Alabama or somewhere in the South. There was a small cluster in the California mountains, some moved to Florida. I have a few relatives who participate - I think they will stay organized to prepare for the next time ... they love toting those guns and feeling important. So sad.
Wouldn’t be surprised, but an unexpected consequence of all those forest fires was numerous exploding militia ammo dumps. I think God spoke, but they don’t seem to have gotten the message.
Look at the $$$ behind him
Like a boy whistling in the dark.
Trumpism is inexorably creeping Fascism. Communism is in full embrace w Fascism.
The truth is that Communism and Fascism are a combination of Crony Capitalism by the Oligarchal and Plutocratic classes into a Government for Oligarchs and Plutocrats with all the minions as slaves Worldwide. A GOP, Government for Oligarchs and Plutocrats.
DEFEAT TREASONOUS, TERRORISTS, NAZIS, FELONS, AND CON RTRUMP & REPUBLICONS EVERYWERE. THE EMEMY INSURRECTIONIST ARE AT THE GATE. RTRUMP AND CROOKED CRONIES FOR JAIL 2024. VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY & FREEDOM.
THE ENEMY INSURRECTIONISTS & NAZIS ARE AT THE GATE. DEFEAT TREASONOUS , TERRORIST, CORRUPT, & CON REPUBLICONS EVERYWHERE & JAIL CORRUPT & CONVICTED RAPIST & FRAUDSTER RTRUMP. DUMP CAREER CRIMINAL RTRUMP. CORRUPT AND CONVICTED FELON RTRUMP FOR PRISON 2024. VOTE FOR PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS EVERYWHERE. CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, EXPENSIVE, & DESTRUCTIVE.
DEFEAT TREASONOUS, TERRORISTS, NAZIS, AND CON REPUBLICONS EVERYWHERE
Yes, of course Trumpism is fascism. And it has gained enormous popularity. Why is this true? There is no natural or rational reason for it. Perhaps Satan is alive and well and inhabiting half of this country's population. No other reason makes any sense.
How is that not ALL Americans don’t get this?
I don’t know if he would become the worst fascist ever if he were again elected president. . He was giving a “speech” in probably 2015 or 2016 when all of a sudden I thought of Hitler. Would he become a Hitler, it seems unlikely, but I think a lesser awful fascist - he would try.
My father was a WW2, Army Infrantry, in France, Germany, and Belgium. My father taught my brother and I about Fascism. We were told that the reason for learning this to prevent it from happening again. Both, my brother and I are highly educated. We both wrote our Government Democratic leaders, warning them. We heard nothing back, but we kept warning of these actions.
Our neighbors had tattoos from Concentration camps. Our PBS channel in Seattle always had damning programs on Hitler.
My aunt in Torsby, Varmland, Sweden had a Nazi plane door hung on the back of her barn, from a young German who crashed in her field. He married a local girl, and never lived in Germany again. He refused to leave, and go back when they freed him. 10 miles away was Norway, and we have seen the barbed wire and bunkers.
Is Trump a Fascist? YES, and people better wake up that deny this.
He is crazy.
Zieg Heil
Abdicating your responsibility to keep yourself informed and giving up and looking for a so called strong man to solve all your problems. Yes fascism.
Rather than discussing the derivation of name 'Trump', time would be better spent becoming familiar with Project 2025. Guided by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 is a presidential transition plan to reshape the U.S. federal government to support the agenda of the Republican Party president. 887 pages of detailed reorganization of the government of the United States under a conservative Republican president, it is chilling. If the prospect of reading 887 pages is daunting, there are several synopses online.
Trumpism is slavery. Fascism is slavery.
If you haven't seen the new Netflix documentary, HItler and the Nazis, it is terrifying but is a must watch. I have felt for a long time that Trump and his coterie have been following something of a Nazi playbook but this series makes shockingly clear that it is almost the EXACT playbook. It's as if all the lead characters of that horrid era have been reincarnated and simply dusted off the old plan.
Everybody seems to be missing Vicki’s point. The point is the Netflix documentary that just came out that Vicky referred to is superb in documenting the techniques used by both Hitler and Trump. And the conditions under which resentful and needy people coalesce around these monsters. I’m watching it now.
No idea what you're talking about here but, okay, sure.
Uh huh. Yep. Sure
While this non-existent Republicans point fingers at each other Joe is plugging away at keeping domestic and foreign affairs priority! Maybe we can all get along! (Quite the concept)🌎🌎💙💙👏👏💯💯💙💙🤞🤞
“Free, representative government is predicated on the assumption that the people, having the facts will make the right decisions when they go to the polls. If the press abdicates its responsibility, the system will fail.”
― John A. Stormer, None Dare Call It Treason
The above quote comes from 1964 and the book titled, 'NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON".
THE AUTHOR OF THIS NONFICTION BOOK IRONICALLY WAS AIMING HIS CRITICISM AT THINGS LIKE THE GREAT SOCIETY AND THE AMERICAN ELITES THAT WANTED TO CATER TO THE SOVIET UNION AND COMMUNISM.
THE AIM OF THAT CRITICISM IN 1964 WAS TERRIBLY MISPLACED.
HOWEVER 60 YEARS LATER IN THE YEAR 2024 THOSE WORDS WREAK WITH TRUTH AND HONESTY. FRIENDS, THE SURVIVAL OF DEMOCRACY IN THIS REPUBLIC IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED. IT APPEARS THAT NEARLY HALF OF THE NATION HAS COME UNDER THE DEMONIC SPELL OF ONE INDIVIDUAL WHO CLAIMS TO BE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE THINGS RIGHT.
MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS HAVE GIVEN UP on Jesus Christ AND ARE NOW FOLLOWING DJT AS THEIR MESSIAH.. I am completely mystified at how this situation has come to be..
Yes I realized there were precursors such as Ronald Reagan and George W bush and the teTea Party.. but the magnitude of the problem that we face today in preserving this country is yes unprecedented, with the exception of the civil war from 1861 to 1865.
Somehow an evil, malevolent the virus has caused a pandemic in this country far far worse than Covid-19 was. Regarding the current aberrant age, if none dare call IT treason. They do so at to their own peril, and peril of losing most of the societal and governmental institutions that have preserved this country for 239 years. Let us not contribute to riding an epitaph for the United States of America. ----1789-2024 RIP?? SO MANY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WANT TO WRITE THAT EPITAPH.. MOST ARE MEMBERS OF WHAT USED TO BE CALLED THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. IT IS NOW THE TRUMP MAGAT PARTY.
Trump is a good man and a builder business man. Why such hate? He loves America and the American dream. Stop the hate and projecting evil thoughts onto his character. He and we stand for freedom and justice - not force and lies to defame your political opponents 💗🙏💗🇺🇸🇺🇸
Calling him a fascist let's me as a white male excuse my own racism...at least I'm not a fascist...
YES, YES, YES, et. al.
We are not enforcing the laws that require the press to tell the truth. I believe that the media's brainwashing of the American people will continue to be very damaging for us. It's especially challenging when we have lawmakers and the courts echoing Trump's rhetoric.
Madeleine Albright in her last book in 2018, Fascism: A Warning was an early voice about the dangers of the neo Fascists in the MAGA movement.
These MAGAs, both leaders and followers, are not oblivious. They WANT a strong arm dictator. They WANT him to be dictator for life so they never have to live under a progressive lib. They WANT him to go after their perceived enemies.
What I don’t understand is, if MAGAs clearly know what they want, why don’t more democratic (small d) Americans vocally and vigorously defend our Constitution? Why are there not more Media and Democrats sounding the alarm?
While Trumpism has many beliefs in common, it is important to remember that Fascism and Nazism are different sets of ideas. Let’s fight Trumpism for what it is.
I DDG'd "fascism" and received this link...reading through it I find the Italian Fascism process closer to what the Trump cult is using to destroy democracy, multiple steps as opposed to HitLeRs rapid take over...but he also as authoritarian learnings i.e. Putin, Orbán, Kim, etc....(https://education.cfr.org/learn/learning-journey/what-does-fascism-really-mean/what-is-fascism)...
One needs to combine several of the options rather than go all on one! Trump is dangerous, facism is dangerous…but not that there will be millions of deaths but that the combo will destroy our constitutional democracy.
MAGA and the GOP are practicing Thugocracy, who are devoted to lies, factoids and deception. They want sound bytes, not the truth.
Trump, "I am your retribution" - but not said - your re-commitment, re-contribution, re-distribution, upwards to the rich/the wealthy, your re-estrangement from them, AND thus your re-connection, re-engagement with the down and out, the poor, those who you most want to avoid, to ignore, to shun, to not know.
What happens when Biden wins the popular vote and the electoral college, and Mike Johnson refuses to certify the results?
If he refuses without cause I don't believe it will stand, though I can't tell you the the procedure to overcome it. More likely GOP representatives in some swing states will cause or just report problems with their elections keeping anybody from getting a majority of electoral college votes, in which case it defaults to a 1 state 1 vote system in the house of Representatives, and Trump wins. I believe the Dems are aware of this strategy and are trying to prevent it, but that's not to say they certainly will be able to prevent it.
Trumpism is not currently adequately defined whereas Fascism had many years to develop from Mussolini thru Hitler and came to power with well defined policies. Yes, Trump says a lot of things that lead one to believe that he would institute an authoritarian government but using the word Fascist might be politically counter-productive with the people whose minds we want to change.
I think a common fallacy about T. is that he is dumb. Yes, he is ignorant of lots of history. Yes driven by avarice and pride. Don't be fooled . His plan for revenge as Pres. again is based on lots of need based on his claims to be a messiah. And, he already has his version of Brown Shirts. Do all we can to sound the alarm loud and clear.
Good insight. Hitler was not very bright either, but that did not hold him back. His generals were good.
Rather than talking about the stakes in this election are to keep or lose democracy---ain't it awful ain't it awful- it might be helpful to talk more about the practical negative impacts to people lives from the loss of democracy.
Those who want to vote for a 3rd candidate probably have little appreciation about how damaging a Trump presidency could be for their lives. Here in America we have had a pretty steady state of affairs for a very long time. It's only natural to believe that whoever wins, America will continue on much the way it has in their lifetime. If Trump should win, that is a dubious assumption and their lives could be devastated as it was for Germans under Hitler's leadership.
I'm sorry to say, Heather and Robert, you've missed the boat on this. Fascism, Trumpism, is living and breathing in a world insulated from yours or my ability to enlighten or educate people who have already succumbed to MAGA-right mentality. Congress is too completely insulated themselves from our opinions for us to take the case against growing fascism to our so-called "representatives".
The MAGA-right is not in a bubble; that analogy is weak. A bubble can burst easily. All it takes is a small prick of a toothpick to burst a bubble. The social media and everyday environment in which people today live is, relatively speaking, impenetrable.
Trumpleshit has laid some pretty solid foundation of disinformation that resonates all too well within the confines of the social media platforms in which the MAGA crowd exclusively get their information. His ploy of repeating falsehoods over and over works. One would think that people employ legitimate logic to sort through the rhetoric that Trumpleshit throws on the shit-pile, contradicting himself and changing his promoted illogic on almost a daily basis. One would think that the MAGA-right would parse his factless, contradictory lies to easily see he is lying to his followers and is planning to do whatever-the-hell gets him the most power.
It is obvious that the MAGA-right have developed, are developing a filter that only hears the one or two parts of Trumpleshit's rhetoric and filters-out all the contradictions. And the MAGA right are in another way taking the easy path. They have heard from Trumpleshit what they wanted to hear at some point in the last eight years and they latched onto the following, applying no effort to sort through the bullshit of Trumpleshit's all-too-obvious lies. They hear one small piece of the MAGA rhetoric and they take the easy path to following all and only that which is on display in side the solid echo chamber of the MAGA social media, supported by MAGA-only broadcast news.
You, Robert and Heather, can speak clearly and plainly until the end of time to an audience who already understands, to an audience who already has the basis upon which to educate anyone who would listen. But there is no way to reach those people. They are mired in that echo chamber of lies and fascist deceit. And there is only a sliver of intelligence living in the boundary, able to hear both sides and make their decisions accordingly.
The echo chamber on the MAGA right is growing, as the Democratic left fails to make demonstrable improvements in the lives of those in the middle class who are falling closer to impoverished lives. And some on the boundary Americans are fed up with the half-truths the Democratic party uses as platitudes and so either give up and are silent or swing into partial support of some of the MAGA assertions.
I have not given up but I do not at present see a path to squelch the MAGA echo chamber. The logical left put all its eggs in the Biden basket and he is not strong enough an orator, a leader, or a political philosopher to lead us past this chasm of doubt. Trumpleshit is an obvious imbecile and yet he leads a MAGA fellowship alongside equally imbecilic representatives in Congress. The people feed off the fact that there is no pronounced integrity, no intelligence, no backbone, no ethic to serve remaining in Congress. They realize more and more that America has fallen to the bottom of the pile in so many categories and so the name of the movement alone moves them. They want this country to be great again and bring them prosperity and it is not happening.
And you both have espoused clear reasons why it is not happening and we have NO CONTROL that will stem the tide of America's wealth moving every-upward. There is now sheer bulk in what drives this country. People in the middle class cannot even comprehend what it means for individuals to have trillions of dollars at their disposal, what power it gives them to abuse the system. They do NOT comprehend the magnitude. How many times does it have to be repeated that the top tenth of a percent of own some vast percentage of America's wealth before we realize people simply don't get that point. They have bank accounts and a credit card and a place to live and their total wealth is ALL that they see. The impact Billions and Trillions is simply not comprehensible.
We have not stumbled over the solution just yet.
Hillary won the popular vote. It didn't count. Biden won so big, they tried to tear the whole damn thing down. Now we let criminals and convicted felons run in elections from the lowest position to the highest. How is any of this working correctly?
Is Trumpism fascism? Does the Bear ............. in the woods? (Fill in the blank)
I'm afraid that through overuse 'fascism' has lost it's verbal power. We associate it with Italy before WW2, which almost no one now is alive to remember or comprehend. A better description of the threat from Trump is 'dictatorship', which has no specific historical origin, and which Trump, himself, uses to describe his hopes for a second term. In any event, we must work for the next five months to ensure that his actual next four-year term will be in a prison, not the White House.
Fascism and trumpism are way too close and trump is a danger to American democracy and must never come near the Oval Office again.
Fascism combined with narcissism is as dangerous as it gets.
Hitler used 19th century charm. Trump is a man of the moment and used a particular charm….the long term results of his playbook is already hard to beat down
Donald Trump is just about Donald Trump's agenda and his interest. He will use the Fascist Christian Nationalist thrust to propel himself into office if he can, but he has no loyalties to anyone but himself.
Well you noted the name origin of the Fascist Party in the ancient Roman authority symbol of the fasces, but didn't get to what I understand to be Mussolini's central campaign promise, that he would restore to Italy the glory of ancient Rome. In other words, if people back then were wearing stupid baseball hats, the Fascists would've been wearing hats with M.I.G.A. plastered across the front--or whatever the Italian initials for Make Italy Great Again would be. To put it another way, fascism is, among other things, the ludicrous promise to move people forward by leading them backward.
“Fascism” is a broad term for authoritarianism. “Nazis” or “Nazism” was Hitler’s version developed with his close facilitators. Mussolini and his close facilitators developed their Italian fascism before Nazism which gave the Nazis a model to develop further. “Trumpism” is America’s latest and greatest development of fascism. Times, technology and means to persuade, mislead, threaten, manipulate and punish people are different. Israel has developed a form of fascism that differs from other contemporary forms. But it’s not dissimilar from Russia, Hungary and Trumpism. Authoritarians watch & follow what works wherever they see successful examples.
I heard the sirens in the background and thought they were coming for you 😂
I see no appreciable difference between Trumps notion of politics an leader. Sadly, as a right wing strongman, he is utterly lacking in strength and as a man. Folks who identify and support the ruddy tosser tend to what he himself would call losers, and willing dupes to the manipulations of a frightened and hate-filled adult child. I’ve no idea what twisted trump into the fraud and third-rate grifter he is and has been his entire life, but it’s high time our still free press exercises the right of the Fourth Estate to sort out the nonsense of its distant cousins the Fifth Estate which has peddled so much hogwash to so many eager believers, it poses a real threat to our country. Let the heathens rage, but, please, step up and step in to provide real, factual information to counter the nonsense proliferating the data sphere.
Trump was frustrated by "adults in the room," other gatekeepers, the entrenched bureaucracy, that nasty Constitution, enacted laws, and time-honored traditions during his administration. How exasperating it must have been to be "the most powerful man in the world" and not be able to indulge his whims. This time around, though, he is determined to get it right, at least, according to his Chronic Extreme Narcissistic Megalomaniacal (CENM) mind. Let's frustrate him some more.
“Once the camel’s nose is under the tent!”
I just finished watching the new Netflix documentary series, Hitler and the Nazis' Evil on Trial. Lays it all out without using 'his' name. NYT review https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/arts/television/hitler-and-the-nazis-netflix-review.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yE0.PDEX.qwLdLm7vmv2d&smid=url-share is good.
To me the most toxic thing that is permeating America is how compassion, empathy, human kindness has been, and is being systematically hollowed out for quite some time.
Everybody becomes an 'other' .
PS: Robert Reich's YouTube "Shorts" are great. Keep them comng. Thanks for all you do.
Trumpism is basically a new incarnation of Christo-fascism or Christian nationalism. Without it there’s no engine.
Trump-ism is not Fascism. Trump-ism is a Cult of Personality. Trump-ism is not based on a political philosophy. Trump-ism is based solely on worship of Trump.
Trump’s words & deeds are not based on any ideology. Trump’s agenda is only to increase his personal wealth and power without regard for consistency.
Finally, Trump is a pathological liar. He always lies about everything. He says whatever he thinks will advance his agenda in that moment to that audience.
The uplifting part here?
1) Bunkerboy is TANKING in the polls in EVERY swing state since his conviction! (We still need to vote like our lives depend on it, as THEY DO!)
2) Bunkerboy's dementia is getting so bad he is hardly able to speak his native tongue. ESPECIALLY when he "sun downs."
I'm so sick of Trump. It seems the more we talk about him, the stronger his grip on our society becomes
It's good to spend time talking about the real danger Trump and his enablers pose to our country. It's not just him. There are a lot of people behind him, including some very rich people and companies. As you rightly point out, when you're dealing with a dictator, no one is safe, so those rich supporters are deluding themselves.
This is a PDF called "Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism" that makes it very clear for those who want something to look at. You can see online or download.
https://www.bremertonschools.org/cms/lib/WA01001541/Centricity/Domain/222/Fourteen%20Defining%20Characteristics%20of%20Fascism%20slides.pdf
I think fascism is the default for the profound ignorance of Trump. He cannot even comprehend checks and balances or why they would be necessary.
We need to find a way to get control of the lies and propaganda being spoon-fed constantly to a large portion of the population through sources that pretend to be "News." This created the rabid base that Trump co-opted. Trump didn't create this, he merely became its "charismatic leader," fulfilling its definition as a cult.
If we can't find a way to make truth important again, someone smarter and even more dangerous than Trump may be their next "charismatic leader."
You find it let me know. There is some legislation in Congress to reinvigorate the media esp local. Antimonoply against some of ther big tech media hogs would help. I don't think media, like OAN, should be able to preach sedition. Others do. That's not working out so great though. But we have freedom of speech, bring it on we're big boys and girls. Except we're not.
This is a very compelling podcast. I particularly like the point that we should hold congressional Republicans feet to the fire over election certification. They were not elected to decide for us who leads our nation, nor to throw a wrench into the working of our democracy . They were elected to do the work of their constituents, ALL of their constituents , not to make arbitrary decisions in favor if a fascist. Everyone who lives in a district represented by any of these folks must immediately confront them, and encourage like-minded voters to do the same.
All of this is true, but I have a much more cynical view of the motives of most elected Republican representatives. Their purpose is almost strictly the pursuit of their political careers and their personal power, popularity and wealth. It’s quite clear to me that they care nothing about the issues that affect millions of Americans every day. When did the Republicans focus on unaffordable housing, improving public education, access to affordable health care, living wage, clean water, industrial pollution, etc.? No. They fiddle away with things like abortion, prayer in schools, and grandstanding over supporting the troops all while denying veterans both actual respect and needed health care and housing. These republican Pharisees sicken me. And I voted for Republicans from 1976 forward, until the Republican Party devolved into a North Korean style cult of personality in 2015.
The Republican Party used to be a stalwart of democracy. Now it is a useless sycophantic chorus in the service of Trumpism. Please, if you have Republican representation, call them, email them, and tell them that you will not support their effort to deny us our vote. If we all vote against Trumpism, then we can vanquish it. Do not let these elected Republicans get away with saying that they won’t certify OUR votes.
5 months? Right. But these dangers to democracy were out in the open 4 years ago. The Democrats have pretended that it’s all just business as usual until suddenly it’s going to be too late. Merrick Garland’s delays, talking about strengthening democracy at the last minute! Any changes now can only be rules set by the president that the next president can undo in a second. There should have been proposals before the last mid-terms. Myself, I believe Biden is part of the problem. Getting things done is good and important but if it is filtered through Fox and Tik-tok or Comedy Central who knows. You rightly point to an existential crisis. The Democrats need to act as if it were as you say.
I wanted to point out again that the main party behind Israel's ruling coalition -- Netanyahu's party (Likud) -- is a DIRECT descendant from Italian fascism. A founder of Likud, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, purposely modeled it after Mussolini's Black Shirts, and Netanyahu's father was closely tied to Jabontinsky.
A real fascist and homicidal maniac is being invited to speak to a joint session of Congress -- invited by members of BOTH parties. The Zionists have dehumanized the Palestinians in the occupied territories and are now working out "the final solution" of the Palestinians. This is why the United States is going to receive a bitter taste of that "medicine."
btw, June 8 is the anniversary of Israel's attack on the non-combatant Navy ship, the USS Liberty, killing 34 American sailors and injuring 171 others. The USS Liberty was in international waters off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967 Six Day War.
Thanks for trying to raise awareness about actual problems. Also, Ukraine is full of Nazis. Regardless facilitating or supporting murder is evil. Whether it’s a game show host or genocide Joe
I repeat: Trump is promoting only himself and has no desire nor mental capacity to promote an Ideology
If there are any future historians I’m guessing they will regard Trump to have been more damaging to civilisation than Hitler. COVID, Ukraine - but most importantly: climate action delay.
exactly-unless he and his thugs rewrite history
There are, of course, too many ways Trumpism is dangerous to the United States, a latent racism in our history has always existed. Trump is just the current manifestation and I am optimistic that the majority of us see it for the danger it represents and will reject this manifestation.
Addendum to my earlier comment: there is no such thing as Trumpism
There is a convicted felon whose last name is Trump who has no idea what Fascsm was
Revisiting a worldview that unites a fixed social order with religious fervor and fundamentalism. Fascism was the means—not the end. Trump is the fallible leader ( a scaramouch;-) but the power behind the throne—the powerful economic leaders—are the true source of this recidivism.
Fascism does not threaten the industrial elites, quite the opposite. Fascism is the tool the elites use to control the working class. The elite class in the USA attempted a coup against Roosevelt, attempting to recruit General Smedley Butler and install a fascist dictatorship. The clown pontificating here are completely a historical. Reich begins by claiming D Day as the beginning of the end of the war when the real turning point was the victory at Stalingrad. The defeat of fascism in Europe was the work of the Soviet people to the largest degree. The Western powers led by the United States did everything to preserve and protect the fascist system. It was the bulkhead against communism, fascist’s most hated enemy. Proof of this is the propping up of the Franco regime in Spain among others. The CIA is a fascist organization. Totally committed to supporting and enforcing private capital and oppressing the working class around the world.
I believe that Trumpism is more dangerous in America because first, I believe that the appeal to many MAGAt’s is the mantra of bigotry and secondly, fascism in the United States is much more dangerous to the rest of the world, already in a more powerful nation than Germany was when Hitler first gained control of the country. Initially, Germans were happy to hate the Jews, but the major appeal to the masses was the pledge to improve the unemployment plight and eliminate street violence. Though Trump also promises streets paved in gold leaf, the appeal is more attractive because of the intense hatred that it generates.
It’s very difficult to gauge what Trump is really capable of or whether he is in any way intelligent. He seems like a buffoon and a loose cannon.
Hitler was a popular leader to start with. Germany was disheartened on many levels and he injected a resurgence of hope and recovery however, power seemed to turn him into the monster he became. Would the power infused into Trump if he won another term, exacerbate his propensity to seek revenge and then turn it into a rage driven, diabolical, punishment of those who worked against him? History tells us that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. It’s entirely possible and consequently, another Trump term in office should be avoided at all costs.
Trumpism is not fascism. Italian fascism was thug-ism. German fascism was race-ism. Trumpism is grifter-ism in which things of value are looted, corrupted, or sold for Trump's personal gain. There is no Trump Manifesto to review. There are no deep thoughts about the role of government, economy, and societal issues. There is only the price to be paid for the corruption of American politics and America's place in the world that will benefit the Trump Dynasty. Trump merely buys votes from the public and promotes the sale of political goods and services for those votes. Once Trump is bought with votes, he stays bought unless he is stopped. And it takes a lot of effort to stop Trump.
Thank you, Sir, for not having rested your guard. Trumpism is far, far more dangerous than imagined. It´s a form of distilled fascism that carries across global political frontiers -- and has the not-so-uncanny way of always getting its message across by use of brute force.
Fascism was a unique event and should not be used as a convenient label
Fascism is fascism. What Trump is promoting is real fascism; not a "convenient label".
A psychopath shows no “ empathy” towards others - no repentance for wrong doings - that’s Trump alrighty
I wish the press would simply state the obvious, as you did, that Trump is a psychopath (for those who do not know, look up the definition) and is doing what psychopaths do. It isn't complicated.
It burns me up that the press fails to tell the truth about Trump. The man is mentally ill and that fact needs to be broadcast to the entire world multiple times daily until it sinks in to stupid people's thick skulls.
Wow what media shows are you watching? The media doesn’t show the truth about Biden! Trump is exposed for every little thing he says and does! Ask yourself “How does someone who has never had a business or real job and only been in politics their whole life have so much money? They are both corrupt and will be neither of my choice but don’t act like Trump is so evil and Biden is the savior!
You just made some false accusations. I did not say or "act like" Biden "is the savior". I didn't say Trump is evil; I said he is a psychopath, which is an illness. I said nothing about Biden. What is the matter with you?
No you didn’t mention Biden, you just said the media doesn’t tell the truth about Trump. That is a lie as they don’t tell the truth about Biden ever! And you didn’t say Trump was evil but saying he’s a psychopath is just about the same!!!
You just accused me of being a liar. I'm not wasting any more of my time with you. Over and out.
Ditto!!
Trumpism is a made up term. Read the Declaration of Independence and see how many grievances we have allowed the government to implement today. Stop listening to bias people.
Trumpism is Fascism, and it can add to the growing threat to the world that is increasing fascism.
For me it is uplifting to feel better informed regardless of the subject. I have pissed off a few maganuts by calling Trump a fascist. After listening to this discussion I will have a better informed argument. I have seen the protests by young people here in Italy against the current government. My Danish partner is horrified to see what has happened to her home country. The change towards authoritarianism is in my face. As is the reality of the immigrants in Europe and the difficulties they have caused. The average US citizen has no idea the difficulties these immigrants have caused. Our immigrant problem is small by comparison from my experience.
The ruling class is offering us a choice between a self-declared fascist and a war criminal. Beam me up, Scotty.
When you can see protesters on campus in the USA being beaten for trying to stop complicity with a genocide - is there any difference any more? If the wealthy white liberal thrives under Biden then they don’t care about brown babies being killed in their name, they just want it to be done where they can’t see it. Lining up doctors, surgeons, professors, making them kneel in the street blindfolded in their underwear, bundling them into trucks for torture and execution; does that not sound like fascism? Burning families alive in refugee camps that they were told to go to as their homes were destroyed?
But no one talks about Trump’s aversion for endless wars, USA has imposed upon the planet. Is it that the deep state wishes to protect and maintain status quo? Seriously.
Hi Robert, This should be shown nationwide (can be shortened possibly) The film the Trump Organization tried to suppress | You’ve Been Trumped too (2020) full YouTube film
After letting many a nonsensical comment and conclusion in this video roll off my back, I must call out the one about Republicans refusing to pledge that they will certify November's election results. I'm generally on the same side as Mr. Reich and think he's one of the best commentators on economics and politics today--but think about the idea that members of Congress should promise to certify any election result, period: THAT is as much a characteristic of fascism as the others discussed in the video. It's just frustrating when those in the public sphere who best represent my views and values say (and, presumably, believe) things that play right into the hands of our enemies.
I think that another tool that would prove helpful is to educate people on the diagnosis of malignant narcissism. It goes hand in hand with the means of imposing fascism on a nation and if people are able to see how Trump's behavior corresponds point by point with malignant narcissism, and understand how it was created as a psychological tool to make sense of Hitler's actions, perhaps then, it will seem less like an ideological attack on Trump, but more of a crucial warning about what he is capable of doing and intends to do. It is essentially a diagnosis that describes the nature of evil, and if more people can connect the dots, the less likely they will be to vote for this undeniably monstrous person.
Clearly, your responding audience does not include the 50% of Americans who do not see how the pathway followed by Trump looks so much like that of now hated Fascists of WWII era. It is too early to say how far America will allow that pathway to remain open.
At the moment, half of Americans are oblivious to this concern. Much like Germans and Italians were oblivious 100 years ago
As Naomi Klein pointed out years ago on TED, The Fascist Party of America (a.k.a. Republicans) are following ALL ten steps of Nazi Fascism. Their behavior in idolizing their Fuhrer speaks volumes on how far their morals have deteriorated. It is exceptionally abhorrent that almost 500,000 American soldiers DIED trying to stamp out Nazi Fascism and today one of the major political parties of our country have become Fascists!
I’d be interested in your take on the benefits of converting our voting system to a rank voting system rather than the current. Seems to me this would obviate the use of 3rd party candidates by someone like Trump to whittle away at a contender by splitting the electorate through misinformation.
Chrump loves stupid people and dictators 🤮
I think we need to start looking more deeply at some of the possible underlying causes of such high levels of dysfunctional behaviour in Trump, Trumpism and his corporate, governmental and public supporters .
Recent neuroscience is showing that childhood trauma can activate the Amdygla to produce an oversupply of Cortisol and Adrenaline , the fight, flight or freeze hormone, sufficient to alter the neurophysiology of the growing brain so it becomes dissociated from reality and creates an alternative reality characterised by fear and anger. Trump had a severely intergenerationally transmitted child hood ,as do up to 30% of the US population in some US states, this figure from the ongoing Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) research project .
Neuroscience is also showing that these dysfunctional people do not have the necessary prefrontal cortex production of Serotonin and Dopamine to enable them to significantly engage in rational debate nor the empathy or relational capacity to hear and take in the other point of view!
This very significant percentage of brain disordered people resonate with Trumps fear and anger and thus create a self sealing bubble of an alternative reality with possibly disastrous consequences for us all. Hitler used the same dynamic according to prominent psychiatrists at the time but they did not have the benefits of modern neuroscience research
Recommendations arising from neuroscience research
1. Dont argue with or demean Trumpists , many of them do not have the neural capacity to think rationally nor hear the other. They can only handle simple answers to complex issues , hence the fascist tendency.
2. Ensure strong boundaries are in place, legal, national guard, military ? to contain their dysfunctional and fascist tendencies
More like Franco's Spain. Slow, ponderous, unbearably heavy for those who want freedom of expression, the Arts, Middle class life. It handcuffed the media. Franco was in power for 38 years, supported by the wealthy and powerful, religion and simply those with right-wing ideologies, who came from all classes. During his reign, 50% of the population supported him, like Trump, but currently only 2% do. Yet today there remain pro-Franco political parties. As well, politics and its history are one topic that visitors to Spain should refrain from. There remains a lot of bitterness.
So when people vote for Trump, this is what they have to look forward to. They will be sorry and I implore them to think very hard before they go to the ballot box.
How do I subscribe to you? When I hit manage subscription it says this so doesn’t support that.
Thanks to Robert and Heather for presenting this important topic.
Nice Show! First time watching it. You are one of the only folks I will stop to read and listen too. Thank you Mr. Reich.
Why did you go through the wasted words talking about the wealthy, how people are losing faith in democracies and NEVER mentioned the reason democracies are not working for the people, is the horrible wealthy people around the world. The Murdoch name should be a scourge in our history books forever. Just because Chief Justice Roberts believes these people should be shielded from the horrors that have brought to our nation, does not mean we all should shield them. These people need to be named, exposed and shamed.
Musk is not the only wealthy person supporting the traitor president. The Heritage Foundation owns Project 2025, the Koch Cabal gave marching orders out at the ALEC meeting in FL last July and they are trusting him like you said, but these people are evil he should be scared, will he stop at only Dem retribution (which they have many of the same targets)?
Make NO MISTAKE if the traitor loses in a landslide Project 2025 does not go away! It is better for these thugs that US Democracy fall without war to show how Americans even agree, but they have TRILLIONS of Dollars invested in this! It is not the traitor president, it is the MONEY behind the machine. Keep your eye on the ball.
Do you think The Biden Admin should close all Military Bases and bring all weapons out of Fl and TX NOW?
As a non-American, I would vote for ‘Trumpism is more dangerous *for the whole World*’. In this time of an urgent climate change threat and a worldwide teetering between liberal democracy and authoritarian despotism, among other Big Issues, the reverberations of another Trump term could be catastrophic for everybody.. not only Americans.
Trumpism is evolving. It's a lot worse than it was eight years ago. There's no way to know whether it will be not as bad or terribly worse than Nazism
And then they all scream "ANTIFA!" like it's a bad thing to be.
Trumpism is a version of Fascism just like Spains Franco created a form of Fascism and Nazism was a form of Fascism and Italys Mussolini had a form of Fascism. What they have in common is having something or someones to point to as the cause of the problems in their country.
The German leaders of the army in WWI made the claim that the Army never lost the war in the field the politicians at home did by accepting the Truce. Most of the soldiers believed this and it became the famous and infamous "Stab in the Back" legend. The terms of the truce established by France and the UK were devastating for Germany. Loss of colonies, loss of land along the Rhine and in Prussia along with a corridor giving Poland access to the Baltic. At the same time Communism became a powerful political power. All types of conservatives and industrialists feared the future.
I'm not going to go into all the details however you can read up on it with Wikipedia just enter "Nazi-ism. The short version is Hitler became a great orator and was able to create his own party by targeting the communists, socialists, Jews and the WWI truce. The Nazis never won the absolute majority in parliament in a free election. They were in the last free election the largest party around 35% and the Conservatives convinced Hindenburg (the President) to name Hitler the Chancellor and they would keep him under control. They underestimated Hitler. The coalition was formed and Goering was elected speaker of parliament. Behind the scenes they were plotting to create a national emergency to gain absolute control. That was the burning of the Reichstag the house of parliament that was blamed on a Dutch painter who happened to be a Communist. Goering immediately called a national emergency and that the Communists are attacking the government and that Hitler will be appointed the absolute leader Fuehrer.
Now look back to January 6th, 2021. That was the plan, to call a national emergency with martial law.
2
I think fascism is appropriate, although in a few ways our situation could be worse than 1933 Germany, when the rich and powerful literally handed Hitler power. (I’m talking about when Hitler was still playing somewhat nice, to gain power, to compare a similar time in his/Germany’s trajectory as where we are now.)
Most dictators, Hitler included, want to burnish their own standing in the world by making their country a great power. Trump is completely different. Trump couldn’t care less if the USA ends up broken into regions and sold to billionaires interested in the extracting public resources for private gain - as long as Trump gets his cut. His goals are strictly personal: stay out of prison, revenge, wealth, and a soapbox from which his base can worship him.
Trump is also a traitor that, if DOJ would have gotten off their butts and prosecuted him timely, would probably have been proven to have sold state secrets to Russia or Saudi Arabia, and who knows where else. If he gets back in power. He will have total access to all state classified information.
Also dangerous is that Trump is backed by religious Christian extremists. Their patience over 50 years of stealth operations to get control of all aspects of government has really paid off for them. They now flaunt their power and illegal access, because with power in their hands, coupled with their successful intimidation tactics and the 24/7 all-enveloping, micro-targeted disinformation whenever anyone tries to counter their narrative or apply equal justice, everyone from Jim Comey to Merrick Garland is afraid to take action to stop them.
That Alito, with his traitorous flags and wife, and Thomas, with an estimated $4 million in “gifts”,in the last 20 years, more than all the others who have been on the court during that time combined, plus his own traitorous wife, refuse to recuse themselves from cases involving the insurrection and Trump, as well as any cases involving freedom of religion, shows how emboldend the radical, white, Christian extremist movememt is in its total hold on power. They just need Trump in power to roll out the final plan.
These groups (see which have signed onto Project 2025) and Trump’s people, often the same thing, are working on implementing Project 2025, which is only the visible tip of the iceberg in their plan to eliminate freedoms and impose an essentially fundamentalist Christian theocracy on the country. SCOTUS will rubber stamp it so it will be promoted as legal. Its rulings are already paving the way.
Highly recommend Andra Watkins for more on Project 2025 https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/
Madeleine Albright's book on fascism is excellent and a warning bell.
Hitler fooled the public and then it was too late once the took control of the military. We are just stupidly obtuse asleep to the Trumpeter trumpeting his dictatorial intents.
Hongigure?!
And never relent spraying all Maganites with RIDICULITE. And remember, Trump's fortune originates with his grandfather's whorehouse in the Yukon! Gotta love ❤️ that.
Trump is pre-power totalitarianism, fascism is just a stepping stone. To understand Trump read the last chapter, Chapter 13, Ideology and Terror, in Hannah Arendt’s book, “The Origins of Totalitarianism (1966)”.
There is considerable confusion about Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the U.S. House. He is often reported as doing Trump’s bidding, that is not entirely correct. Mr. Johnson is a Christian nationalist and Christian nationalism is USING Trump to advance dominion over America. Christian nationalism is the power powering Trump, not the other way around. Trump cannot win without conservative Christian evangelical votes. Christian nationalism’s elite big players believe they are closer to dominion (Biblical law) through Trump than they would be through Biden, and they are right on that score. For that reason, conservative Christian evangelicals are not so much FOR Trump as they are AGAINST Biden. More people today vote for what they are against, which is all Trump talks about, than vote for what they are for, which is all Biden talks about, which is precisely why Biden is the hands down right person to lead the Nation, hold to the separation of church and state, strengthen democracy, and care for the planet’s health. Trump nominated the three Supreme Court justices that were absolutely necessary to overturn Roe and Casey, and overnight change women’s roles in society. My caption for Dobbs is, “Whatever it takes”. Alito wrote whatever it took - honesty not required – to sell the three newest Trump appointees. Dobbs is outstandingly bad. For more on this, search the web for ‘liberty 1944 Alito Ely Rehnquist’. If Trump is re-elected, his term will begin with fascism.
Beyond T****'s obvious lack of soul and/or brain, there is the absolutely unforgivable sin of leading a coup attempt against our government. I am called to forgive, but that...I just can't do it. The man (?) disgusts me.
I only chose 'Other' because Prof. Reich didn't start out with a definition of fascism; otherwise, I'd go with the first option - 'none'. Wikipedia offers a reasonably simple definition of the term:
"Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states."
Seems to fit Herr Drumpf quite well.
Trump, diaper don, dementia don, wants to make everyone else his slave.
My stab at why there is so much division and the rise of the right.
The media feeds their respective audiences on division/polarization. While this is not a startling revelation , the ability to do this is so much greater than 17 years ago before the iphone and other communication technology and the growth of rightwing media.
This is not to say that wealth inequality and all the other things frequently talked about have not also been causes.
But we seem to be in a media feedback loop where differences are loudly amplified as never before and the feeback hum keeps getting louder and louder so that we can't speak to one another anymore.
The media create sensation because it creates interest and makes them money. That is why they create a pretend "both sides do it" lie.
Thank you for allowing free subscriptions to view this more often- we retired public school teachers who cannot afford to pay appreciate it!!
You both have been the voice of reason and information for me. I have used your videos to convince a few non-voters to vote for Biden!!!😎I will continue to fight for the common good, and some of my former students are glad they convinced me to be more political on social media!!♥️
I wavered between one and 2. There are differences, but maybe not essential differences. Fascism did not prevail here before WW2, but not for lack of trying. Will it prevail this time? If Trump fails to be re-elected what will happen to Trumpism? Edward Niemand
Under Trump's "leadership", the MAGA forces exhibit all the characteristics of a fascist cult, nearly identical in form to that of Mussolini and of Hitler. The common elements include: disregard for truth and fact, substituting instead whatever representations the "leader" chooses to portray; disrespect and disdain for any rule of law or code, substituting the rule of the leader; destruction of the traditional loyalties and patriotisms in favor of absolute and total loyalty to the "leader;" disdain for education and enlightened discussion or debate; substituting whatever myths the leader preferes; and creation of an enemy class (e.g. Jews, LGBTQS, or "vermin" immigrants) who are the source of all the obstructions that must be overcome. For an excellent description of how Hannah Arendt's "origins of Totalitarianism," the classic 1960s description of Stalin, Hitler and Trump, applies to Trumpism and MAGA, see: https://liberalarts.org.uk/fascisms-then-and-now-arendt-origins-of-totalitarianism/
I continue to grapple with how a person convicted of 30+ felonies can still have a platform, a legion of followers, and most likely will never see jail time. Boggles my brain how warped the "democratic process" has become. This is a dark moment in American history.
Answer: Same thing - just at a different stage of development.
Yes, I believe he is a true fascist but did not have quite enough power to implement things he would have liked to in his term in office. My fear is that if he manages re-election AND gets the majority of both houses, everything will go insane and rights will be rescinded even more than they already have. That, coupled with a court that is heavily made up of conservative Catholics spells doom to many basic rights. In my wildest fantasy, all judges should be required to be non-religious atheists. so that the rule of CIVIL , SECULAR law is guaranteed. But I can't imagine that ever happening in my lifetime.
The back of the Mercury dime has the fascia symbol.
obviously the CEO's of large companies want Trump whom they believed they can control. Somehow they seem to have missed the definition of T's mental illness.""malicious narcissism "cannot
be cured but more important is the fact that this mental imbalance DICTATES his actions regardless of the possible consequences of those action being hurtful to him or others. Why he has to lie over and over.
this combination makes him a very dangerous and unstable person who should never have power over others
I missed where to watch your videos… can anyone help?
Indeed a very important conversation! Thank you always for your work - let's all keep up the good work, and share the facts.
So - to your point: Check out the American wealthy who supported the formation of Nazi Germany. Frighteningly revealing and apropos:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/americans-who-funded-hitler-nazis-german-economic-miracle-eger
Recommend watc.hing the six-part documentary, "Hitler and the Nazis" on Netflix. Echoes of Herr SchickelDrumpf.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/arts/television/hitler-and-the-nazis-netflix-review.html?campaign_id=20&emc=edit_wg_20240607&instance_id=125671&nl=watching®i_id=60109364&segment_id=169002&te=1&user_id=8476082b3f28a91280fb361373e0c2b6
Hi Dr. Reich,
I was recently reading an article about supply-side economics which contained the statement "Economists estimate that between 1981 and 2021, more than $50 trillion dollars moved from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%". I would like to have a better understanding about the particular ways in which those dollars moved; e.g., everyday examples of how this happens. I am hoping you will address this in one of your letters or Coffee Klatches. Many thanks!
Hi Dr. Reich,
I was recently reading an article about supply-side economics which contained the statement "Economists estimate that between 1981 and 2021, more than $50 trillion dollars moved from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%". I would like to have a better understanding about the particular ways in which those dollars moved; e.g., everyday examples of how this happens. I am hoping you will address this in one of your letters or Coffee Klatches. Many thanks!
Nope. Fascism is a coordinated attack by a corrupt judicial-political system bringing bogus charges against your political opponent in an effort to diminish or forcefully terminate his political success.
Someone has put their picture next to my comment. It is not my picture.
I thought I had crafted a pretty good missive but meant to write split water into hydrogen and oxygen as a clean fuel... Death and taxes now add grammar.
Just like Hitler (and his team of evil and also brilliant people he has surrounded himself with ) has been very clear in his Mein Kampf, Trump is very clear of what he will do, not if but when. No one in a Europe and the rest of the world believed the evil that followed was possible. They say history repeats itself. And we are letting it not just repeat, but if Trump and his cult followers truly succeed, God help us all!
Again, this is excellent as diagnosis; thank you, Dr Reich and Ms Lofthouse, for this review, analysis, excellent assessment of the problem. BUT, it is rather weak as a prescription for what to do to cure the illness and that is really what we need to be focusing on, then putting into action.
First, however, a point that could be put down as mere semantic quibbling but which, I feel, is important. "Fascism" denotes both a political system and a mind set. As a political system, it was well defined and in fact proudly openly embraced as such, first by Italy, then Germany and Spain. That political system involved close direction of the economy by the government, complete suppression of anything that looked like dissent, and a whole paraphenalia of displays (the military marches, the goose-stepping, the salutes, the songs, the flags) to create fear in those opposed to the system, hence strengthen governmental control of the people. This form of government does not exist today so loose talk of "fascism" can be waved away as not applying to what is happening now. After all, one does not see massed ranks of Trumpists goose-stepping down the boulevards and saying "Seig Heil!" But as a mind-set, that is a set of attitudes and opinions in an authoritarian mold, that very much exists today. So I urge you and all of us instead to start using the term "neofascism" -- this word was used in passing once or twice in this video -- instead of fascism. This DOES embrace all the current manifestations of what we are talking about -- Trump, Orban, Bolsonara, Duerte, Meilia (sp?), Marine Le Pen, Georgia Meloni , and their movements -- because they all share a similar mindset, which is that of the fascist leaders of the 1930s and '40s. Hence, it cannot be dismissed as talk of "fascism", with its association with the 1930s, can.
As for how to go forward, I believe that everything you recommend about "hardening" democracy is true and would be worthwhile -- but that it would not be enough. It is basically a defensive crouch and no won ever won a fight from a defensive crouch. What is needed is a revived Democratic party, not the current, semi-corrupt and weak version that we have today. It has to be progressive but POSITIVE in its goals, avoiding all identitarian politics, and any emphasis on grievances of certain groups. The crucial thing is that by being positive about one's goals and showing that they will benefit ALL the people, those policies and programs will also help all groups that have suffered (Afro-Americans, women, Latinos, immigrants, etc.) So, here is my challenge to you, Dr Reich and Ms Lofthouse: help us define and forge a positive, progressive new politics, that will start within the Democratic party, as it now stands, but renew and revive it, and help it actually to beat down the neofascism that is currently threatening to take over the United States.
Children can be severely damaged by those who raise them. Trump is a poster-boy example of this. We don't need to try to figure him out. It's too late for him to change ~ declining intellectual capacity, age, love of power, and fate have combined to make him existentially dangerous.
There are people behind the scenes, perhaps less overtly damaged than Trump but of his elk(sp?) who are the puppet masters, pulling his strings.
This is dangerous time. I hope our nation will keep moving towards a more perfect Union; there is plenty of room for improvement.
But hubris is woven into the fabric of our society. We need, individually and collectively, to take a good look at ourselves. We have an unacceptable level of inequality between classes and need to rebalance the relationship between democracy and capitalism.
Trump is damaged goods and we need to be thinking about where we to go after his defeat.
There will still be puppet masters about who will ferret out a new and improved model of Trump to do their bidding.
I apologize for the doom and gloom. But better to be for-warned, yes?
Where do we see the movie, please?
Trump has been too influenced by the jungle in which he grew up, New York City, to be honest or intelligent about anything.
Trump himself is a nascent fascist because he often calls for violence against his political opponents, and he is a racist and a nativist. Pretty good syllogism, but it can be documented that he is appalling in many ways. Strangely I am beginning to see that everything we fear that may come to pass if Trump is re-elected or seizes power unlawfully here, is already happening in places like Gaza, and probably in countless places where people don't have a voice, where their governance is ineffective and brutal. Doesn't mean we cannot work together to make things better. Do more to help the victims of war. Stop using fossil fuels. Use solar and wind to split water into hydrogen oxygen, and use hydrogen fuel cells to produce clean energy, and use hydrogen gas to store energy, because we'll find that batteries pollute ground water. Don't give up. Peaceful protest can reach the hearts and minds of our entrenched politicians on the supreme court even if it means unseating them with millions of votes.
Trumpism - it’s one of the flavors of facism, authoritarianism, whatever “ism” we’re using today for the surge of human beings to the cliff to throw as many of one or more groups off of it.
We could burn women and call them witches. Or drag peoplefrom religious houses to rape, beat, and kill them. Or tie them to trees to whip them light on fire. Or put in concentration camps and cages. Or other things we human beings have done when we get like this.
But maybe we won’t this time. I hope we don’t - I’m exhausted.
Heather you are just right. I’ll leave it at that. Thank you for being you.
We can't let tRump win to see what's worse fascism or tRumpism.
There are too many parallels to ignore. I suspect more than ever that Trump has studied Mussolini and Hitler. That isn’t a cheap shot either.
Excellent. Thanks so much Heather and Professor Reich! Heather, you said it really well. Something like, “What’s going on now with this neo-fascism, is like overly controlling and suppressing us. Thanks so much for sharing!
He constantly uses the white supremacy sign 👌
I worry about Tom Cotton in the future. He is ex-military, young, somewhat handsome, and devious. If Trump loses, which is not likely, Cotton is ready to step in.
Always a thoughtful Klatch with coffee; thanks.
Trumpet 🎺 already owns the Supreme Court (of crooks )he is one election victory from a dictatorship …
And a Dark Period for Democracy…
You said, at one point "We have a middle class," My immediate thought was maybe once, but these days it's more of a Potemkin middle class for a lot of folks who are struggling to keep up the front by taking equity out of their home, which is borrowing from themselves, of course.
A facet of Fascism not discussed today is its real power nexus, a "happy union of the state and corporate power.' I tried to find a statement from Mussolini to that effect, but the closest I came across has Mussolini saying "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." I've found the quote is several sources, but, so far, not an original source. We've sort of done that with our military to varying extents. During the Second World War, the government guaranteed war materiel providers a price of "cost of production plus ten percent." I expect much of military spending is still along those lines, though so much of military spending is a broken black box. We know what monies go in, though not so sure what comes out.
Trump has the traits: hatred of Jews, absolutely no brains and thinks he can destroy all of his competitors. If you think Hitler was smart and a strong leader, look at Germany and the world in June of 1945. The stupidity of Racism wipes away all of the potential that the oppressed could add to society. With the Jews on his side, Hitler could have easily won WWII.
Yes. Hannah Arendt's (figurative) thesis on the banality of evil shows us that evil does not self-announce. You have to recognize it, because it creeps up on you, envelops you and makes you a part of it before you realize what it is. One might as well have asked in 1939 whether Hitlerism is Fascism. He had not yet become the 20th Century's symbol of evil, yet all the pieces of the puzzle had already assembled themselves. No one could point to him in an encyclopedia, yet there he was in the flesh. You have to recognize the patterns. It's not an easy task, the less so for people unaccustomed to thinking. It takes even the experts up to six months to determine for their own account whether someone they've been interacting with is a psychopath.
https://wayofages.wayofages.org/fishheadmovie/
One has to keep their sense of humor - watching ourselves decay into a Fascist state. That kind of control is similar to that of Communism - people controlled by the state. I suppose Trump Fascism is similar to Putin Fascism. Ask Americans what kind of Communist would they like to be. They abhor Communism, so I can't image them liking Fascism. I don't know, but I think Chinese Communism is different in that they have a lot of Capitalism in their mode of production, certainly advanced to American Capitalism, which currently favors channeling our wealth to the already wealthy. We have more homelessness, and a greater number of people imprisoned than the Chinese - but then they have Fascism like the kind that Trump wants for us. Somewhere in there people are wearing their MAGA hats.
Biden is the prime example of a fascist who uses the force of the government to destroy his political opponents and changes laws for personal gain
Rick Steves, the travel guy from PBS, has several shows on YouTube about Fascism. The one I’ve watched is The Story of Fascism. Highly recommend.
I think Trump's racism is more serious than facism...and more prevalent in our society still...
It’s part of his Fascism.
I believe Trump is capable of instituting full-blown fascism, but we're not there now. He would have to gain the presidency first (God forbid!). I'm betting the American people will wake up in time to avert such a disaster.
From my perspective, the current condition of our governance is more complicated than the term Fascism can capture. Our situation is less a noun and more a verb. An action that expresses the immersion of our culture in a system of instantaneous and impactful change over which we have no control. Many of those changes, we hope, are going to be beneficial. But not having time to access or knowledge to assess the changes, we are being subjected to them unwillingly,
Thus, things can be easily exploited by those nefarious entities who capitalize on weakness and disparity, which enables them to engage in many assorted forms of anti-social behavior. While it becomes easier for these despicable agents to reach the masses, it becomes more difficult for their opposites to respond and reject. Evil, vicious acts occur with such frequency and with abhorrent violence it becomes an apparent norm. And with limited ability to successfully respond and to do so in a timely fashion,. Lies become convenient truths and insults and assaults become the preferred language of social discourse.
What to do? Decide your desired future and share it with others. Instead of being pulled or pushed into the fray, set out to design your own future and how to implement it within your ability to do so. Seek to join with others in pursuit of your ideal of governance and do all you can to grow in scale. But never lose sight of the dark side and barricade against it by expressing your freedom to object and enforce the law. Focus your energy, interest and effort in creating a strong defense and an effective offense in opposition to the elements of oligarchy, domination, criminality, falsehood and any of the chrematistics of fascism. What's to lose?
How are DTs fascist policies going to help people facing economic hardship? Anybody see the magic bullet in the Reich’s manifesto?
You can’t appeal to MAGA fascists with logic or facts, but with its opposite: Eros. The creative, in-love, enlivening, sexual, playful force is the most powerful one in the world. Fascists are No Fun.
When fascism comes to America, it will be wearing a little red hat and carrying a Trump flag.
In WW1 the USA didn't get involved till the Zimmerman telegram in 1917 that indicated that Mexico might join Germany and invade America. In WW2 the USA was divided (though it tried to give some help to Britain with the 'lend-lease' program) till the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. What will be the equivalent of the Zimmerman telegram or Pearl Harbour that would unite America against the internal threat of fascism, given that the divisions are such that even a criminal conviction against Trump hasn't made much difference to the status quo? The only one I can think of is conclusive proof of Trump being a traitor and selling the country out e.g. to the Russians. I know that comedians have joked about it, but I'm talking about evidence strong enough to convict in a court of law.
Trump’s mental state has no consistent “ism” except perhaps narcissism. Narcissistic personality disorder might explain fascism better than fascism explains Trumpyness.
He tries to mirror what his followers want; what will garner the most adoration and applause. Ironically he is a Rorschach for his cult. Co-delusion. Xenophobia, racism and feeling left behind fuels a need for someone like Trump. The wealthy want the return of deregulation and tax cuts.
Trump will not deliver what anyone wants. He won’t even be able to satiate his own desires given his record of failures, his litigation load and increasing dementia.
I can't tell the difference between Trumpism and Fascism, but it's too soon to tell. It might turn into a cult of party pretty soon since Trump seems to be not as healthy as Hitler was in 1933. Or it might fall apart altogether from backbiting. Trumps underlings don't seem to have a real ideology except to gain power.
They rely on Social Security. But the agency took their much-needed benefits away
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/08/g-s1-3475/social-security-ssi-asset-limits
It’s funny how fascists like you claim everyone but you and your clown followers are fascists. You’re so lame Robert