Lay it out for us. I want to hear your argument. — Tom Storm
It would be helpful if you didn't charge me with ad hominem, and then speak about me in the third party to another posted impugning my motives. Seems to be an exact projection. — AmadeusD
This certainly appears to me like you're not thinking very hard. — AmadeusD
Feel free to thnk what you think my friend :) — AmadeusD
It would be helpful if you didn't charge me with ad hominem, and then speak about me in the third party to another posted impugning my motives. Seems to be an exact projection. — AmadeusD
Ok. So those like me who think it is more likely under Trump if he gets in are on equal footing? It’s more of a read of the situation, interpreted differently? — Tom Storm
If you want to make an argument go ahead, but BS ad hom posts like are trolling and provoking. — schopenhauer1
We had four years of Trump and didn't come even tangentially close to fascism. — AmadeusD
Trump/MAGA is unashamedly fascist. He’s openly boasted that he thinks the constitution should be suspended, the public service purged, and his enemies subjected to prosecution. He has a strong movement if polling data is to be believed. Many are saying that he will win the election, and although I don’t believe that he will, the acceptance of his threats of fascism and the escalation of violent threats against the judiciary and other institutions is alarming in the extreme. — Wayfarer
Yes, the civil war aspect of this is another possibility. Or more home grown terrorism. — Tom Storm
I would be willing to say Trump isn't fascism, but uses fascism tactics. — schopenhauer1
However, if you want to define fascism by its use of tactics to wield power, and to discredit democratic principles, it can represent a sort of fascism. I would be willing to say Trump isn't fascism, but uses fascism tactics. I think that's enough to be alarmed. — schopenhauer1
It's more mafioso mentality. — schopenhauer1
seeks to consolidate a dictatorship — Tom Storm
I agree.
The problem with using the word fascism is the baggage and the fraught argument over definitional fidelity. — Tom Storm
I wonder how prevalent pro-Trump sentiment is in the military. If he gets in and seeks to consolidate a dictatorship would they follow? Or would this lead to a potential split... a civil war? Hypothetically, of course. — Tom Storm
100% Agree with this, for what it's worth, which was worth not ignoring for me. — AmadeusD
I just cannot understand how anyone thinks what's happening isn't chaotic and leading no where in particular. — AmadeusD
Which is why I emphasize a slow burn.... And leaving open that this is simply a sort of opportunism as well run by a mafia boss. Hedge either way.. It's flirting with both.. dabbling in bad faith ways to gain and maintain power if you will. I doubt he studies this. It's more like he has the political instincts for these tactics. — schopenhauer1
That he thinks that as president he enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution. That he supports the unitary executive theory, and intends to implement it. That he demands fealty to himself and not the office. That a significant portion of Congress will not oppose him. That he has engaged in an effective campaign against truth and facts, aided by a mainstream propaganda machine. That he uses the judiciary as his instrument and attacks it as his enemy. That he has in place both plans and henchmen to consolidate power in a way he was not able to the first time around. That he is riding the wave of the rise of autocratic leaders around the world, and that he has cozy upped to them. — Fooloso4
Disappearance and imprisonment of enemies, establishment of prison camps for minorities and dissidents, rule by terror, etc. — Tom Storm
That doesn't mean anything. Most of the people who have the huge stockpiles are probably Trump supporters. — schopenhauer1
Republicans (50%), rural residents (48%), men (45%), self-identified conservatives (45%) and Southerners (40%) are the most likely subgroups to say they personally own a gun.
Liberals (15%), Democrats (18%), non-White Americans (18%), women (19%) and Eastern residents (21%) are the least likely to report personal gun ownership.
I couldn't help but think of paranoia here. The suggestion is that we're heading back to the 40s? — AmadeusD
I don't think America is immune to dictatorship. — Tom Storm
I don't doubt Trump would like to implement such an approach based on his behavior and rhetoric. — Tom Storm
Guantanamo Bay? — Tom Storm
This alone makes the movement different from the Nazis. It is less about a national people, but about a select people. — Count Timothy von Icarus
misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration . — BC
but I do not think we are saying anything in the realm of the correct set of circumstances to pretend its likely to occur any time soon. — AmadeusD
I think the idea that his behaviour represents more than a scorned idiot is a bit rich. — AmadeusD
Is this not a Foreign Policy issue? Fascism's symptoms are domestic, in my estimation. — AmadeusD
And this is simply a differnce in how we read the events and personalities, I would say. — Tom Storm
However, being a scorned idiot does not preclude one from setting up a dictatorship — Tom Storm
I don't think that's the point I am making. I am saying that Americans have implemented severe measures (detention without trial, torture, secrecy) to deal with enemies of the state - real or imagined. — Tom Storm
Not per se, but I cannot see how incompetence would help achieve it. Given that the incompetence pertains to his general ability to form sentences and ideas... — AmadeusD
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