This is how fascism comes to America

[kpete]

:large

...........We’re supposed to believe that Trump’s support stems from economic stagnation or dislocation. Maybe some of it does. But what Trump offers his followers are not economic remedies — his proposals change daily. What he offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence. His incoherent and contradictory utterances have one thing in common: They provoke and play on feelings of resentment and disdain, intermingled with bits of fear, hatred and anger. His public discourse consists of attacking or ridiculing a wide range of “others” — Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants, refugees — whom he depicts either as threats or as objects of derision. His program, such as it is, consists chiefly of promises to get tough with foreigners and people of nonwhite complexion. He will deport them, bar them, get them to knuckle under, make them pay up or make them shut up.

.................

...........what he has tapped into is what the founders most feared when they established the democratic republic: the popular passions unleashed, the “mobocracy.” Conservatives have been warning for decades about government suffocating liberty. But here is the other threat to liberty that Alexis de Tocqueville and the ancient philosophers warned about: that the people in a democracy, excited, angry and unconstrained, might run roughshod over even the institutions created to preserve their freedoms. As Alexander Hamilton watched the French Revolution unfold, he feared in America what he saw play out in France — that the unleashing of popular passions would lead not to greater democracy but to the arrival of a tyrant, riding to power on the shoulders of the people.

This is how fascism comes to America, not with jackboots and salutes (although there have been salutes, and a whiff of violence) but with a television huckster, a phony billionaire, a textbook egomaniac “tapping into” popular resentments and insecurities, and with an entire national political party — out of ambition or blind party loyalty, or simply out of fear — falling into line behind him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-how-fascism-comes-to-america/2016/05/17/c4e32c58-1c47-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html?tid=ss_tw
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-how-fascism-comes-to-america/2016/05/17/c4e32c58-1c47-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html?tid=ss_tw

[lagomorph777]

1. And now he's ahead in the GE polls,

thanks to our party's similar blind unquestioning allegiance to another poor candidate.

[moonbabygo]

4. spot on nt

[Katashi_itto]

8. Exactly!

[RoccoR5955]

2. Fascism is already here...

And there is only ONE candidate who can even try to rid us of this scourge, and it's not the two "front runners."

[pampango]

3. How Trump Uses The Playbook of Europe's Far-Right

Ironically, a campaign built on “making America great again” bears a strong resemblance to right-wing movements overseas, past and present. Maybe the question, then, is not how Trump did it but why the United States hasn’t seen this kind of movement take off until now. Instead of underlining American exceptionalism, Trump is unleashing a political force that’s already prominent in other parts of the world.

For months, pundits dismissed Trump’s candidacy, arguing that once voters started paying attention, his lack of substance would crater his support. Now that he’s the Republicans’ presumptive nominee, it’s clear the early naysayers sorely miscalculated. The lesson from this race: A strong cult of personality can trump ideology. And that’s been proved by generations of demagogues.

German philosopher Max Weber coined the term charismatic authority to describe leaders whose power is built on their “exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character,” as opposed to the rule of law or simply brute force. Many may not regard Trump the candidate in an admirable light, but to his followers, his business success and his personal wealth — which freed him from the unseemly campaign fundraising dance of his primary rivals — make him inviolable.

The feeling of solidarity Trump offers his adherents—specifically those who have been alienated from mainstream politics—is as central to the mogul’s appeal as his blustery persona. It’s true that he is shockingly shallow on policy, but his populist and nationalistic appeals hit people at a deeper level than his position on tax rates or spending proposals. Or at least they are more visceral. They are also central to the pitches right-wing movements in Europe have been making for more than a century.

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/05/20/how-trump-uses-playbook-europes-far-right-457566.html

[Wednesdays]

5. "So, this is how liberty dies..."

"...with thunderous applause."

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. And it's accompanied by vicious anti-semitism, too

New York Times staffer tweets out op-ed critical of Trump, faces anti-Semitic avalanche

His twitter feed, so you can see what it all looks like: https://twitter.com/jonathanweisman

(and recorded here, in case the anti-semites get cold feet at being so open: https://www.balloon-juice.com/2016/05/20/an-op-ed-a-tweet-about-the-op-ed-and-the-massive-racist-xenophobic-and-anti-semitic-respons/ )
It really is vile stuff.

[dembotoz]

7. watched Look whos back yesterday on netflix it was really funny till it started being really true

I would suggest you check it out...sort of micheal moore ish
funny but horrifying

[Katashi_itto]

9. It's not that bad, at least we get to choose which type of Fascsim. Homegrown or Corporate.

Last edited Fri May 20, 2016, 09:59 AM - Edit history (1)