47: USA's fall into Fascism

[stevil]

If you are torching Teslas the person you see in the mirror is the Fascist. It's this year's Kristallnacht.

I'm certainly not about to defend people torching other people's property, they should be locked up.

But, I don't see how torching random Teslas is a grab for power.

 

[stevil]

According to your list here FDR was the clear leader in executive orders. Does that make someone like him a Fascist for issuing all those executive orders? Or are you saying something different?

It's certainly down those lines. Government shouldn't be about one person barking orders. There is a reason USA has the House of Representative and the Senate.

Trump has been in power just 60 days and has issued over 100 EOs so far. When will this slow down? If he keeps it up for 4 years that will be 2,400 for just one presidential term. Surely he won't keep going with this, surely the House and the Senate mean something.

 

[stevil]

As it should be. That is the job of the Attorney General.

Well, the House of Representatives is the branch that create laws, The judiciary are the branch that determine if something is lawful according to the laws passed by the House and the Constitution.

The DOJ should operate independently from the Executive branch. They aren't the president's lap dogs.

As well he should have done. If a college or university that gets massive Federal funds does not protect their students they should lose their funding until they straighten out. Jewish students have faced hostile educational environments due to these Hamas terrorist demonstrations.

There is nothing wrong with peaceful protests. Israel are savaging the Palestinians, committing genocide, using USA weaponry. People have every right to protest against that.

Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Palestine isn't Hamas.

 

[stevil]

Your definition of Fascism is wrong. It is Leftist.

Wasn't my definition, I think I grabbed it from Wikipedia.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

If you are torching Teslas the person you see in the mirror is the Fascist. It's this year's Kristallnacht.

Lol. Absurd.

How is owning a Tesla comparable to being Jewish in 1930s Germany?

 

[Yttrium]

Trump is an authoritarian wannabe. He's too inept at it to be an actual fascist. Sure, you'll see some authoritarian moves here and there, but they'll be chaotic and haphazard. Trump spends too much time on the golf course to pay it much attention.

That's not to say he won't cause pain with his antics. Oh, yes, we will indeed see a lot of that. Take it on the chin.

 

[stevil]

Trump is an authoritarian wannabe. He's too inept at it to be an actual fascist. Sure, you'll see some authoritarian moves here and there, but they'll be chaotic and haphazard. Trump spends too much time on the golf course to pay it much attention.

That's not to say he won't cause pain with his antics. Oh, yes, we will indeed see a lot of that. Take it on the chin.

I really don't think Trump is the "brains" behind it all. He is just a guy egotistical enough to go along with the plan. "Oh, I'll be like, President for life?" I like the sound of that!, people will have to do as I say, I am the law! No congress to stop me, no pesky judges pulling back what I do, no laws to get in my way, sounds great to me!, Oh I have to give the religious fundamentalists some stuff, like get rid of abortions, get rid of Trans and gays, Oh, yeah sure, whatever!"


The think tank are Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Steve Miller and various other authors of Project 2025, also the Federalist Society etc. They are all in on have a right wing president for life, pushing aside congress and judiciary, even corrupting or getting rid of elections entirely, they want a theocracy, a white Christian society and the Billionaires get to keep wealth and not worry about taxes, laws, regulations or ethics (as long as the kowtow to Trump's ego, simple as pie)
They've been planning this for the entire Biden term, and now are hitting the ground running, implementing it, no doubt the have an aggressive schedule to keep to. The midterms are likely to see the Democrats take the House and the Senate, so they have to do stuff before then and stuff to ensure the House and Senate have no power by then.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Your AI has spoken. But your AI is deficient. Even so your AI notes that the Nazis capitalized on the popularity of Socialist ideas and the Nazis were anti-Capitalist. That they were into racist ethnic purity murder of Jews isn't particularly telling that they were not Socialists. The Soviet Union was very anti-Semitic and again, quite into socialism. Socialism and anti-Semitism actually does seem to correlate to a degree, and it shows up with Leftist support for Hamas, the folks who want to push out Jews from the River to the Sea. But they're just following in the footsteps of Haj Amin al-Husseini after all.

However, they were not Socialists like assumed by many in error.

Another definition:

Fascism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/ FASH-iz-əm) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement,[1][2][3] characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.[2][3] Opposed to Marxism, democracy, anarchism, pluralism, free markets, egalitarianism, communism, liberalism, and socialism,[4][5] fascism is at the far right of the traditional left–right spectrum.[6][5][7]​

Again, let's look at history. From Fascism - Authoritarianism, Nationalism, Militarism | Britannica

For these and other reasons, there is no universally accepted definition of fascism. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a number of general characteristics that fascist movements between 1922 and 1945 tended to have in common.​

​

Fascists made no secret of their hatred of Marxists of all stripes, from totalitarian communists to democratic socialists. Fascists promised to deal more “firmly” with Marxists than had earlier, more democratic rightist parties. Mussolini first made his reputation as a fascist by unleashing armed squads of Blackshirts on striking workers and peasants in 1920–21. Many early Nazis had served in the Freikorps, the paramilitary groups formed by ex-soldiers to suppress leftist activism in Germany at the end of World War I. The Nazi SA (Sturmabteilung [“Assault Division”], or Storm Troopers) clashed regularly with German leftists in the streets before 1933, and when Hitler came to power he sent hundreds of Marxists to concentration camps and intimidated “red” neighborhoods with police raids and beatings.​

​

Umberto Eco pointed out 14 characteristics of fascism. Here are some:

Umberto Eco’s List of the 14 Common Features of Fascism

Creative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland One of the key questions facing both journalists and loyal oppositions these days is how do we stay honest as euphemisms and trivializations take over the discourse?

www.openculture.com

• The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”
• The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
• Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.
• Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
• Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”
• Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”
• Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.

 

[Pommer]

I like Umberto Eco very much and have four of his crazy books on my bookshelf, but his politics is on his sleeve. The Nazis were, we have to remember, actually Socialists.

Right, just like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a Democratic Republic.
(Which just happens to have been run by the same family for 70+ years.)

 

[Pommer]

I'm certainly not about to defend people torching other people's property, they should be locked up.

But, I don't see how torching random Teslas is a grab for power.

Any American citizen who’s targeted to get some sort of “loss” because of their political views and actions must be protected from this ever occurring and especially when they’re the richest man in the world.

 

[Pommer]

Trump is an authoritarian wannabe. He's too inept at it to be an actual fascist. Sure, you'll see some authoritarian moves here and there, but they'll be chaotic and haphazard. Trump spends too much time on the golf course to pay it much attention.

That's not to say he won't cause pain with his antics. Oh, yes, we will indeed see a lot of that. Take it on the chin.

TRUMP 2028, The Good ‘Bad Guy’!

 

[Nithavela]

I think terms like "fascism" get tossed around too willy nilly.

Can you cite another fascist regime in history that wanted:
- The citizens themselves to have more guns

Nazi Germany did loosen it's gun laws.

Among other things, the minimum age to own a firearm was lowered from 20 to 18, permits were valid for a longer period and Nazi party members were under no restrictions at all.

Gun control in Germany - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Nithavela]

Trump is an authoritarian wannabe. He's too inept at it to be an actual fascist.

Fascists are actually really inept at running governments. The belief that the nazis were ruthless, but efficient, is another piece of propaganda. In contrast, they were their own worst enemies.. until they decided to attack everyone else, that is.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Right, just like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a Democratic Republic.
(Which just happens to have been run by the same family for 70+ years.)

Exactly, the DEMOCRATS!

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Nazi Germany did loosen it's gun laws.

Among other things, the minimum age to own a firearm was lowered from 20 to 18, permits were valid for a longer period and Nazi party members were under no restrictions at all.

Gun control in Germany - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I also think the SA was made auxiliary police as well.

 

[Nithavela]

I also think the SA was made auxiliary police as well.

Until they were more trouble then they were worth and got taken out in the night of long knives.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Fascists are actually really inept at running governments. The belief that the nazis were ruthless, but efficient, is another piece of propaganda. In contrast, they were their own worst enemies.. until they decided to attack everyone else, that is.

Like their friend to the East whose supplies are resources were still needed even after taking most of Western Europe.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Until they were more trouble then they were worth and got taken out in the night of long knives.

Well, when your leader has stuff in the closet and wants your job you have to take action.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Until they were more trouble then they were worth and got taken out in the night of long knives.

I have a long knife from Germany, well, several. My great grandfather was a German citizen and veteran of the big war. Luckily he saw the writing on the wall and moved to the US via a ten year stop in Cuba.

 

[Fantine]

• Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical rereasoning

Now I see a different reason for Trump's speeches.
Psychologists and linguists said it was a sign of early dementia, but perhaps there is a method to what the psychologists called madness?