Well, yes, on his authority under Article 48 of the constitution. Government in those last days of the Weimar Republic involved getting the old gentleman to agree to this or that decree.
I remember Bush hatred because I was in college then. When Michael Moore came to visit for a speech there was a riot that attacked some of the college republicans with a table outside the speaking hall.
Now the Bush family and Cheney and all them are hardcore leftist shills and the left is the pro-war and pro-security state faction (which is what they were upset about back then).
"Much more plausible is an oligarchic people’s republic, nominally democratic, wielding power through the apparatus of the administrative state."
This sounds like status quo for the US since, well, forever, which is why I find it so hard to understand the intense fear my supposedly left-leaning friends emit at the idea of Trump. Trump sucks, yes, but how is he more fascist-light than your run of the mill Clinton, or Bush, or Obama, or Reagan, or Biden?
Fair. I'm assuming the exaggeration you're mentioning is my use of the term "fascist-light"? It's a term I probably throw around a little too loosely (while trying to soften it with the trailing modifier), but I've struggled to find a better shorthand for the oligarchic-capitalist-militarism that has, in one way or another, characterized our country's political leadership/wealthy rulers for what I believe is its entire history. There's probably a better term for that, but I don't know it.
Well, I’ll just note that America is one of the least militarized countries of modern times. One can go months and years in this country without bumping into a soldier in uniform. No tanks parade down our streets. We honor those who serve and have served, but we don’t accord them superior social status.
One of the ways is the replacement of state level officials who oversee election results with people who endorse the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Another way is the legislation against mail-in voting which studies show Democrats engaged in more than Republicans who are distrustful of mail in voting.
This relies on action by sympathetic Republican state governors which I think has been occurring.
I remember a POTUS saying that he had a phone and a pen. That’s closer to an executive far exceeding his proper role than anything else I can think of in the US.
Many of the people who call Trump a threat to democracy know very well that they are lying and are just using scare tactics to demonize the enemy and gain power themselves. "The issue is never the issue."
Right, which means of course a threat to their own power, and to their dream of a new America governed by themselves without the barriers of constitutional liberties and the free market economy to interfere with their fantasies of a bright new world.
I just picked up Scoop at my library. Thank you. I’ve been meaning to get into Waugh for a long time. It took you celebrating him on the internet to finally make me.
(1) You point out how the Nazis effectively used the police to seize the state. They also used the civil bureaucracy to assist in this. And they had the SA, a million man force of thugs to frighten the opposition and discourage public protest.
Having seen Trump as "Chief Executive" for four years, does anybody still think that he has either the bureaucratic skills or the resources to manage a coup? Trump has to be one of the most inept managers the country has seen.
(2) Hitler was a combat soldier - a brave man who was willing to do whatever was required of him personally. Look at The Night of The Long Knives in 1934. Hitler put on a pistol and participated in the suppression of the SA.
Can we imagine either Trump or Biden picking up a firearm to fight for their cause?
(3) Arguably (and I am stretching the point), it is the Democrats who are subverting the Justice system and using the FBI to suppress the opposition. Even their actions, while infuriating and concerning, are a long way from coup territory.
That does not mean that what the Dems are doing is not wrong. I saw that a seven man FBI team came to arrest Isabella de Luca, a pretty 20-something Twitter writer.
Wouldn't two agents have sufficed? And the FBI has nothing more important on their plate? I think that it was a message to conservatives.
Yes, I am—because Trump being Trump, none of it's going to happen. Not the good, not the bad, not the ugly. He isn't running for president for policy reasons. Trump wants to win in 2024 to wipe out the humiliation of 2020. That, for him, would be the apotheosis of "owning the libs." If Rachel Maddow tosses a blood clot on Election Night, Trump will call it good and order a cheeseburger.
He is also a deeply corrupt person who demands personal loyalty; Project 2025's takeover of the entire executive branch including replacing career civil servants with political appointees would serve that purpose. I rarely agree with former veep Pence on the issues, but I think he is a moral person and good judge of character, and his refusal to vote for his former boss says a lot.
Tom, I’ve been asking the question how does one become a dictator here as our system has safeguards against it. The only answer I get is but trump said so. I concluded it’s a tactic to scare the rubes. Several sites have blocked me for it
The key thing is that Germany was already being run by Hindenburg via Article 48.
Well, yes, on his authority under Article 48 of the constitution. Government in those last days of the Weimar Republic involved getting the old gentleman to agree to this or that decree.
I remember Bush hatred because I was in college then. When Michael Moore came to visit for a speech there was a riot that attacked some of the college republicans with a table outside the speaking hall.
Now the Bush family and Cheney and all them are hardcore leftist shills and the left is the pro-war and pro-security state faction (which is what they were upset about back then).
"Much more plausible is an oligarchic people’s republic, nominally democratic, wielding power through the apparatus of the administrative state."
This sounds like status quo for the US since, well, forever, which is why I find it so hard to understand the intense fear my supposedly left-leaning friends emit at the idea of Trump. Trump sucks, yes, but how is he more fascist-light than your run of the mill Clinton, or Bush, or Obama, or Reagan, or Biden?
You may be exaggerating the case but yes, that was my point.
Fair. I'm assuming the exaggeration you're mentioning is my use of the term "fascist-light"? It's a term I probably throw around a little too loosely (while trying to soften it with the trailing modifier), but I've struggled to find a better shorthand for the oligarchic-capitalist-militarism that has, in one way or another, characterized our country's political leadership/wealthy rulers for what I believe is its entire history. There's probably a better term for that, but I don't know it.
Well, I’ll just note that America is one of the least militarized countries of modern times. One can go months and years in this country without bumping into a soldier in uniform. No tanks parade down our streets. We honor those who serve and have served, but we don’t accord them superior social status.
One of the ways is the replacement of state level officials who oversee election results with people who endorse the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Another way is the legislation against mail-in voting which studies show Democrats engaged in more than Republicans who are distrustful of mail in voting.
This relies on action by sympathetic Republican state governors which I think has been occurring.
I remember a POTUS saying that he had a phone and a pen. That’s closer to an executive far exceeding his proper role than anything else I can think of in the US.
Many of the people who call Trump a threat to democracy know very well that they are lying and are just using scare tactics to demonize the enemy and gain power themselves. "The issue is never the issue."
When they say "democracy", they mean technocratic oligarchy.
Right, which means of course a threat to their own power, and to their dream of a new America governed by themselves without the barriers of constitutional liberties and the free market economy to interfere with their fantasies of a bright new world.
Great article. Tom if I’ve never read a novel by Evelyn Waugh, where should I start?
Start with "Scoop." Then read "A Handful of Dust." Then "Brideshead Revisited."
I just picked up Scoop at my library. Thank you. I’ve been meaning to get into Waugh for a long time. It took you celebrating him on the internet to finally make me.
“Scoop” is absolutely hilarious. One of the funniest novels I’ve ever read.
Great column.
Three points.
(1) You point out how the Nazis effectively used the police to seize the state. They also used the civil bureaucracy to assist in this. And they had the SA, a million man force of thugs to frighten the opposition and discourage public protest.
Having seen Trump as "Chief Executive" for four years, does anybody still think that he has either the bureaucratic skills or the resources to manage a coup? Trump has to be one of the most inept managers the country has seen.
(2) Hitler was a combat soldier - a brave man who was willing to do whatever was required of him personally. Look at The Night of The Long Knives in 1934. Hitler put on a pistol and participated in the suppression of the SA.
Can we imagine either Trump or Biden picking up a firearm to fight for their cause?
(3) Arguably (and I am stretching the point), it is the Democrats who are subverting the Justice system and using the FBI to suppress the opposition. Even their actions, while infuriating and concerning, are a long way from coup territory.
That does not mean that what the Dems are doing is not wrong. I saw that a seven man FBI team came to arrest Isabella de Luca, a pretty 20-something Twitter writer.
Wouldn't two agents have sufficed? And the FBI has nothing more important on their plate? I think that it was a message to conservatives.
Are you OK with Project 2025?
You mean making the administrative state actually accountable to elected officials? Sounds good to me.
Yes, I am—because Trump being Trump, none of it's going to happen. Not the good, not the bad, not the ugly. He isn't running for president for policy reasons. Trump wants to win in 2024 to wipe out the humiliation of 2020. That, for him, would be the apotheosis of "owning the libs." If Rachel Maddow tosses a blood clot on Election Night, Trump will call it good and order a cheeseburger.
He is also a deeply corrupt person who demands personal loyalty; Project 2025's takeover of the entire executive branch including replacing career civil servants with political appointees would serve that purpose. I rarely agree with former veep Pence on the issues, but I think he is a moral person and good judge of character, and his refusal to vote for his former boss says a lot.
> Project 2025's takeover of the entire executive branch including replacing career civil servants with political appointees
Right because a civil service that de facto functions as an unaccountable technocratic oligarchy is very democratic.
> but I think he is a moral person and good judge of character
Pence is also a total coward.
Tom, I’ve been asking the question how does one become a dictator here as our system has safeguards against it. The only answer I get is but trump said so. I concluded it’s a tactic to scare the rubes. Several sites have blocked me for it
Samed here, without the blocks.
Your probably nicer about it than me