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?
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."
(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.
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.
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?
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."
Great article. Tom if I’ve never read a novel by Evelyn Waugh, where should I start?
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?
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