America Takes the Next Step Toward Tyranny - By Andrew Sullivan

[DonViejo]

March 23, 2018
9:44 am

Every now and again, when I find myself buried in the latest blizzard of invariably disturbing news emanating from the Trump White House, I go back and remind myself of the core narrative. I read Plato’s Republic again, the prism through which I first raised the alarm about Donald Trump’s emergence. The prism is essentially how a late-stage democracy, dripping with decadence and corruption, with elites dedicated primarily to enriching themselves, and a people well past any kind of civic virtue, morphs so easily into tyranny.

When Plato’s tyrant first comes to power — on a wave of populist hatred of the existing elites — there is a period of relative calm when he just gives away stuff: at first he promises much “in private and public, and grant[s] freedom from debts and distribute[s] land to the people and those around himself” (or, say, a trillion-dollar unfunded tax cut). He aims to please. But then, as he accustoms himself to power, and feels more comfortable, “he suspects certain men of having free thoughts and not putting up with his ruling … Some of those who helped in setting him up and are in power — the manliest among them — speak frankly to him and to one another, criticizing what is happening … Then the tyrant must gradually do away with all of them, if he’s going to rule, until he has left neither friend nor enemy of any worth whatsoever.”

This is the second phase of tyranny, after the more benign settling-in: the purge. Any constraints that had been in place to moderate the tyrant’s whims are set aside; no advice that counters his own gut impulses can be tolerated. And so, over the last couple of weeks, we have seen the president fire Rex Tillerson and Andrew McCabe, two individuals who simply couldn’t capitulate to the demand that they obey only Trump, rather than the country as well.

And because of this small gesture of defiance, they deserved especial public humiliation. Tillerson was warned of his impending doom while on the toilet — a nice, sadistic touch. McCabe was fired hours before his retirement, a public execution also fraught with venom. What kind of man is this? We have become numb to it, but we should never forget how our president is a man who revels in his own cruelty. Revenge is not a dish best served cold for him. It’s the reddest and rawest of meats.

more
https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/america-takes-the-next-step-toward-tyranny.html

[hatrack]

1. Sez Andrew Sullivan, who thought invading Iraq was just a DANDY idea!

Whatevs.

[First Speaker]

2. We can't afford to dwell on any past mistakes right now...because he's right.

We *are* moving towards tyranny. Sullivan has made plenty of mistakes--and no one has attacked his Iraq mistake more than he has. But he believes in liberal democracy, and is our ally right now. We need people like him, and Kristol, and Rubin, if we're going to survive as a nation.

[gratuitous]

4. Andy seems to be having a temporary case of buyer's remorse, doesn't he?

No telling what he'll say in a couple of weeks or a month, but occasionally Sullivan exhibits twinges of what might almost be called a conscience. Lucky for Andy they go away fairly quickly so his beautiful mind doesn't have to dwell too much or too long on his own culpability for the current political situation.

[blake2012]

3. Trump is a cancer which must be removed

[MGKrebs]

5. Every so often I find myself looking up something like

"Nazis" or "fascism" or "Goebbels"... all the steps that led to fascist domination in the 40's are in place now. A non-resistant legislature, lunatic advisers, nationalist fever among the people...
Ryan and McConnell may go down in history as the Goebbels and Goring of this era.

I also fear that the stage is set for the invalidation of the November elections.
I don't know what to do about it.