The Fascists Were Knocking At The Door

[kentuck]

But the American people gathered on the ramparts, with their ballots, and managed to keep them at bay, at least temporarily.

The Fascists were on the verge of taking over the oldest democracy on Earth. With the help of Russia and right-wing media outlets, they were able to propagandize a large proportion of our people, who were inclined to distrust our government anyway. The circumstances looked very dire for a long while.

But the American people rose up. They voted. They were not ready to die without a fight.

The Fascists developed a cult of personality in the person of Donald Trump, and with a barrage of lies and propaganda, were able to divide this country unlike any time since the Civil War.

The people around the world were watching with as much anxiety as the majority of Americans. They were exuberant when Joe Biden was announced as the winner of the election.

But unfortunately, the cult and the propaganda were so strong that many of the Fascists supporters were unable to admit that the numbers and the facts were real. The Fascists could not have lost because they were called by God. Many Evangelicals said as much.

So, we are patiently waiting for them to exit the stage. The American people that stood up to the Fascists were heroes. They are ready to sieve thru the rubble and rebuild our country, which the cult supporters say is the greatest it has ever been. Reality has not yet penetrated their world.

[malaise]

1. Both the people and the institutions help up this time

but institutions will have to be strengthened to prevent a more intelligent version of Killa Con from getting near that kind of power again.

[sunonmars]

2. Now the Biden administration must put in significant safeguards come hell or high water

They have 4 years to safeguard the future.

Make sure there are safeguards to make sure any future President must not hold business interests.

No Presidential Family member must ever hold a role in the administration, complete ban.

All Presidential Records, phone calls and transcripts with foreign leaders must be subject to an independent review.

The DOJ must never again become a part of the WH personal protection of the President.

If need be the AG must never again be under complete control of the President but subject to stronger review.

Presidential Pardons must be removed or strengthened, where the President can never pardon themself or a VP or a family member or a cabinet secretary.

Proud boys and others must be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

Disband Homeland Security or move it under stronger control.

Changes to SC and Judges being confirmed. Take it away from the Senate and put it under judicial control. Something must be done to stop this abuse. Maybe all judges must be elected.

[flibbitygiblets]

4. National education about fascism

Most people apparently don’t know what it is or why it’s dangerous

They demonize antifa having no clue what it’s supposed to stand for

[lunasun]

9. +1

[ooky]

10. This.

Just imagine if "fascism" got as much play in the MSM as "socialism" gets.

[pandr32]

13. Agreed 100%

[kentuck]

23. We never imagined that so much of our government was in disrepair.

There is a lot of work to do.

[Gore1FL]

3. I submit the fascists are calling from inside the house.

The weren't knocking at the door and i fear they won't go away.

[Hortensis]

6. Less poetic, but yes. They're destroying from within and

determined to smash all opposition within.

An international group of over 600 political scientists who study over 2000 political parties reportedly now evaluates the Republican Party, based on the factors it's measuring in 2020, as on a par with Viktor Orban's strongly fascistic party in Hungary.

Of course, as the OP illustrates, we're not Hungary. Our own wannabe fascists are battling our nation's over 200 years of liberalism, equality and individual rights.

[KS Toronado]

14. Please educate me with link to " international group of over 600 political scientists "

Thanks

[Hortensis]

19. Link below to the WaPo article I'm mainly quoting. It includes

a link to the V-Dem Institute in Sweden, but I'm unsure if that's the entirety of the group. The report discussed was based on evaluation of data through 2018, with an update for 2020 in the works.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/12/republican-party-trump-authoritarian-data/

I don't remember the other source where I read about the unpublished conclusion for 2020, but since this group was already comparing the GOP to Hungary in 2018 and the GOP's become much worse since I included it.

I do know our own party's strong blue line of commitment to democracy will remain unchanged. That very slight softening around 2016 might be due to Sanders' populist movement, and we'd recovered by 2018 when that was mostly in abeyance, but he himself is proudly not a real Democrat, while his base split in the GE between Trump and other ways to vote against Democrats.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=691

[Mr. Ected]

5. Like so many fascist regimes, this one was propped up by disinformation and propaganda

There's a lot of Americans laboring under some very heavy misconceptions about the truth. Until we discover (or legislate) a way to label information as accurate vs. speculation, the fascists will continue to sew the seeds of discontent by simply blowing smoke up the asses of the masses.

[Firestorm49]

7. This was all very nice, but........

now it’s time to put safeguards into our system to prevent things like the possibility of electors changing their votes, commonality in the voting machines nation wide, cyber security beefed up to the point where infiltration of our voting machines and processes can’t be tampered with, nationwide voter registration, and clear nationwide definitions of when mail in votes can be received and counted.

Yes, we believe that our system has worked, but I, for one, will be much more comfortable after Biden is sworn in. I still don’t trust what the Fool in Chief may be up to.

By the way, if you want a real shocker, go to Parler and look around.

[Fla Dem]

8. It's not over. They may exit the stage, but they remain backstage for an encore.

They will fight every Biden initiative, they will scream "SOCIALISM" at every bill the Democrats try to pass. This is not the political environment of the 50's 60's or 70's. This is an underside of politics that has been growing since Reagan in the 80's and Gingrich in the 90's.

Talk radio, FOX, FB, Twitter, Oann, the dark web, RW streaming propaganda have provided the mechanisms that supported the growth of the anti-government, white supremacist, gun carrying movement to become a loud voice. It's just taken 30 plus years to ferment and coalesce into a national movement. Trump was the catalyst that pulled it all together. Unless he is imprisoned for the remainder of his life, he is not going away. He will remain very visible and loud throughout Biden's presidency. Everything Biden does, will be excoriated and denounced. They have found their voice and their leader. He has found his purpose in life. To be the IDOL of the far right.

We can take Biden's victory as a turning point. WE can use it to build a stronger force to combat Trump and his minions.

Let's see how many millions the "MAGA Millions March on DC" actually produces.

[Kyblue1]

20. I am still dumbfounded by the number of people who supported, and may still support, Trump

I can understand the knuckle-dragging fascists cheering for this ill-educated, dead beat, child of privilege, white supremacist, loser, but it depresses me that too many educated, supposedly upstanding citizens find it acceptable for Trump to be president.

[summer_in_TX]

26. They did so because RW media told them a story.

That Trump never got any credit for anything good he did (and yes, he did a few in the middle of a lot of horrific stuff).
That libs were laughing at him and looking down our noses at him – and at them.
That we were hoping for his failure.
That he was unjustly accused by crazed partisans of having Russian help (remember they had the R head of the House Intelligence Committee helping to convince them).
That he was strong, kind, good. Why, Christian evangelicals voted for him in large numbers so it must be so, right?
That his policies were best for them.

And many more manipulations of the truth. Yes, some of those had some truth to them, at least for a subset of our side, maybe even for many. They found fertile ground for their propaganda.

[marble falls]

11. Real fascists don't knock. AmWay sales guys do that - ask SoE Betsy DeVoss.

[Lonestarblue]

12. We have another big battle, and that is in Georgia.

As we all know, if McConnell is Majority Leader, he will block every attempt to move forward and away from fascism.

[iluvtennis]

15. K n R. nt

[First Speaker]

16. This is just a reprieve. The fascists remain, and have a grip on one of our two major parties...

...and the next Trump will be a lot smarter, less buffoonish, and even more dangerous...

[olegramps]

17. This threat is not something new, but has been their objective for over forty years.

The threat is not over. The Federalist Society with the assistance of the Republicans in congress flooded he courts with judges who are sworn to establish a authoritarian presidency based on a bazar interpretation of the Second Article of the Constitution that they has variously called the Unitary Executive theory which would give the president virtual unquestioned authority over every aspect of government. Barr is one of it more influential adherents and totally explains his support of this madman.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

18. re evangelist support of fascism in para 6 - just for the record it should be stated that

not all do. Yeah, OK, maybe many (most?) do but not all. A good no. of them (some of my RW sibs included) did NOT vote for drumpfenfuher this time around. How many - I dont know, but I do know that voters who voted Dem for pres, but Repub for congress were a pretty significant no. There were some who identify as "right to life" who expanded the meaning to include the brutality of children separated from parents and caged.

Of course the Repub congress is part of the problem (in fact most of it IMHO, Trump was only the most visible piece of it) so it's not going to be Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but still I think it is good to acknowledge points of agreement when they occuur.

Thank the Goddess that rejecting overt fascism was something that most Americans could agree on.

What else can we agree on - lets look for that too.

[BobTheSubgenius]

21. As has been stressed already in this thread...

...the last 4 years better have been a learning experience. It's not like this, or something similar...or even worse!....couldn't happen again.

[NotASurfer]

22. Remember how we responded?

We will not acquiesce to fascists. And the FBI has four years minimum to track down domestic right-wing terrorists, give them fair public trials under the actual laws of the country - not some alt-fact sovereign citizen set of imaginary laws - and make good examples of how you need to deal with fascists.

[ElementaryPenguin]

24. Great post, Kentuck!!

Spot on!

You're one of the all-time great DUers!

[ElementaryPenguin]

25. Great post, Kentuck!!

Spot on!

You're one of the all-time great DUers!