A note of caution from Thom Hartmann:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

~snip

Democracies don’t turn into fascist oligarchies by being invaded or losing wars. It always happens from within, and is always driven buy an alliance between demagogic, populist politicians and some of the very wealthiest people in society.

Step one for these right wing politicians and the morbidly rich who support them is to pit one group of people within the nation against others: Marginalize and demonize minorities, deny them access to the levers of democratic power while openly attacking them for trying to usurp the privileges and prerequisites of the majority.

snip

And now Republicans and the oligarchs aligned with them are trying to pull it off here in the United States.

snip

Standing against them is the Democratic Party, although the Fritz Tysons of today’s America, billionaire members of the Koch network, are doing everything they can to prevent Democrats from ensuring fair and honest elections in 2022 and 2024 by buying off Joe Manchin and others.

Those Republican voter suppression and voter nullification laws being passed by state after state are essential to their final take-down of the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, the billionaire Murdoch family’s Fox News is working as hard as it can to make Black people and Democrats 2021’s version of Hitler’s 1933 Jews and Socialists.

snip

The link:https://hartmannreport.com/p/why-fox-news-claims-they-are-taking?r=lxca0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy


Edited to add emphasis

[FreepFryer]

1. Passively ignoring Russia's ongoing interference in our democracy. (Nt)

[triron]

12. Except it wasn't restricted to 'interference'.

[lagomorph777]

14. Yes: internal factors are important, but so is Putin.

I take this piece as more of a targeting indicator than a caution. We don't need more cautions; we are already well and truly freaked out.

We have to attack the specific oligarchs mentioned, and directly deal with Manchurian Manchin. And attack Putin.

[FakeNoose]

2. Rupert Murdoch will die very soon, and his influence will be meaningless

We need to look forward to the imminent future that doesn't include Murdoch. The same can be said for Charles Koch and several others. What have we learned from these struggles? How can we avoid the pitfalls of Murdochs and Kochs in the next 20-30-40 years?

[Red Mountain]

4. Who will replace them?

And who will advocate for our side?

Doesn't seem hopeful.

[GoodRaisin]

15. The one's who get their money.

It will go on until the wealthy can no longer purchase politicians to do their bidding.

[wnylib]

16. The Mercers will still be around.

Look at the other wealthy individuals and families who backed the orange fascist.

[ananda]

3. It's the voter nullification laws that really scare me.

And voter suppression is certainly bad enough.

[Red Mountain]

5. Fight them until the end

and them use them as a way to get people to vote.

Getting the vote out is more powerful than any of these schemes to suppress voting.

[ananda]

20. Voter nullification means that other entities..

can decide the outcome if they don't like the outcome
from the actual voters.

[uponit7771]

8. The access laws scare the crap out of me too ... that's crazy, we're already low on democracy index

[sarchasm]

6. Fritz Thyssen

[wnylib]

17. Yeah, he's the guy who made the

Bush family wealthy when they managed his finances through Union Banking. Prescott Bush, Herbert Walker, and the Harriman brothers (who served later in the Eisenhower administration) continued their financial management of the Thyssen business and personal finances after the US entry into WWII until the Feds shut down that part of their business. After the war, they cashed in their share of the Thyssen fortune.

Thyssen's coal and steel businesses helped arm fascist Germany. Thyssen's money helped finance the Nazi party anf Hitler's rise to power.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. K and R for the smartest man in the room

He always has been.

[FoxNewsSucks]

9. One correction

"Republicans and the oligarchs aligned with them are trying to pull it off here in the United States."

They're not trying to pull it off, they're very nearly finished pulling it off.

[KS Toronado]

13. Yep, they almost pulled it off Jan 6th.

And if they had, we'd probably be saying Heil tRUMP with a raised arm.

[aka-chmeee]

24. Well also, the author might look into the word "perquisite" as a replacement for "prerequisite". nt

[mwooldri]

10. Early 1930s Germany.

Adolf Hitler took part in elections and eventually became the largest party. Then the brownshirts intimidated the opposition to stay away, not vote, and the opposition that was elected was forced not to show up to government. Thus Hitler got a majority that way, and his loyal followers enabled him, culminating in the Enabling Act.

[burrowowl]

11. Thom Hartmann is very often right on!

[BobTheSubgenius]

18. If Americans from coast to coast aren't outraged and up in arms...

...about these extreme anti-democratic manoeuvres, and looking for ways to defeat them, what is it going to take?

[roamer65]

19. Germany was a very homogeneous country.

It was easier for the Nazis to marginalize much smaller minority groups.

The United States is very heterogeneous, multiethnic country. The result at any attempt of white minority rule in the United States will be very similar to the breakup of the Yugoslav republic.

Also, not all white people will go along with their fascism. They didn’t in South Africa, and they won’t here.

[grantcart]

21. For the record; James Murdoch spent $ 100 million last year supporting Biden and Democratic campaign

Interesting to see how this family dynamic plays out.

[Solomon]

22. But haven't oligarchs and the wealthy always played both sides?

They support one side but invest just enough in the other side appear reasonable.

[grantcart]

23. James Murdoch and his wife are all in and he left Fox News Corp.

Most "oligarchs", like Koch brothers, don't play both sides.