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This is how fascism comes to AmericaBy Robert Kagan at the Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-how-fascism-comes-to-america/2016/05/17/c4e32c58-1c47-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
"SNIP...............
In such an environment, every political figure confronts a stark choice: Get right with the leader and his mass following or get run over. The human race in such circumstances breaks down into predictable categories and democratic politicians are the most predictable. There are those whose ambition leads them to jump on the bandwagon. They praise the leaders incoherent speeches as the beginning of wisdom, hoping he will reward them with a plum post in the new order. There are those who merely hope to survive. Their consciences wont let them curry favor so shamelessly, so they mumble their pledges of support, like the victims in Stalins show trials, perhaps not realizing that the leader and his followers will get them in the end anyway.
A great number will simply kid themselves, refusing to admit that something very different from the usual politics is afoot. Let the storm pass, they insist, and then we can pick up the pieces, rebuild and get back to normal. Meanwhile, dont alienate the leaders mass following. After all, they are voters and will need to brought back into the fold. As for Trump himself, lets shape him, advise him, steer him in the right direction and, not incidentally, save our political skins.
What these people do not or will not see is that, once in power, Trump will owe them and their party nothing. He will have ridden to power despite the party, catapulted into the White House by a mass following devoted only to him. By then that following will have grown dramatically. Today, less than 5 percent of eligible voters have voted for Trump. But if he wins the election, his legions will comprise a majority of the nation. Imagine the power he would wield then. In addition to all that comes from being the leader of a mass following, he would also have the immense powers of the American presidency at his command: the Justice Department, the FBI, the intelligence services, the military. Who would dare to oppose him then? Certainly not a Republican Party that laid down before him even when he was comparatively weak. And is a man like Trump, with infinitely greater power in his hands, likely to become more humble, more judicious, more generous, less vengeful than he is today, than he has been his whole life? Does vast power un-corrupt?
This is how fascism comes to America, not with jackboots and salutes (although there have been salutes, and a whiff of violence) but with a television huckster, a phony billionaire, a textbook egomaniac tapping into popular resentments and insecurities, and with an entire national political party out of ambition or blind party loyalty, or simply out of fear falling into line behind him.
.................SNIP"
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)applegrove
(118,778 posts)chooses Trump who can read a crowd. The GOP give in. Then Trump does. Which of those two will actually be running the Presidency if he gets elected President? We do not know. I hope the base gets that.
spanone
(135,874 posts)Shandris
(3,447 posts)...he's literally Hitler (but he totally is, just wait!), it isn't because he's a clown, it isn't because he's very bigoted, if not outright racist and sexist...it's because he won't owe the powerbrokers anything?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
WOW.
Now that's some world-class cajones there. "No, see, the Establishment is here to PROTECT you!" Holy f'in crap.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Old PNAC Money.
Our woman in Ukraine, Victoria Nuland, is married to PNAC co-founder Robert Kagan
Robert Kagan's brother is Frederick Kagan
Frederick Kagan's spouse is Kimberly Kagan
Brilliant people, big ideas, etc. The thing is, that's a lot of PNAC. And the PNAC approach to international relations means more wars without end for profits without cease, among other things detrimental to democracy, peace and justice.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)"Fascism will come to America in the guise of patriotism." -- Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, 1928-1932 (1893-1935)
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)Egnever
(21,506 posts)Keep in mind it is coming from inside Trumps party.
applegrove
(118,778 posts)Last edited Thu May 19, 2016, 09:48 PM - Edit history (10)
or the Donald. Of course the base has to be diminished for going rogue. Meanwhile the GOP has paid trolls rat*****ing the Democrats. The GOP/neocons truly hates the people. Freedom. And people thinking for themselves. Andrew Sullivan did a piece last week on the dangers of mob rule. The chinese people have been schooled on the dangers of mob rule too. My brother had a chinese student living with him. Smart guy. But tell him the Tamil Canadians were demonstrating on Parliament Hill ten blocks away from my brother's neighbourhood and he was terrified. That is how the Chinese Government keeps true democracy at bay. Seems this is how the GOP/neocons will try and get back in control of the base: another kind of fear. Or they hope fear of mob rule will Trump Trump's relationship to the base and trump people's fears of economic insecurity.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)Fear fear fear
Angel Martin
(942 posts)applegrove
(118,778 posts)reaching out their tentacles to usurp the thinking of those they deem powerful. Befriending them. Targeting them. Why would Kagan be any different?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)DLevine
(1,788 posts)Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)And here they are appeasing Trump.