Is fascism coming to America? You be the judge

First topic message reminder :

Santorum’s book doesn’t deal with foreign policy but does set out his approach to domestic policy: an active use of federal power and of the tax code to promote traditional behaviors and to preserve man-woman marriages.

Unlike Tea Party activists, Santorum doesn’t shrink away from the federal government; he wants to use it to nudge people toward more virtuous behavior, which he thinks will be best taught in traditional heterosexual families.

He says, “Liberals believe that the traditional family is neither natural nor vital, that it’s an antiquated social convention which has not only outlived its usefulness, but is now inherently discriminatory and repressive toward legitimate alternative ‘families.’”

Gee, thanks, Mr. Santorum. And while you seem to be in control of my thoughts, how about marching my body into the kitchen and making myself a sandwich? I'm getting kind of hungry. Unless, of course, you would like to relinquish control of my mind.

Link

I am SICK TO DEATH of these hacks. Can't the GOP offer up a single candidate that isn't out to impose their brand of "it's for the best" fascism onto the rest of America?

Does this mean Scotland will be turned into a golf course?

President-elect Trump and his supporters quickly realised the importance to their campaign of Britain's "Brexit vote", in challenging the Establishment. It was all they needed for victory, and may engender a close relationship with the dissident element amongst British voters.

Can't all be bad then, can it?

By David Schneider for @huffpostukcom:-


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It was the rise of the Davos class that sealed America’s fate

From an article by Naomi Klein:-

"They will blame James Comey and the FBI. They will blame voter suppression and racism. They will blame Bernie or bust and misogyny. They will blame third parties and independent candidates. They will blame the corporate media for giving him the platform, social media for being a bullhorn, and WikiLeaks for airing the laundry. But this leaves out the force most responsible for creating the nightmare in which we now find ourselves wide awake: neoliberalism. That worldview – fully embodied by Hillary Clinton and her machine – is no match for Trump-style extremism. The decision to run one against the other is what sealed our fate.

A hell of a lot of people are in pain. Under neoliberal policies of deregulation, privatisation, austerity and corporate trade, their living standards have declined precipitously. They have lost jobs. They have lost pensions. They have lost much of the safety net that used to make these losses less frightening. At the same time, they have witnessed the rise of the Davos class, a hyper-connected network of banking and tech billionaires, elected leaders who are awfully cosy with those interests, and Hollywood celebrities who make the whole thing seem unbearably glamorous.

For the people who saw security and status as their birthright – and that means white men most of all – these losses are unbearable. Trump speaks directly to that pain. The Brexit campaign spoke to that pain. So do all of the rising far-right parties in Europe. They answer it with nostalgic nationalism and anger at remote economic bureaucracies. And they answer it by bashing immigrants, vilifying Muslims and degrading women. Elite neoliberalism has nothing to offer that pain, because neoliberalism unleashed the Davos class."

For the whole article:-
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/rise-of-the-davos-class-sealed-americas-fate

I'd be interested to learn what makes working-class Americans, left behind by a wealthy elite, think that their best hope of salvation lies in one of that elite's most prominent exponents.

sickchip wrote:-
The problem we have in Britain, and America, is this 'working class' rebellion against the establishment has been fuelled by some regressive scary right wing, quasi racist, and bigoted ideas. Is this because they never really get offered a progressive left wing option?

The Americans (or at least the Democrats) were offered Bernie Sanders, and the British have the chance to support Jeremy Corbyn. Sanders was eventually crushed by Hillary Clinton’s machine, while Corbyn is constantly undermined by the media and by Labour MPs who are still living in a time warp and haven’t noticed that monumental changes are happening in so-called democracies, as the anger of the dispossessed starts to boil over. The trouble is that the media has successfully scapegoated the EU in the British press, and immigrants everywhere, in order to divert attention from the neoliberal agenda set by Milton Friedman and pursued vigorously by Reagan, Thatcher and their various disciples.

The cause of the public anger is right-wing economics, but the solution is wrongly perceived to be issues which only right-wingers can, or would want to, espouse. Fascists like Trump can woo the racist vote by labelling Africans as “lazy fools who are only good at love-making and thuggery” and call Hispanics “rapists and drug-dealers”. On the other hand, anyone who is left of centre and goes into an area with a high immigrant population is unlikely to be listened to when they argue that austerity, large corporations and globalisation are the enemies; easily identifiable targets, whether it be your neighbours, Jean-Claude Juncker or members of the judiciary, will always have greater traction. However, as H L Mencken once pointed out: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong".

oftenwrong wrote:I'd be interested to learn what makes working-class Americans, left behind by a wealthy elite, think that their best hope of salvation lies in one of that elite's most prominent exponents.

McCarthyism - they' lived under it for generations and are not allowed to think. Blair achieved the same effect here, by different means, which is why the MPS are betraying us all now.

May and Trump.......it's like Thatcher and Reagan all over again - only this time it'll be even worse.

Yes folks - it's Trump and The Frump.

I can't see even him seeking to take down her particulars...

Was it something I said...?

Was the idea of May having close relations with Trump in order to secure a good trade deal?

This is just getting nasty - the thought of either of them having 'relations' is just too disturbing - stop it you guys

(political dog101.com)

" Hi Theresa - how about I bring Mike Pence over so that we can give you a good 'two for one' deal? Whaddya say, honey...?

Phil - I said!

Sorry - my hand slipped...

"Fascism" is a very unpleasant manifestation wherever and whenever it is encountered, but it doesn't really fit the Donald, because like all US Presidents his apparent "power" can be severely restricted by Congress in practice. As we have seen during the past eight years.

Any attempt to extend his personal business fiefdom to embrace the rest of the world faces such considerable obstacles that we may in reality have little to fear from his juvenile outbursts during the Campaign for election.

Politics may however get to become even more interesting as a spectator sport.

I wonder if Obama has left a few little booby traps

Irony really is dead. Two men standing in a gold-plated lift are claiming they've stuck it to the elite..... 


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Why am I suddenly thinking about Sir Philip Green and the man he sold BHS to for a quid?
That hasn't gone well.

Most of the weekend media made some sort of an effort to explain the Trump phenomenon, which seems to have taken the world by surprise.

There are as many attempts to pigeonhole the President-elect as there are stars in the sky, because that's what the people want - a nice simple concept comparing him with a "known known" from past Presidential behaviour. I don't think it's unfair to say that none of the usual suspects in the media have a clue what to expect, so my guess is as good as theirs for the time being.

My own experience has been of Business (not Politics), which is how most people regard the Donald. I'd say his driving force is the very common human desire to WIN. He's demonstrably not "a quitter" and like an angry wasp will pursue a goal he has set himself regardless of the truth, custom or courtesy. He simply has to come out of any situation as the winner. Once you understand that, his fantasy Electoral Campaign makes perfect sense.

What the future holds for him, and us, may well depend upon how soon he confronts another Leader of a similar disposition.

Two more depressing and even frightening articles – what have 60 million Americans done to us?  

Donald Trump and the politics of hate

“It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that Donald Trump is the worst possible choice as the leader of the free world one could wish for. If every US citizen were to draw straws, you’d almost certainly be guaranteed a better option. Sure you might end up with someone who is uninformed, as Trump certainly is. They might even be a misogynist and a racist. But they’re unlikely to also be a world champion narcissist who, for example, thinks that they know more about Iraq and Afghanistan than US army generals, as Trump has claimed to. Indeed Donald Trump is so uninformed that his own ignorance is a stranger to him.”

Please read on….
http://believethetruth.co.uk/donald-trump-and-the-politics-of-hate/


Noam Chomsky: Donald Trump's election will accelerate global warming and humanity's 'race to disaster'

From an article by Ian Johnston:-

Professor Chomsky has warned the US Republican Party is now “the most dangerous organisation in world history” because of the denial of climate change by Donald Trump and other leading figures. Following the US elections, Chomsky said it appeared humans planned to answer what he called “the most important question in their history … by accelerating the race to disaster”.

Mr Trump has already appointed a prominent climate change denier to run his transition team covering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other advisers include people with close links to the fossil fuel industry. He has also pledged to scrap the United States’ ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which President Obama has hailed as “the moment that we finally decided to save our planet”.

Leading climate scientists have expressed dismay and concern about Trump’s election, suggesting it could be an “unmitigated disaster for the planet”. Speaking to the ‘Truthout’ website, Professor Chomsky pointed to a report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), which said the past five years had been the hottest on record and reported rising sea levels, unexpectedly rapid melting of ice and other effects of climate change.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/noam-chomsky-donald-trump-climate-change-denier-global-warming-race-to-disaster-republicans-most-a7418296.html

(MSN)

" OK - I'm sorry I patted your bottom, but there wasn't a woman immediately available..."

Better to laugh at the Donald now, while we still can. It's going to stop being funny soon enough.

Happy New Year!

I shall show greater respect from now on...

Better to laugh at the Donald now, while we still can

Yes, some people coped with Hitler by singing about him, something to do with Goebbels and the Albert Hall, I believe? Mark Steel, writing about Trump for ‘The Independent’, seems to be enjoying himself here:-

History tells us that Donald Trump's genius idea to make a database of Muslims will definitely end well. Maybe they could make it even more fun by getting Muslims to report to the police every week and wear pretty little stars and all live cosily together in the same part of town. I’m sure that’s never happened before.

There is a glimmer of hope. Donald Trump is clearly making it up as he goes along, with announcements such as: “The wall is going ahead but may be part trellis with clematis plants, with holes in the petals for snipers to fire at immigrants because America is great at flowers, and a castle somewhere in Kansas if that’s on the border but we’ll check because I’ve got guys who are great at checking, and the top half of the wall will be made out of trifle and we’re going to put extra whipped cream on it because the Mexicans are paying”.

Trump has to carry out his promise to build the wall because, as he explained, “650 million people could pour in”. That would mean every single person from Mexico, and Canada, and Central America, and South America, and Egypt, would all move to the USA at once. The Grand Canyon would become El Salvador. Argentina would fill up Lake Michigan. No rockets could take off from Cape Canaveral because Bolivians would be camping on the launch pad.

If you were picky you might doubt the figure of 650 million, but that’s to miss the point because we’re now in a post-correct numbers era. We’ve listened long enough to ‘experts’ adding things up properly and where has that got us?

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-muslim-register-database-religious-groups-jews-hitler-genius-idea-immigration-history-a7423491.html

I may not be alone in recognising US President-elect Donald Trump as a familiar character - the school bully. Self-possessed and exuding charisma, this creature surrounded himself with acolytes, one of whom would be the regular butt of jokes if no other victim was immediately to hand.
Nigel seems to have volunteered for that specific role, brave man.

"Self-possessed and exuding charisma, this creature surrounded himself with acolytes, one of whom would be the regular butt of jokes if no other victim was immediately to hand."


(Wikipedia.org)

Yes - it's all coming back to me now...

How long before President Trump appears photographed in a military uniform, as customarily seen clothing some South-American Despot or head of an African country?

(trumpusconi.com)

" Always willing to please, folks...!"

Trump is like the bloke who gets promoted at work......not because they're good at their job or know what they're doing, but because they are a bigmouthed gob shite.

It always worked for me...!

For anyone who doesn’t yet have Trump fatigue, here are extracts from two more depressing articles:-

An American tragedy

By David Remnick:-

“The election of Donald Trump to the presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny and racism. Trump’s shocking victory is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, we will bid farewell to the first African-American president - a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit - and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.

There are, inevitably, miseries to come: an increasingly reactionary Supreme Court; an emboldened right-wing Congress; a president whose disdain for women and minorities, civil liberties and scientific fact, to say nothing of simple decency, has been repeatedly demonstrated. Trump is vulgarity unbounded, a knowledge-free national leader who will not only set markets tumbling but will strike fear into the hearts of the vulnerable, the weak, and, above all, the many varieties of Other whom he has so deeply insulted. The African-American Other. The Hispanic Other. The female Other. The Jewish and Muslim Other. The most hopeful way to look at this grievous event - and it’s a stretch - is that this election and the years to follow will be a test of the strength, or the fragility, of American institutions. It will be a test of our seriousness and resolve.”

For the rest of the article:-
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-2


On the election of Donald J Trump

By Laurie Penny:-

“Today, hundreds of millions of people in America and around the world have woken up afraid - for themselves, for their children, for the future of a planet where an authoritarian psychopath has his hands on the nuclear codes and the fate of a burning world waiting on his pleasure. Those people are being told that they are sore losers. That they should shut up and accept it. That their fear is somehow funny. That’s the world millions of notionally decent human beings voted for, and don’t tell me for a second they didn’t know what they were buying. This election was, more than anything, about race. It was about white resentment, which is now among the greatest threats to global security. It was about white rage, and there are a lot of us who need to own that inconvenient truth today lest it own us all tomorrow.

If the lacquered, lying sack of personality disorders that is Donald Trump has any redeeming feature, it is that he made no attempt to hide his narcissism, his hard-on for dictators, his vision of the entire damn world as the next acquisition in his dodgy property portfolio. He was openly racist, sexist, xenophobic, and openly willing to become more so as long as it played well with the crabbed, frightened part of his base that just wants to know someone else is hurting worse. He has vowed to jail his political and personal opponents, destroy freedom of the press, deport Muslims and give his donors free rein to frack as they please so he can carry on gaslighting the world. This, today, is what democracy looks like.”

For the whole article:-
http://www.newstatesman.com/world/north-america/2016/11/election-donald-j-trump-4

Naom Chomsky said this in 2010. He was wrong, it didn't happen in the next election (2012).....


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(cnn.com)

" But I've already measured up for curtains and everything..."

Time flies ....