The future dystopia

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, January 21st, 2025 - 55 comments
Categories: climate change, Donald Trump, energy, science, us politics - Tags:

He’s baack.

The man least suited to running the world’s most powerful country is now President again.

And this time he is surrounded by hard right operatives determined to move America to the right.

There is even a manifesto setting out what this new administration will work to. We should be very afraid.

His speech was delivered calmly but this made it worse.

It displayed a bizarre sense of grievance with Trump stating that Americans “will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.”

He wants to put America first, reclaim its soverignty and restore safety.

He has promised to reform the Justice Department saying “[t]he vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.” Stand by as the January 6 rioters get pardoned and opponents get attacked through a sense of utu. Before he left office Biden issued a number of anticipatory pardons to some of the people that Trump has threatened in the past.

Trump has promised greater freedom, but not for everyone.

He also made a series of outlandish claims designed to cause division and dissent. As an example apparently Californian authorities did not even raise a “token of defence” against the fires.

According to Trump schools teach “our children to be ashamed of themselves in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them.”

Part way through he went all Independence Day on it and proclaimed January 20, 2025 as America’s Liberation Day.

He then promised to roll out a number of Executive Orders. Including:

  • Declaring a national emergency at the southern border and sending the troops in.
  • Beginning the process of “returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came”.
  • Using the Alien Enemies Act 1798 to direct the government “to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gang criminal networks, bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.”
  • Declaring a national energy emergency and in his words “[w]e will drill, baby, drill.”
  • Ending the Green New Deal and revoke the electric vehicle mandate.
  • He will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich US citizens.
  • He will sign an executive order to “immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
  • He will also attack gender identity. “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
  • And in a nod to anti vaxers everywhere Service members who were expelled for objecting to the Covid vaccine mandate will be reinstated with full back pay.

He states that his proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. But without a shred of embarassment he also said that the US will take the Panama Canal back, presumably by force if necessary.

He is into the figurative changes. Like changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Or changing the name of Mount Denali, the mountain’s original name, back to Mount McKinley. Take that Natives.

A trip to Mars is also on the cards. Elon Musk was obviously pleased, that pleased he was caught giving a Nazi salute on camera.

Some of Trump’s claims were patently untrue. Like an American split the atom first. I could sense five million kiwi spirits rising as one saying that this was not true.

The speech was more of a campaign speech than an inauguration speech, pushing reality to the limit and lacking the grace and sense of unity that previous speeches have provided. Given who the speaker was we should not be surprised.

But welcome to the new America. Part reality TV program, part culture war battleground, very entertaining and very very terrifying. Most terrifyingly Climate Change policies have just been jettisoned by one of the largest polluters in the world.

And stand by as wanna be Trumpians throughout the world think the techniques and tactics should be copied. This is going to get rough.

55 comments on “The future dystopia ”

  1. Mike the Lefty 1
    21 January 2025 at 12:52 pm

    If I were the government of Panama, I would be preparing for a US invasion to occur within the next few months.

    Reply
    • adam 1.1
      21 January 2025 at 8:37 pm

      So if we help Panama will our government call us terrorists?

      Blaming Panama for Global Boiling makes trump look like an egg to anyone who can read.

      Reply
  2. mikesh 2
    21 January 2025 at 12:55 pm

    And stand by as wanna be Trumpians throughout the world think the techniques and tactics should be copied. This is going to get rough.

    Do you think Putin might change the name of the Gulf of Finland to the Gulf of Russia.

    Reply
    • alwyn 2.1
      21 January 2025 at 5:32 pm

      Why not? None of the countries that border, Estonia, Finland and Russia) it actually call it "Gulf of Finland" after all.

      There is no reason at all why everybody should call a geographical feature by the same name. What do you call the seaway between England and France? If you were educated in New Zealand you probably call it the English Channel. The French on the other had call it La Manche and the Germans Ärmelkanal.

      Reply
    • Jenny 2.2
      22 January 2025 at 7:56 am

      The figurative is often representative of the actual. Like presenting a more muscular US supremacist imperialist face to the world for instance.

      …..He [Trump] is into the figurative changes. Like changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Or changing the name of Mount Denali, the mountain's original name, back to Mount McKinley. Take that Natives.

      Why stop there?

      The West McKinley Sea anyone?

      (Take that China/Vietnam/Philippines)

      As well as having a peak named after him, President William McKinley deserves to have a sea named after him.

      Why not?

      After all it is only fitting, President McKinley fought a war for US imperialist domination of this region. Something modern US imperialists like Trump would like to do again.

      The Philippine-American War, 1899–1902

      After its defeat Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. On February 4, 1899.

      Just two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers. The ensuing Philippine-American War lasted three years and resulted in the death of over 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants. As many as 200,000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine, and disease.

      [A similar death toll to America's proxy war to dominate the Middle East today. J.]

      The decision by U.S. policymakers to annex the Philippines was not without domestic controversy. Americans who advocated annexation evinced a variety of motivations: desire for commercial opportunities in Asia, concern that the Filipinos were incapable of self-rule, and fear that if the United States did not take control of the islands, another power (such as Germany or Japan) might do so. Meanwhile, American opposition to U.S. colonial rule of the Philippines came in many forms, ranging from those who thought it morally wrong for the United States to be engaged in colonialism,…

      ….Others were wholly unconcerned about the moral or racial implications of imperialism and sought only to oppose the policies of President William McKinley’s administration…..

      Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute United States Department of State

      history@state.gov

      Or Trump could name the South China Sea the Nixon Johnson Sea after America's repeat of McKinley's war to conquer the Philippines after the defeat of the Spanish imperialists, to America's less successful war to conquer Vietnam after the defeat of the French imperialists. When the people of Vietnam, just like the people of the Philippines, decided they wanted more than just a change in colonial rulers.

      Reply
  3. weka 3
    21 January 2025 at 1:17 pm

    And this time he is surrounded by hard right operatives determined to move America to the right.

    A minor point, but that was true last time. And they succeeded. Hence his re-election. Each time, it gets worse and harder. This isn't simply a move right, it's another move toward fascism. Mostly people are pretending it's not happening, when what we need is strategy and action.

    Reply
  4. joe90 4
    21 January 2025 at 1:19 pm

    European MP and former Belgian PM.

    .

    Guy Verhofstadt

    @guyverhofstadt

    America, as a liberal empire, is no more.

    Welcome to a new era of US governance by oligarchy, where billionaire members of Mar-a-Lago decide US policy.

    And guess what? Protecting the European Union or the living standards of Europeans is not on their priority list!

    They don't care about post-1945 Europe. The fall of the Berlin Wall, EU enlargement, our single currency. The expermiental steps we have made, away from our imperial past.

    These are far away things that mean nothing to them.

    Who will defend Europe? We are completely unprepared for this feral new world.

    Remember the đŸ‡ȘđŸ‡ș is an experiment & has no automatic right to exist. It needs to be nurtured. Pro-Europeans will have to stand up and fight for something more than the EU we have today.

    A real Union, that protects, brings prosperity & stands up for its citizens in this new world.

    Trump will bring big change, but such historic moments can be opportunities as well.

    Choose activism

    https://x.com/guyverhofstadt/status/1881395472453050878?

    Reply
  5. Ad 5
    21 January 2025 at 2:21 pm

    There are almost no left governments still in power across the world.

    The last two Labor governments are UK and Australia. And we're odds to lose in Australia.

    Maybe it's the left that need to look in the mirror and figure out how to live a less principled life located somewhere between the autocratic fascist regime of No. 2 economy China and the swaggering revanchist mess of of No. 1 economy and military United States of America.

    This is a true re-alignment of politics not only in the US but across the world. Time to figure out how to get use to it.

    Reply
  6. Mac1 6
    21 January 2025 at 2:33 pm

    "Some of Trump’s claims were patently untrue. Like an American split the atom first."

    Here's what Nick Smith, Mayor of Nelson, said. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/539505/nelson-mayor-responds-to-donald-trump-s-claim-america-split-the-atom-in-speech

    They were the first, and only, country to use atomic weapons, however……. just to provide some historical truth.

    Reply
    • alwyn 6.1
      21 January 2025 at 5:45 pm

      I'm not at all sure that you can say that the work Nick refers to can really be called "splitting" the atom. After all the experiment Rutherford carried out was to convert Nitrogen, atomic number 7, into the heavier element Oxygen which is atomic number 8. Can you really call the process of creating a heavier element "splitting"?

      Reply
      • joe90 6.1.1
        21 January 2025 at 5:59 pm

        Still, it wasn't 'Murica.

        The year 1932 produced other notable events in atomic physics. The Englishman J. D. Cockroft and the Irishman E. T. S. Walton, working jointly at the Cavendish Laboratory, were the first to split the atom when they bombarded lithium with protons generated by a particle accelerator and changed the resulting lithium nucleus into two helium nuclei.

        https://www.atomicarchive.com/history/manhattan-project/p1s1.html

        Reply
      • Drowsy M. Kram 6.1.2
        21 January 2025 at 6:09 pm

        “Nelsonians and New Zealanders should be very proud of Ernest Rutherford’s achievement in 1917 in being the first to split the atom and we just need to politely remind Americans of that.” – Nick Smith

        1917 is too early – the first atom splitting experiments date from the early 1930s.

        April 14, 1932: Zounds! We've Split the Atomic Nucleus
        Researchers at Cambridge University use a proton beam to turn lithium into helium.

        Edit – snap joe90

        Reply
    • Mike the Lefty 6.3
      21 January 2025 at 7:04 pm

      There is also evidence that the first powered flight was not in America, but New Zealand and that the Wright brothers copied the NZ design.

      I'm sure the great Trumpismo wouldn't want people knowing that.

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse

      Reply
      • alwyn 6.3.1
        21 January 2025 at 7:43 pm

        You might have a great deal of work trying to get that accepted. Pearse himself said, in a letter to the Christchurch Star in 2015 that the honour went to the Wright brothers.

        "The honor of inventing the aeroplane cannot be assigned wholly to one man; like most other inventions, it is the product of many minds. After all, there is nothing that succeeds like success, and for this reason pre-eminence will undoubtedly be given to the Wright Brothers, of America, when the history of the aeroplane is written, as they were the first to actually make successful flights with a motor-driven aeroplane. At most America can only claim to have originated the aeroplane. The honor of perfecting it and placing it on its present footing belongs to France.".

        The designs of the planes were quite different. The Pearse one was a much superior design.

        https://www.onverticality.com/blog/richard-pearse-monoplane

        Reply
        • alwyn 6.3.1.1
          21 January 2025 at 8:21 pm

          Sorry. The letter was in 1915. It would have been more interesting if it was in 2015 as it would have come from someone who had been dead for 62 years.

          Reply
  7. Darien Fenton 7
    21 January 2025 at 4:08 pm

    Flat out on signing 50 executive orders today. Withdrawing from Paris Agreement, the biggie I reckon. And all the other shit (literally) that flows from it for the whole world. It is horrible to watch, especially Musk and friends and then all those Proud Boys once again on the loose. The rise of the Radical Right scares the shit out of me.

    Reply
    • joe90 7.1
      21 January 2025 at 5:54 pm

      . Withdrawing from Paris Agreement, the biggie I reckon.

      For mine, it's what comes after withdrawal from the WHO.

      On March 23, 2024, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was reauthorized for one year as part of an omnibus funding bill. The legislation capped a nine-month roller coaster in which expectations of a fast, "clean" reauthorization (for five years, with no changes to the legislative language) gave way to a fraught, chaotic fight just to preserve the program that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle had previously dubbed America's most successful global health foreign aid initiative in history.

      […]

      How PEPFAR Landed in Turmoil

      In most accounts, PEPFAR's trouble started in June 2023, when the Heritage Foundation issued a report alleging that the program's resources were being used to pay for abortions.

      Within weeks, right-wing organizations had written a letter to Congress demanding an explanation, and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), a champion of the original 2003 legislation and author of the 2018 reauthorization, penned a dear colleague letter stating that President Biden had "hijacked PEPFAR…in order to promote abortion on demand." Smith has insisted he still believes in the program's HIV-fighting mission, and that he isn't trying to end the program, merely adjust it.

      Over the coming months, the abortion accusations—which remain wholly unsubstantiated—left PEPFAR in legislative limbo, with Republican members of Congress reluctant to break ranks with Smith and his cohort, and Democrats failing to mount a successful defense. It seemed like an open-and-shut case of death (or diminishment) by culture wars. But the story isn't that simple. None of the people we spoke to absolved the Republicans; but many felt that they did not deserve all the blame.

      https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/pepfar-files-who-tried-end-lifesaving-hiv-program

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Emergency_Plan_for_AIDS_Relief

      Reply
      • joe90 7.1.1
        25 January 2025 at 12:26 pm

        For mine, it's what comes after withdrawal from the WHO.

        On March 23, 2024, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was reauthorized for one year as part of an omnibus funding bill.

        And there it is.

        The Trump administration has halted disbursement of funds from a program that supplies most of the treatment for H.I.V. in Africa and developing countries worldwide for at least 90 days.

        The action stems from President Trump’s executive order on foreign aid, which directs all government divisions with foreign development assistance programs to stop disbursing funds to countries and organizations until they can be reviewed.

        That includes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as Pepfar, a $7.5 billion program overseen by the State Department, officials were told in a memo on Wednesday obtained by The New York Times.

        https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/us/politics/trump-hiv-aids-pepfar.html?

        Reply
    • Kat 7.2
      21 January 2025 at 8:35 pm

      As always in history they rise……then they fall….don't be scared….keep control of your bowels……we will overcome……it just takes time and maybe some lives…….however…….we will never surrender……

      Reply
      • Anne 7.2.1
        21 January 2025 at 9:03 pm

        Thanks Kat. I take heart from that.

        Can't speak for others, but it so reminds me what it must have been like when Hitler rose to power in Germany. The better informed and enlightened got the hell out of the place – at least those who were able to – so we can expect to see an unprecedented rise in Americans wanting to emigrate to NZ. They will be more than welcome.

        My father visited Germany in 1937 and saw the number of munitions factories being constructed. He went back to England and told my mother "we're packing up and going to Australia." They arrived in Sydney 6 months later. They decided to decamp to Auckland, and arrived the day NZ declared war on Germany. He was involved in the Pacific war and had some interesting tales to tell about the Americans stationed there. Some of them at the least were the fore-runners of the MAGA crowd.

        Reply
    • adam 7.3
      21 January 2025 at 8:42 pm

      Boot stompers have been out for a while up North. Flag waving and assorted tiko.

      Reply
  9. joe90 9
    21 January 2025 at 6:33 pm

    Getting his brown shirts back on the streets was high on the to do list

    https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:on5oeywiqx32fh2zau473wz6/post/3lg7khdohhc2s?

    Reply
  10. georgecom 10
    21 January 2025 at 6:46 pm

    President blowarse/blowhard

    Reply
  11. joe90 11
    21 January 2025 at 6:50 pm

    Pro-life.

    //

    Sec. 5. Seeking The Overruling of Supreme Court Precedents That Hinder Capital Punishment. The Attorney General shall take all appropriate action to seek the overruling of Supreme Court precedents that limit the authority of State and Federal governments to impose capital punishment.

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-the-death-penalty-and-protecting-public-safety/

    Reply
    • Tom Hunter 12.1
      21 January 2025 at 7:20 pm

      You actually think that's still true and that those people were not lying?

      Here's journalist Catherine Herridge interviewing the two IRS whistleblowers about that. Bottom line is that everybody knew the laptop and the sordid details of the Biden grifting, including Mr 10% Big Guy, were real as early as 2019.

      https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/1851350948364632394

      But you're still pushing the 51 as heroes. Four legs good, two legs bad.

      Reply
  13. Anne 13
    21 January 2025 at 7:11 pm

    Reading the link below sickened me. Just a bunch of sycophants, some of whom are already sucking up to the fascist bastard. Looking at Luxon in particular – the Greens exempted. The same sycophantic drivel is coming from overseas prime ministers and presidents.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/539529/pm-deputy-congratulate-trump-vance-keen-to-deepen-ties-with-us

    I so wish Helen Clark was back in the top job. She was a class act when it came to diplomacy but never, never, never did she suck up to bastards no matter how powerful they were. Her refusal to send troops to fight in Iraq over the trumped up charges of WMDs was a case in point.

    Edit: to be fair to Hipkins his response was the barest minimum.

    Reply
  14. joe90 14
    21 January 2025 at 7:39 pm

    Good thing ‘Muricans elected Trump to lower prices.

    (a Biden executive order for the development of policies to lower drug costs for people in Medicare and Medicaid schemes rescinded)

    Executive Order 14087 of October 14, 2022 (Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans).

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions/

    Reply
  15. Francesca 15
    21 January 2025 at 8:20 pm

    Anyone remember the TV series The Plot against America from the Phillip Roth novel of the same name ?

    Phew!

    Reply
  16. adam 16
    21 January 2025 at 9:52 pm

    MickySavage

    Let Mon Laferte make you feel good.

    https://genius.com/Mon-laferte-no-sad-lyrics

    Reply
  17. SPC 17
    22 January 2025 at 12:16 am

    Boris Johnson peddles that old shibboleth that Cleopatra's needles are “Tesla magic like” pathways infusing power into the English language bibles of the UK and USA.

    Thus providing the Crown royal and POTUS having been touched status on the day of their coronation or inauguration.

    https://bsky.app/profile/mrjamesob.bsky.social/post/3lgakernnwk2t

    Reply
  18. SPC 18
    22 January 2025 at 12:44 am

    This multi-year, multi-country analysis shows that right-wing populist politicians spread more online misinfo than their mainstream counterparts and explains how “the rise of political misinformation is associated to the recent wave of radical-right populism.”

    https://bsky.app/profile/katestarbird.bsky.social/post/3lg6yr2ypbs25

    Reply
  19. joe90 19
    22 January 2025 at 7:32 am

    A gangster state.

    .

    The Tennessee Holler

    â€Ș@thetnholler.bsky.social‬

    WATCH: Rep. Andy Ogles says he introduced a bill to let Trump annex Greenland because “we are the dominant predator”

    Reagan’s GOP: đŸ‡ș🇾 = “shining city on a hill”

    Today’s GOP: đŸ‡ș🇾 = “dominant predator”

    Sounds about right.

    https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3lgb2kmjm5k2i

    Reply
  20. Jenny 20
    22 January 2025 at 8:15 am

    Imperialism, like capitalism, is an economic system.

    The Business of America is Business;

    “The business of America is business” a quote attributed to Calvin Coolidge 30th president of the United States,

    Self serving US billionaire businessman-cum-politician Donald Trump is a hyper-imperialist.

    From the Guardian 11 Jan 2025 18.00 GMT

    ……When Trump threatens to subjugate Canada, a Nato ally, by force, unilaterally annex Greenland, the autonomous territory of a friendly EU state, and override Panama’s sovereignty for bogus security reasons, most people assume he is not serious and his remarks carry little real significance. This response, while comforting, is a mistake…..

    …..Trump's inauguration guest list is dominated by far right and authoritarian heads of state and far right opposition party leaders

    Who is invited?

    Several heads of state, notably right-wing or populist leaders allied with Trump, have been invited, but so have some of his rivals. Notably, they are:

    • Argentina’s President Javier Milei: Trump once hailed the far-right leader as a man who can “make Argentina great again”
    • Chinese President Xi Jinping: Xi will not attend, however, Vice President Han Zheng will.
    • Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: Meloni, of the far-right Brothers of Italy party,
    • Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban: Populist leader Orban is a close Trump ally
    • Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa: His office confirmed he will pause a re-election campaign to travel to Washington for the inauguration.
    • El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele: Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, is friends with Bukele,
    • Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro: the far-right politician nicknamed the “Trump of the Tropics”
    • Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieck, who recently became leader of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists party in the EU parliament,

    Who is not invited?

    • UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not been invited, his office confirmed on Thursday. However, the far-right politician, Nigel Farage of the Reform UK party, is invited and will be present.
    • European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, and much of the European Union and members of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), which have largely centrist governments, have been ignored.
    • Germany’s President Olaf Scholz, who leads the EU’s largest economy, has also been snubbed. An invitation has, however, been extended to Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD),\
    • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Modi and Trump have shared a “bromance” since the first Trump presidency.
    • Santiago Abascal, who leads the Spanish right-wing Vox Party, and Andre Ventura of Portugal’s populist Chega party, will also be there.
    • French President Emmanuel Macron was not invited, although Macron and Trump have friendly relations. Instead, French far-right politician Eric Zemmour of the Reconquest party will be present.

    More than one commentator has remarked that Trumps presidential inauguration was more like the coronation, of a king or global emperor, than the investiture of a domestic politician.

    Is Luxon too left wing for Trump?

    The good news for New Zealanders, our country's conservative Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, must have been judged not sufficiently far right enough to join the list of rightwing worthies. and didn't get his invite to Trump's inauguration.

    Reply
  21. Jenny 21
    22 January 2025 at 12:57 pm

    Making America Grate Again

    Imperialism is an economic system that begins with economic nationalism

    Trump says 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico coming on Feb. 1 as he signs several orders on economy

    President Donald Trump is preparing more than 100 executive orders starting day one of his new White House administration, in what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations and a rush of other policy priorities.

    By lOSH BOAK, MATHEW DALY and PAUL WISEMAN

    Updated 2:50 PM GMT+13, January 21, 2025

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he expects to put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on Feb. 1, while declining to flesh out his plans for taxing Chinese imports…..

    ….. Trump later on Monday said tariffs would “make us rich as hell.”

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-energy-economy-inflation-ev-oil-gas-00be8d3d5216a328e129666032c889e1

    Reply
  22. Tom Hunter 22
    22 January 2025 at 2:33 pm

    A somewhat more sober take, from Politico of all places, and from a person who clearly is on the other side from Trump but is willing to swallow bitter realities:

    For the first time, he is holding power under circumstances in which reasonable people cannot deny a basic fact: He is the greatest American figure of his era.

    Let’s quickly exhale: Great in this context is not about a subjective debate over whether he is a singularly righteous leader or a singularly menacing one. It is now simply an objective description about the dimensions of his record.
    …
    He is someone with an ability to perceive opportunities that most politicians do not and forge powerful, sustained connections with large swaths of people in ways that no contemporary can match. In other words: He is a force of history.

    This is something his most ardent supporters — still shy of a national majority — have never doubted but something others, myself included, have been slow to reckon with.

    Plus an important political point that his political enemies still don't get, but which could enable a fightback:

    They can no longer place confidence in a strategy that once looked plausible but now has been exposed as illusion. They cannot push Trump to the margins, by treating him as a momentary anomaly or simply denouncing him as lawless and illegitimate.

    Some voters bought that but not enough to win an election. Opponents have no choice but to acknowledge he and his movement represent a large historical argument — and then rally similarly large arguments to defeat it.

    One last acknowledgement:

    One more signature shown by the most consequential presidents: Uncommon psychological toughness. Have you ever known someone who was facing legal hurdles? In many cases, even if people ultimately win the case, they end up being consumed and shrunken by the searing nature of the experience. Imagine running for president amid huge civil suits, criminal prosecutions, and even felony convictions — then emerging from this morass as a larger figure than before. No one needs to admire the achievement to recognize that Trump is possessed by some rare traits of denial, combativeness and resilience.

    Reply
    • Jenny 22.1
      24 January 2025 at 10:08 pm

      If only Left politicians had this same ability to withstand such pressure from the Right.

      Maybe Jacinda Ardern would be still Prime Minister, instead of this Colonel Klink look-a-like.

      Reply
  23. Jenny 23
    24 January 2025 at 11:35 pm

    How close is fascism in America?

    The three testimonies given in the video below are a must watch.

    A police officer who was badly beaten and tortured multiple times with a tazer in the neck suffereing a brain injury and a heart attack.

    A son who turned his own father in for involvement in the violent January 6 attempted insurrection, his father, who once expressed penitence in court, now feels empowered and vindicated after his sentence was commuted by Trump. The son is now receiving death threats from family members and their supporters, and lives in hiding in fear of his life.

    An undercover FBI agent whose job it was to investigate white supremacist hate groups tells how he and other agents investigating these groups were told not to let slip their role to law enforcement or even to judges. According to this agent it was common knowledge in his department that American law enforcement and judiciary were infiltrated by far right and racist groups, 'from top to bottom" and who have now been and been emboldened to practice a blind eye to far right violence.

    Reply
    • Tom Hunter 23.1
      26 January 2025 at 2:54 pm

      One component of fascism:

      The Nazis also empowered youth so as to undermine traditional sources of authority. The Nazis manipulated teenagers’ natural tendency to rebellion so as to foster intergenerational tensions. Some Hitler Youth members even denounced their non-Nazi parents.

      According to reports his father, Guy Reffitt, never drew his weapon, never assaulted a police officer, and never entered the Capitol building. Yet he was put in prison for 7.5 years and spending 23 hours per day locked down in solitary confinement.

      His son asked the judge to give his Dad the maximum sentence. He’s some piece of work, but it now sounds like there's some remorse from the son:

      My father’s actions coming from the Trump presidency and what he thought he was doing was right just destroyed it [my family]… I made a very, very disgusting decision to inform authorities about what he was doing, and I still feel horrible about it every day.

      He's now bought a gun himself using some of the $200,000 from his supporters GoFundMe account, and if he feels threatened by his family (hardly a surprise but denied by them anyway) he could change his name since America is still a big country. I suggest names like Pavlik Morozov, or perhaps Trofim Morozov.

      Reply

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