Written By:
weka - Date published:
9:25 am, January 20th, 2020 - 65 comments
Categories: Donald Trump, us politics -
Tags: authoritarianism, fascism, trumps not so bad
A few weeks ago a comment was made on The Standard along the lines that the current US president has been better than most would have thought, and the predictions that he would do all these terrible things haven’t come to pass.
There was solid push back from the lefties in the room around things like stealing children from new immigrants, and the expected push back against the push back.
The things I want to highlight here are the social and cultural changes being manufactured by 45’s administration, that just happen to be the things you would do if you wanted to create an authoritarian/fascist regime. See here and here.
This was being analysed by experienced writers and commentators before the 2016 election (examples of writers below). It’s social engineering, it’s deliberate, and it’s tied into tactics such as causing political and administrative chaos, black is white, fake news and relentless assaults on values and norms, all of which create an atmosphere of tension and emotional exhaustion that makes resistance harder. Under those conditions it becomes easier to then do the legislative and political changes required to advance an agenda that sets up much bigger change later on.
Given it’s election year I thought it a good idea to start highlighting examples. Here’s one from yesterday,
When the guardian and protector of facts blurs or alters them, then the truth itself is under threat. It was Stalin who famously had people blurred or removed from official photographs. Let's not go that route. https://t.co/JztFfaA9bd
— Richard Stengel (@stengel) January 18, 2020
Four parts of the photo were blurred. “God Hates Trump” became “God Hates.” “Trump & GOP — Hands Off Women” became “GOP — Hands Off Women”.
Then women’s political views about their bodies were obscured,
“If my vagina could shoot bullets, it’d be less REGULATED” has “vagina” blurred out. And another that says “This Pussy Grabs Back” has the word “Pussy” erased.
Those two sets aren’t going to be coincidence.
The National Archives gave a few rationales for what they did, but crucially,
Archive officials did not respond to a request to provide examples of previous instances in which the Archives altered a document or photograph so as not to engage in political controversy.
In another era this would have been satire – the juxtaposition of removing criticism of a rapey president alongside censoring the rude bits about women’s bodies – but in 2020 I’m anticipating the arguments that it’s not a big deal, it’s a one off, it’s probably just an overly moralistic employee. I’d say more to the point is we don’t know why and that should be worrying us given the wider context.
We have plenty of excuses and ways to pretend it’s not happening. But for over three years I’ve been watching people in the US talking about the daily assault on cultural norms and how no-one can keep up and there is no way to combat them all and piece by piece they are replaced with new norms that people either excuse or are too overwhelmed to deal with. And this too is part of the play, because it sounds like politics as normal. But it’s not.
The point here is that in addition to the obvious examples like stolen kids or abandoning climate action, the big shifts in culture towards authoritarianism are incremental and based in part on making consistent, small changes that are normalised over time. We don’t go from women in the US having a legal right to abortion to that right being removed in one action. If that was tried, there would be the risk of too much protest translating into votes, and it becoming harder to convince people to settle for the new norms.
Instead what you do is chip away at conventions until such a larger act seems reasonable and/or people are too exhausted, shell-shocked or fearful to organise to prevent it. This is why abortion rights are at risk. Not because it’s new that religious conservatives have political power, but because now there is a whole society wide change that makes that agenda much more likely to happen.
That’s what that little, no big deal action of the National Archives is about. Another small incremental removal of democracy-protecting convention, in the long line of other removals and changes.
It’s the Frog in a Pot theory and it’s about the US being unprepared constitutionally, legally, politically, and socially for a modern authoritarian takeover of the US. I’m just naming it. If you want to read expert opinion on the process that is underway in the US try Sara Robinson or Sarah Kendzior.
Here’s Ad’s list of predictions of what will go in the next three years if there’s no change of President this year.
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Why should we give any particular credence to the “experts” you have cited? All they are doing is expressing their opinions, which are no more (or less) valid than our own opinions.
These are issues on which voters in general are perfectly able to make up their own minds.
Why bother having a political space to talk about these things when everyone already has an opinion. Voting won't stop fascism if 45 gets returned. I seriously doubt that most voters are thinking oh great, let's vote in fascism. Which is why I write the posts. I'm naming it so we can have the discussion.
If you choose not to read these expert opinions on this, that's up to you Wayne. But it's hard to take your response seriously if you're saying "I don't believe in fascism" and want people to ignore the warnings.
I did read the "expert opinions" before I posted. Completely unimpressed. Simply their pre-existing political opinions dressed up as pseudo political science.
Part of the reason people voted for Boris was they were fed up with being told by "experts" their views were racist, fascist, transphobic, etc.
I done mind the discussion, but on the issues of left/right/populist divide I resent being lectured to by so called "experts". Not aimed at you by the way.
And they are women – so that lessens their opinions as well.
The fact is though Wayne, the US constitution is completely unable to address the threat that this current President imposes. From the current defence team for his impeachment for instance, their defence is, that even if what Trump did was illegal it doesn't constitute an impeachable offence! Leaving us wondering just what would be a high crime or misdemeanour?
Just to clarify my last paragraph above see:
Depends on when you ask them.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alan-dershowitz-impeachment-abuse-of-power_n_5e255a6ac5b674e44b9ad92e
https://fortune.com/2018/08/22/lindsay-graham-clinton-trump-impeachment/
Wayne, are you really saying you are unimpressed by Sarah Kendzior? She has accurately and incisively forecast the trajectory from before the orange one was even nominated.
Obviously Trump is a populist, and one who has lazy ill-informed prejudices. Traditionally such a person would never have become a major party nominee.
But that is a far step from the US becoming fascist. There are so many checks and balances in the US system that fascism is basically impossible. For instance mandated elections, two term limit, three branches of elected representatives, an independent judiciary, the Bill of Rights, a Constitution that is extremely difficult to change, a free press, etc, etc.
So despite the authors fears, I just don't buy their argument. At most Trump has five more years in office, more likely only one more year.
Thank you for the reply. I reckon he might have to leave office from ill health before either of those deadlines. Looking very shaky in speeches lately.
" … an independent judiciary …" !!
One of which a goodly proportion are (and in future, more so) conservative/right-wing appointees?
He's going to get another term, easy. I don't know why so many underestimate;
1. The US people – the slient ones are going to vote for him
2. Trump himself.
It's the "flood the zone with shit" strategy.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/16/20991816/impeachment-trial-trump-bannon-misinformation
Yeah that is a very good op ed. Well worth a full read. I was going to link to it myself.
As I'm sure I've said before: Trump isn't the real problem. It's the guys in the background who are using him to distract everyone's attention while they get on with the real business.
45 getting re-elected hands them more power.
They've been busy.
https://twitter.com/aawayne/status/1217875495800446981
The truly scary thing about Trump is his personality. He's a raving narcissist. He's unstable. He has tunnel vision. He's malevolent. He lies all day and everyday. He's a thug.
And worst of all he is the president of a superpower.
When you see presidents, prime ministers, monarchies and other ‘important’ people prostrating themselves before him, then you know it's time to be very scared indeed!
Yep, the nay sayers will laugh and claim it’s all hyperbole. They did that in the 1930s too and look where that ended up…….
I agree their National Archives ought not to be sanitising photos of protest placards. That's blatant fakery. People ought to stage a protest outside their premises to expose the behaviour. If Trumpist public servants are responsible, their employment ought to be terminated.
I'm still not seeing anything other than the bully-boy clown dark side of Trump. I pointed it out when he finally gave a speech condemning the far right hate groups. I think the reason he has been slow to front as centrist is simple opportunism: the right is where the numbers are. Too many are not just alienated from the establishment, they have become aware that they were deliberately screwed by the establishment as the result of gfc foreclosures etc. So there's still a wave for Trump to surf.
If the Democrats were also competing to represent the middle class, Trump wouldn't win by default. Funny, that ongoing lack of clarion calls from leading Democrats – you can't be an establishment candidate by pointing to establishment guilt.
So paranoia about Trump needs more of an evidential basis still to be justified. I don't see how he can win the center if he shifts any further to the right. He's relying on the weakness of the Democrats, and if that persists he'll win by playing it safe.
two points. One is that activists are exhausted. This is part of the dynamic that is going on, similar to the flood the zone with shit that Andre refers to. So it's no longer real to rely on activists to push back against the individual events. This is important to understand in the dismantling of democracy.
Two, 45's team are well smart enough to do what needs to be done to get a second term. If that means playing it safe-ish for a while, they will do that. Then they have another 4 years to carry on with what they are doing. Playing safe as a tactic is not incompatible with working towards authoritarianism.
Likewise finally condemning far right hate groups. Of course they will do that if it placates centrists. But this is a team that hired people like Bannon. I don't see anything that has resiled them from that original positioning, but I see plenty of PR.
Sounds like a smart commentator
So heres some predictions from a few back
The stock market:
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-wall-street-effect-markets-230164
'NEW YORK — Wall Street is set up for a major crash if Donald Trump shocks the world on Election Day and wins the White House.'
The reality:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12297046
'US stocks are closing out a terrific year and President Donald Trump loves it. He's bragged about the stock market hitting record highs six times this week alone on Twitter.'
That's not a prediction about what 45 would do.
I'm not surprised that Wall Street is making money. Are you?
Just pointing out the predictions made by experts and what actually happened
I'll just point out that the sun is going to set later today. What's your point in relation to the post?
My point is make enough predictions and somethings bound to come right but no one ever mentions the predictions they got wrong and for whatever reason Trump provokes more, incorrect, predictions then most
Unemployment:
Prediction
https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/21/news/economy/donald-trump-economy-jobs/
'Just how bad would it get? The downturn under a President Trump would last longer than the Great Recession. About 3.5 million Americans would lose their jobs, unemployment would jump back to 7%, home prices would fall, and the stock market would plummet, Moody's predicts'
Reality
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-average-unemployment-rate-is-the-lowest-in-recorded-history
'President Trump starts off 2020 having presided over a lower average unemployment rate than any president at a comparable point in office in recorded history.'
Trump orders killing of known terrorist in reprisal for attack in Embassy
Obama bombs Libya
Economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote this article: The Truth About the Trump Economy
Good work Trump!
Headline employment is one of the oldest ploys in politics. How much use are jobs really if they do not pay enough to have a reasonable life? Or if three of them combined do not return a liveable income?
The reality is most working class Americans live from pay day to pay day, one missed car or rent payment away from disaster.
Like…its so low…like… everyone has…like…two jobs?
Is that what you're saying?
6.2.31-Heard of zero hour jobs? Precarious, part time, on call jobs at or below minimum wage? Jobs so pitiful that they do not constitute a liveable income…that is what I mean.
Single Mother Hogging 2 Jobs
Don't spam my post with random financier reckons. You know that's not what I was talking about. Unless you didn't bother reading the post.
More like using one example instead of many of the predictions made about Trumps presidency that simply haven't come to pass
The predictions about what would happen to immigrants were more mild than what's happening now. The predictions about who would pay for the wall were spot on.
But wall street hasn't suffered, ain't that grand.
Better than leading to another depression (which the left would love) and the ensuing job losses
I'm not actually sure that kidnapping children or banning people based on their religion is "better than" a rise in unemployment.
There's some historical precedent that suggests it ends very badly, too.
Yeah kidnapping children is bad.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/EPSW4LJJVIZG7BJC7QILOCEBRU.jpg&w=767
🙄
Returning a child to his father is just the same as taking babies from their parents at the border and giving them to strangers?
Sometimes I have serious doubts about your moral character and/or the apparent good faith of your comments.
aaaaand I guess I wasn't the only one with such doubts, lol
It's three of us now.
Got anything to back that claim?
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/25/rooting-recession/
'But now we see Democratic leaders and the “unbiased” media openly rooting for a recession. The drumbeat for an economic contraction has been nonstop for the last two weeks. Maryland Rep. John Delaney, a Democratic presidential candidate, recently chastised his own party for cheerleading for a financial collapse.'
Oh wow you got me. That obviously proves my point wrong and I will know go home with my tail between my legs. Whatever shall I do as there is obviously no way I can prove what he said.
If only I could find a clip of him saying the words himself…if only…
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/458318-delaney-it-feels-like-some-democrats-are-cheering-on-a-recession
He's a charming gentleman … such a great guy even Donny Dotard couldn't push through his nomination to the Federal Reserve.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Moore_(writer)
Can you point to any economic indicator trendlines that showed a substantial change anytime in 2017 or later? Ie, have you any evidence the positive economics indicators you see now are anything more than the simple continuation of Obama's economic recovery from the vandalism of the Shrub years?
I can think of three:
the combover con inherited from Obama steadily decreasing deficit, Tantrump blew it up with his tax giveaways to the very highest-paid. So now it's about to top a trillion annually, higher than than even at the depths of the GFC. If the economy is great, why do you need to run the biggest ever deficits?
The Pentagon budget was steadily reducing as Obama was disentangling the US from stupid foreign ventures. Space Cadet Bonespurs sure turned that spending curve back up!
Farm incomes and manufacturing is down dramatically, mostly resulting from Bilious Blowhard's stupid posturing on tariffs. That's even after billions of dollars in farm aid (massively more than the auto industry bailouts post-GFC).
A very good summation weka.
There is however one area of American society that is being changed at an alarming rate by Trump and his cohorts and it is not good.
What Trump has done to the courts, explained
"Ok!" one might say , but the impact of some of these appointments is being revealed even now making life in America even more dangerous for many.
eg:
Trump judge lashes out at a transgender litigant in a surprisingly cruel opinion
Trump-appointed judge dismisses trans defendant's chosen pronouns
and the list could go on and on.
As for the impending court battles on abortion, rights to contraceptive advice, and assistance, and other matters; the future gets more bleak with each appointment.
Thanks. That's sobering. That bolded bit belies the idea that 45 is a bumbling fool and it will eventually all be over. They know exactly what they are doing Even if they lose this year, they have set that in place for next time and it's not like the Dems are going to shore up democracy in the meantime. The right will be ok with the appointees because who wouldn't want a judiciary weighted to one's political side? And they will continue to ignore the threat of fascism until it is too late. Some will be ok with fascism too of course.
It doesn't belie the idea that the genital-grabbing golem is a bumbling fool.
He simply doesn't care enough about the courts to do anything more than rubber-stamp the Federalist Society picks. Who possess the rat-cunning to know that as long as their suggestions are going to be cravenly Drumpf-supine on anything that Dear Leader actually does care about, they can do whatever the fuck they want on other topics.
It's also worth reminding over and over again that the reason there are so many court positions to fill is that as soon as "Moscow Mitch" McTurtle got the majority, he just blew off his constitutional obligations and just stonewalled every Obama pick. Leading to the massive number of vacancies in 2017.
a bit more about that:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of-leonard-leo-the-man-behind-trumps-supreme-court-pick
let me rephrase. It's risky to consider the problems of the US as being simply that 45 is a bumbling fool and it will be over sooner or later.
You said it. Even if Bernie won and got a House and Senate full of AOC clones, there would still be a massive pile of problems that wouldn't get resolved. Starting with all the stuff that is under state control, not federal.
The fix is in, again, and Bernie won't be the nominee. Even CNN is against him.
aww, now you're just trying to wind up the convergence moonbats and wingnuts.
His backers know exactly what they are doing. And they will still be there if Pence takes over.
Yeah, and what Andre says above as well. McConnell knows exactly what he is doing, He is the one who has allowed and enabled this to happen. The alt right, and the religious right in particular, are in rapture about all this, which is where he get much of his support. Swing voters are slowly waking up to the fact that things are not quite what they had in mind, but the storm of misinformation is bewildering in its intensity, and mind numbing to such an extent now, that these judicial factors fly under the radar of many American voters.
A jack off comedian does a god job making the point.
Trump will be impeached. First who wants to be Trump Senator, the fanciful idea that party loyalty transferes to Trump loyalty. Second Trump has ignored Congress when he didn't keep them appraised of the bomb of an Iranian general. Senators are elected too, sorry, have egos too. Third, the idea that it'll be okay to use govt influence to seek to target political opponents, and admit it, just watch Democrats cite it when they take Congress and the Whitehouse. You cleared him, it's okay now. And Democrats surge ain't faltering, ever Twitter, Trump makes a new Democrat. Heres the reasoning. people frustrated by the castration of the left, of unions, of organisations that would have raised wages, kept their health plans, gave them a community, are voting for rightwing like Trump who promise to destroy, drain the swamp, web Trump doesn't, when Trump becomes the swamp, it's a Democrat that wants to destroy, and drain the swamp, that Trump supporters switch too. Trump has failed.
Trump will not be impeached because of a number of reasons, not least being this is merely the latest in a very long list of Democrats trying to find anything to impeach Trump on
Russia gate anyone, Stormy Daniels perhaps?
But it won't happen because the Republicans don't like Trump but they hate not being in power anymore. They know Trump is popular with Republican voters so any Republican senators that cross the floor to vote with the Democrats know thats the end of their careers
Also wheres the proof that did anything wrong? We know the Bidens got up to shenanigans in the Ukraine:
https://www.wsj.com/video/opinion-joe-biden-forced-ukraine-to-fire-prosecutor-for-aid-money/C1C51BB8-3988-4070-869F-CAD3CA0E81D8.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/business/media/fact-check-biden-ukraine-burisma-china-hunter.html
[lprent: Didn’t you actually read the the second link? (I couldn’t open anything substantive on the first – probably firewall). The second one stated at the start…
There is absolutely nothing in that article supports your assertion that Joe Biden was doing anything that was outside his remit. In fact the article was stating the exact opposite.
I can’t be bothered just warning you – you do already know better. Banned for 4 weeks for both misrepresenting the substantive thrust of one of your linked articles, and for spreading unsubstantiated false facts. ]
Everything will be peachy for the impeached orange peach in the White House because he may be soft on the outside, juicy, sweet, and a little fleshy in the middle, but at the core he’s stone-cold and rock-hard and a hard nut to crack.
Have you recently been losing dumbarse dickhead cred?
That was a petty stupid comment – your link said exactly the opposite of what you asserted.
fast way to pick up a ban for being an idiot, I guess.
I followed the link that delineated a diagnostic method (1998, formulate by an historian), and it made sense at first. Failed the reality check at stage two: "an advancing Left".
Globally, that reality hasn't eventuated since Che Guevara martyred himself when I was still at school. Even given the leftist propensity for being delusional, I don't see how anyone could provide a plausible basis for that assertion in the USA since Kennedy's Camelot and LBJ's Great Society briefly bedazzled everyone in the early to mid 1960s. So that would be why neither the historian nor the article writer attempted to validate the assertion by providing proof.
They're just trying to snow the uneducated. Disappointing, because I agree that a credible diagnostic would render the mindless mis-identification of fascism that has trended in younger generations in recent years (which the writer acknowledged, to her credit) as irrelevant hysteria.
Then there's the uneasy collaboration between the trumpians and the conservative establishment. Rather than seeing the situation as a marriage of convenience, the article frames it as a corporate takeover of host by parasite kind of process. You wouldn't be able to count the number of American rightists who would either laugh or be irritated by the insult to their intelligence and integrity. Talk about misreading the lie of the land! But I guess when you internally view the other tribe as enemy, hallucinations become inevitable.
nah the farmers love him
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/08/30/amid-trump-tariffs-farm-bankruptcies-and-suicides-rise/#3e2eafd2bc8d
https://www.fb.org/market-intel/farm-bankruptcies-rise-again
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/tariffs-drive-farm-income-down-and-equipment-prices/583684/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/construction-of-texas-border-wall-stalls-over-fights-with-landowners-11576154415
oh, but maybe these are just the birthing pains of the new area to be ushered in, and as the republicans often state only the unborn is sacred who cares about the mothers.
So about as fascist as Scotty Morrison… Cosying up to Dem outrage is a sure fire way to political irrelevancy.
Indeed that has always been a large component of Trump's success; provoking your opponents into an impotent, frothing rage is an old but effective trick. At least some Dem candidates seem to understand this ….