Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Public House › Yeah. Trump. Republicans. America…
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Mackeyser.
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February 1, 2017 at 12:30 pm #64627
ZooeyModeratorexcerpt from Congratulations, America — you did it! An actual fascist is now your official president
Yes, the word fits him, and it really happened. There is still time to fight back and save the best of America
CHAUNCEY DEVEGA…The anxiety about calling Donald Trump a fascist was also enabled by many liberals and progressives who were desperate to appear fair-minded by being politically generous to their conservative and Republican foes. Such people maintain an erroneous belief that there is some type of continuum or symmetry between today’s Republicans and the policies offered by Democrats.
Because liberals and progressives belong to a centuries-long tradition with origins in the Enlightenment, they are unprepared to deal with the primitive thinking and irrationality that drives Donald Trump’s political movement and contemporary conservatism more generally. In reality, the Republican Party abandoned any semblance of normal politics beginning with their assaults on Bill Clinton in the 1990s. This long decline culminated with the Republican reaction to Barack Obama and now the rise of Trump.
In New York magazine, Jonathan Chait offers a classic example of this dangerous liberal reasoning:
It is impossible to know what course American democracy will take under Trump’s presidency. The fears of authoritarianism may prove overblown, and Trump may govern like a normal Republican.
This assumes there is something called a “normal Republican,” and that Trump is something else. But Trump won more votes than any Republican presidential candidate in history. Research shows that authoritarian attitudes have increased among the American public over the last 20 years, especially among Republicans. The Republican Party is the country’s largest white identity organization: It mobilizes anti-black and anti-brown animus for political gain. Since at least the 1960s, conservatism and racism have been functionally identical in this country. Trump leveraged those forces to maximum effect in order to defeat Hillary Clinton and win the White House.
In short, Donald Trump is a normal Republican. Pretending otherwise is what led the chattering classes to underestimate Trump’s appeal to the angry, authoritarian-minded white voters who elected him.
Donald Trump is a fascist. It’s not an easy thing to say. Own those words. Acknowledge the truth of the situation that America (and the world) now faces.
What to do now?
Protest marches are great. Now plan for what comes after the cathartic release.
Run for office on the local and state level. Practice political consumerism: Refuse to spend money at stores, banks, and other businesses that work with Trump, his administration or his enterprises. Target Republican officials with phone calls and emails. Let them know that if they support Trump there will be negative consequences at the ballot box.
Borrow from the obstructionist strategy that Republicans used against Barack Obama. Turn the metaphorical map upside down and practice political Aikido.
Learn from those groups and individuals who have been actively fighting fascism. Donald Trump and his movement are not normal. Do not make the mistake of treating them like they are. There is no room for negotiation or compromise.
America is your country. Donald Trump and his supporters represent the tyranny of minority opinion. Consequently, they are the worst example of the will, spirit and character of the American people.
Now is the time to reclaim the United States’ fundamental character before the world, and recapture the most noble sense of American exceptionalism. Shouting “Not in my name!” is a fine beginning, but not an ending. Resistance to Donald Trump and everything he represents must be the new normal. Anything less is not acceptable.
February 1, 2017 at 2:45 pm #64632
wvParticipant“…liberals and progressives belong to a centuries-long tradition with origins in the Enlightenment, they are unprepared to deal with the primitive thinking and irrationality that drives Donald Trump’s political movement and contemporary conservatism more generally. In reality, the Republican Party abandoned any semblance of normal politics beginning with their assaults on Bill Clinton in the 1990s. This long decline culminated with the Republican reaction to Barack Obama and now the rise of Trump.”
Well, this is going to break down along the usual faultlines on this board, but I just think that sounds like a liberal-democrat-view.
For me, Clinton and Obama are mass-murderers and destroyers-of-poor-people. Thats what they are to me. So, for that guy to write, the Republican ‘assault’ on Clinton and Obama was wrong, blah blah blah — just doesnt ring true. I think the Reps should have assaulted Clinton/Obama MORE, not less.
Now, sure, the Reps assaulted Clinton/Obama over the WRONG stuff, and sure the Reps made stuff up, and lied, and distorted and lied and distorted. Yes. But they damn well SHOULD have assaulted clinton/Obama. Over the ‘real’ stuff that Obama/Clinton did.
And thats what he should have written about.
wv
February 1, 2017 at 3:04 pm #64634ZooeyModeratorYeah, okay, but I think the first part of that sentence is important:
the Republican Party abandoned any semblance of normal politics beginning with their assaults….
I take it for granted Clinton and Obama sucked, but it was with the Contract on America that the Republican Party checked out of “reality,” and just started making shit up, and denying facts. Parties have always had spin. But Gingrich ushered in abnormal politics, and era in which it just no longer made any difference what the opposition said or did, it would be opposed, contradicted, undermined…you know.
I think the author is saying the logic and reason just went out the window in the Republican party at that time. He isn’t arguing POLICY, he’s arguing the APPROACH to policy. I think.
February 1, 2017 at 3:24 pm #64637wvParticipantYeah, okay, but I think the first part of that sentence is important:
the Republican Party abandoned any semblance of normal politics beginning with their assaults….
I take it for granted Clinton and Obama sucked, but it was with the Contract on America that the Republican Party checked out of “reality,” and just started making shit up, and denying facts. Parties have always had spin. But Gingrich ushered in abnormal politics, and era in which it just no longer made any difference what the opposition said or did, it would be opposed, contradicted, undermined…you know.
I think the author is saying the logic and reason just went out the window in the Republican party at that time. He isn’t arguing POLICY, he’s arguing the APPROACH to policy. I think.
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Hmmmm. Well, i guess i just dont care about ‘approach’ to policy. I dont really care about how weaselly the ‘approach’ is. What i care about it is the neoliberal-neocon Policies of both corporate parties that are destroying poor people, destroying the biosphere, and murdering assorted brown people with drones. That stuff just dwarfs everything else we can complain about, imho.
And it just seems to me THAT is what singers should be singing about, protesters should be protesting about, and writers ouughta be writing about.Yes, i’m a monomaniacal curmudgeon about this. I am.
w
vFebruary 1, 2017 at 4:14 pm #64640wvParticipantlewis black’s take:
February 1, 2017 at 4:44 pm #64641ZooeyModerator————–
Hmmmm. Well, i guess i just dont care about ‘approach’ to policy. I dont really care about how weaselly the ‘approach’ is. What i care about it is the neoliberal-neocon Policies of both corporate parties that are destroying poor people, destroying the biosphere, and murdering assorted brown people with drones. That stuff just dwarfs everything else we can complain about, imho.
And it just seems to me THAT is what singers should be singing about, protesters should be protesting about, and writers ouughta be writing about.Yes, i’m a monomaniacal curmudgeon about this. I am.
w
vOkay, but with a rational approach to debate completely out the window, we can’t even hold a sensible conversation about the neo-liberal, neo-conservative approach to committing suicide. We are just completely fuckt.
February 1, 2017 at 5:03 pm #64642wvParticipantOkay, but with a rational approach to debate completely out the window, we can’t even hold a sensible conversation about the neo-liberal, neo-conservative approach to committing suicide. We are just completely fuckt.
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Well, reason and logic are tweeting birds.
February 1, 2017 at 8:07 pm #64645
znModeratorFor me, Clinton and Obama are mass-murderers and destroyers-of-poor-people. Thats what they are to me. So, for that guy to write, the Republican ‘assault’ on Clinton and Obama was wrong, blah blah blah — just doesnt ring true. I think the Reps should have assaulted Clinton/Obama MORE, not less.
Name an american president who was not that. Yet…they’re not all the same thing.
So the wash everything together, make no distinctions, street slogan name-calling approach leaves a lot of us uninterested.
Presumably what sets us apart is that we can make rational distinctions. Not that we have the toughest name calling tactics.
And you, my friend, may be the only one on that side of it. So I don’t know if that’s faultlines, or just you taking your own tack. Which is fine, but, also, has its drawbacks too.
February 1, 2017 at 8:41 pm #64646wvParticipantFor me, Clinton and Obama are mass-murderers and destroyers-of-poor-people. Thats what they are to me. So, for that guy to write, the Republican ‘assault’ on Clinton and Obama was wrong, blah blah blah — just doesnt ring true. I think the Reps should have assaulted Clinton/Obama MORE, not less.
Name an american president who was not that. Yet…they’re not all the same thing.
So the wash everything together, make no distinctions, street slogan name-calling approach leaves a lot of us uninterested.
Presumably what sets us apart is that we can make rational distinctions. Not that we have the toughest name calling tactics.
And you, my friend, may be the only one on that side of it. So I don’t know if that’s faultlines, or just you taking your own tack. Which is fine, but, also, has its drawbacks too.
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Yes, every President has been a mass-murderer. Agreed.But no, i am not saying “wash everything together, make no distinctions.” That is you misreading what i am saying.
First off i am not talking about posters on this board. (You seem to often want to make it about posters) I am talking about the MSM of the present. And what i am pointing out, is that the are NOT saying “every President, including Obama, and now Trump is a mass-murderer”.
I am pointing out that they should START with that fact. Start with it. And THEN make all the distinctions that accuracy and fact-finding require.
w
vFebruary 1, 2017 at 8:48 pm #64647
MackeyserModeratorI dunno how, but WV is channeling me.
I’ll just sit back and enjoy it.
Mysteries of the universe and all that.
Sports is the crucible of human virtue. The distillate remains are human vice.
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