Thanks for this. I know it is fashionable to compare Trump to Hitler--- although I think he is really more like Mussolini. But such comparisons fail to take into account the historical differences between their time and ours, different background cultures, different economic dynamics, and certainly the greatest factor is the absence of the antisocial media.
Perhaps the only weakness in the Erdogan comparison, which is basically on target, is that the Trukish leader ACTUALLY believes in his mission. He has a clear vision of what he wants Turkey, as a nation, to become. Trump is a hard core nihilist whose beliefs only extend in so far as the either enhance his self image or make him money.
Consider his confused and inconsistent attitude toward abortion. Bottom line he doesn't care one way or the other about the issue. He has latched onto the anti-abortion movement (mostly Evangelical Christians) to get into office. Brags about overturning Roe, but also supports IVF which is completely unacceptable to the antiabortion side.
His whole foreign policy is largely based on whether the foreign leaders like him or not. When asked about which foreign leaders support him the only name he could proffer was Orban. Even while out of office he has been carrying on foreign policy initiatives, with his authoritarian friends, from the shadow White House Mar-a-Lago.
So Erdogan is a "true believer" whereas Trump is merely a "believer of convenience" depending on how those beliefs benefit him. Erdogan is an actual formidable force--- capable of efficiently and effectively carrying out his "reform" of Turkey. Whereas Trump is mostly a wannabe who is less dangerous than the special interests and invisible hands manipulating his ego and filling his bank accounts.
The American constitution was set up exactly to keep demagogues like Trump and FDR in check. FDR, an admirer of Mussolini and fervent opponent of liberalism, certainly tried to undermine and control the judiciary, including scotus. But scotus also stopped some of his most authoritarian measures.
Trump, after facing a whopping near hundred felony counts blatantly conveniently timed, will certainly try with a vengeance. But even his own highly partisan judicial nominees often go against him. Somehow at the end of the day, scotus seems to take its job seriously. And the precedent set by overturning roe seems sensible and will hit both ways (i am a pro choice zealot, but of course trade off rich issues belong in the legislature, and most Americans support a compromise erring on the liberal side).
Deporting twelve million would be impossible in a tortobsessed country like the US, and in a long interview Trump himself said of course we should start with serious criminals and that most deserved a chance to stay.
And few dispute the need for peace in Ukraine and cutting government waste.
I think in the end the system works. Hopefully where he needs to be stopped and less so where his rabble rousing game changing deal making obsession might be needed the most.
I find it remarkable that, like any dialogue open to public comments, this one already degenerated into anti-social media and propaganda (as indicated by the post by Doug Ross). In other words, the "Unpopulist" is being captured by populists. Sad. You are not going to find me here, I will read articles but am not interested in comments, as trolls and propagandists will inevitably creep in.....
One could make a venn diagram that explains the psychodynamics at play in this election cycle and how the psychology of the unconscious is expressing itself in our political discourse, but if you don't already understand what is happening it will be difficult to follow the trends at play that have brought us to where we are currently.
"...the psychology of the unconscious is expressing itself in our political discourse,"
Yes, it is all "Id" all the time as the Id has slain bot the Ego and Superego.
All the adults have left the house leaving a bunch of adolescents in charge to unleash their libidinous and undisciplined desires on the house. Eventually the cops will be called to intervene and put an end to the anarchy annoying all the neighbors.
I would say that this election cycle is a war of "inadequate ideas" where fear has hardened everyone so the sides have become an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Having abandoned reason and everyone having given themselves over to their irrational passions, their fears, hopes and desires, they can do nothing but wage total war against each other.
The foundation of liberal democracy is consensus and compromise through rational dialogue. Today we have an ethos which requires that one side or the other utterly vanquishes the other side. Only unconditional surrender will satisfy the victors followed by a vendetta of resentment, recrimination and retaliation.
Those who counsel moderation and reason are silenced or ignored.
You're forgetting that Biden is already guilty of violating the 1st Amendment and censoring the Free Speech of Americans by suppressing truthful information and pushing false information about both the pandemic and the Hunter Biden laptop story, BOTH affecting the outcome of the 2020 election.
You're forgetting that the leader of the free world did this, performing the actions of an authoritarian dictator, while accusing his enemy to be one all while politically persecuting him.
You're forgetting that this same leader coerced people to push an experimental drug into their veins. A drug that was neither as safe nor as effective as he said it was.
You're forgetting that the Left told everyone Biden was competent when anyone older than a toddler could see that he is unable to walk a straight line, speak a sentence or tie his shoes.
They have literally lied, coerced, tricked and abused the public for 4 years, all while ruining the economy and allowing in illegals.
NOBODY can refute these things.
But yeah, the boogeyman is bad because he's orange. Leftists are RIDICULOUS for pretending the emperor is clothed.
An interesting observation: but he reminds me more of Peron (Juan and Eva combined), both as to what little might be said about his policies and opining, and most definitely about how he carries himself publicly. Just thinking of the theme song: Don't Cry for Me America.....
You're forgetting that Biden is already guilty of violating the 1st Amendment and censoring the Free Speech of Americans by suppressing truthful information and pushing false information about both the pandemic and the Hunter Biden laptop story, BOTH affecting the outcome of the 2020 election.
You're forgetting that the leader of the free world did this, performing the actions of an authoritarian dictator, while accusing his enemy to be one all while politically persecuting him.
You're forgetting that this same leader coerced people to push an experimental drug into their veins. A drug that was neither as safe nor as effective as he said it was.
You're forgetting that the Left told everyone Biden was competent when anyone older than a toddler could see that he is unable to walk a straight line, speak a sentence or tie his shoes.
They have literally lied, coerced, tricked and abused the public for 4 years, all while ruining the economy and allowing in illegals.
NOBODY can refute these things.
But yeah, the boogeyman is bad because he's orange. Leftists are RIDICULOUS for pretending the emperor is clothed.
The dictator he most represent strikes me as Mao. He thrives on the personality of cult, and serious politicians did not take him seriously quickly enough.
You people are ridiculous. Nothing like any of the people you accuse him of.
Trump was well loved until he ran against the political machine. He is an old school liberal looking for less government, less regulation, more freedom and less war.
The left wants the exact opposite. Read my posts above about the Left's authoritarian, dictator sins.
I'm not "the left," unless you mean I left the Republican party when they bowed to Trump. I just believe in loyalty to the Constitution and not the president. Plenty of people didn't love Trump before he ran for president; there just wasn't a real need to share that fact before he gained political power.
Thanks for this. I know it is fashionable to compare Trump to Hitler--- although I think he is really more like Mussolini. But such comparisons fail to take into account the historical differences between their time and ours, different background cultures, different economic dynamics, and certainly the greatest factor is the absence of the antisocial media.
Perhaps the only weakness in the Erdogan comparison, which is basically on target, is that the Trukish leader ACTUALLY believes in his mission. He has a clear vision of what he wants Turkey, as a nation, to become. Trump is a hard core nihilist whose beliefs only extend in so far as the either enhance his self image or make him money.
Consider his confused and inconsistent attitude toward abortion. Bottom line he doesn't care one way or the other about the issue. He has latched onto the anti-abortion movement (mostly Evangelical Christians) to get into office. Brags about overturning Roe, but also supports IVF which is completely unacceptable to the antiabortion side.
His whole foreign policy is largely based on whether the foreign leaders like him or not. When asked about which foreign leaders support him the only name he could proffer was Orban. Even while out of office he has been carrying on foreign policy initiatives, with his authoritarian friends, from the shadow White House Mar-a-Lago.
So Erdogan is a "true believer" whereas Trump is merely a "believer of convenience" depending on how those beliefs benefit him. Erdogan is an actual formidable force--- capable of efficiently and effectively carrying out his "reform" of Turkey. Whereas Trump is mostly a wannabe who is less dangerous than the special interests and invisible hands manipulating his ego and filling his bank accounts.
The American constitution was set up exactly to keep demagogues like Trump and FDR in check. FDR, an admirer of Mussolini and fervent opponent of liberalism, certainly tried to undermine and control the judiciary, including scotus. But scotus also stopped some of his most authoritarian measures.
Trump, after facing a whopping near hundred felony counts blatantly conveniently timed, will certainly try with a vengeance. But even his own highly partisan judicial nominees often go against him. Somehow at the end of the day, scotus seems to take its job seriously. And the precedent set by overturning roe seems sensible and will hit both ways (i am a pro choice zealot, but of course trade off rich issues belong in the legislature, and most Americans support a compromise erring on the liberal side).
Deporting twelve million would be impossible in a tortobsessed country like the US, and in a long interview Trump himself said of course we should start with serious criminals and that most deserved a chance to stay.
And few dispute the need for peace in Ukraine and cutting government waste.
I think in the end the system works. Hopefully where he needs to be stopped and less so where his rabble rousing game changing deal making obsession might be needed the most.
I find it remarkable that, like any dialogue open to public comments, this one already degenerated into anti-social media and propaganda (as indicated by the post by Doug Ross). In other words, the "Unpopulist" is being captured by populists. Sad. You are not going to find me here, I will read articles but am not interested in comments, as trolls and propagandists will inevitably creep in.....
One could make a venn diagram that explains the psychodynamics at play in this election cycle and how the psychology of the unconscious is expressing itself in our political discourse, but if you don't already understand what is happening it will be difficult to follow the trends at play that have brought us to where we are currently.
"...the psychology of the unconscious is expressing itself in our political discourse,"
Yes, it is all "Id" all the time as the Id has slain bot the Ego and Superego.
All the adults have left the house leaving a bunch of adolescents in charge to unleash their libidinous and undisciplined desires on the house. Eventually the cops will be called to intervene and put an end to the anarchy annoying all the neighbors.
I would say that this election cycle is a war of "inadequate ideas" where fear has hardened everyone so the sides have become an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Having abandoned reason and everyone having given themselves over to their irrational passions, their fears, hopes and desires, they can do nothing but wage total war against each other.
The foundation of liberal democracy is consensus and compromise through rational dialogue. Today we have an ethos which requires that one side or the other utterly vanquishes the other side. Only unconditional surrender will satisfy the victors followed by a vendetta of resentment, recrimination and retaliation.
Those who counsel moderation and reason are silenced or ignored.
Let's use a simple comparison chart | D | R |
Imprisoned political opponents: | Yes | No |
Waged DOJ lawfare against political opponents and their attorneys: | Yes | No |
Presidential Nominee Received Zero Votes: | Yes | No |
Have laundered billions of taxpayer dollars through the Defense-Industrial Complex through the Ukraine debacle: | Yes | No |
Abandoned $90 billion of military equipment in Afghanistan and touched off a humanitarian catastrophe: | Yes | No |
What am I forgetting?
You're forgetting that Biden is already guilty of violating the 1st Amendment and censoring the Free Speech of Americans by suppressing truthful information and pushing false information about both the pandemic and the Hunter Biden laptop story, BOTH affecting the outcome of the 2020 election.
You're forgetting that the leader of the free world did this, performing the actions of an authoritarian dictator, while accusing his enemy to be one all while politically persecuting him.
You're forgetting that this same leader coerced people to push an experimental drug into their veins. A drug that was neither as safe nor as effective as he said it was.
You're forgetting that the Left told everyone Biden was competent when anyone older than a toddler could see that he is unable to walk a straight line, speak a sentence or tie his shoes.
They have literally lied, coerced, tricked and abused the public for 4 years, all while ruining the economy and allowing in illegals.
NOBODY can refute these things.
But yeah, the boogeyman is bad because he's orange. Leftists are RIDICULOUS for pretending the emperor is clothed.
A fake electors scheme and refusing to return classified documents when asked.
An interesting observation: but he reminds me more of Peron (Juan and Eva combined), both as to what little might be said about his policies and opining, and most definitely about how he carries himself publicly. Just thinking of the theme song: Don't Cry for Me America.....
You're forgetting that Biden is already guilty of violating the 1st Amendment and censoring the Free Speech of Americans by suppressing truthful information and pushing false information about both the pandemic and the Hunter Biden laptop story, BOTH affecting the outcome of the 2020 election.
You're forgetting that the leader of the free world did this, performing the actions of an authoritarian dictator, while accusing his enemy to be one all while politically persecuting him.
You're forgetting that this same leader coerced people to push an experimental drug into their veins. A drug that was neither as safe nor as effective as he said it was.
You're forgetting that the Left told everyone Biden was competent when anyone older than a toddler could see that he is unable to walk a straight line, speak a sentence or tie his shoes.
They have literally lied, coerced, tricked and abused the public for 4 years, all while ruining the economy and allowing in illegals.
NOBODY can refute these things.
But yeah, the boogeyman is bad because he's orange. Leftists are RIDICULOUS for pretending the emperor is clothed.
Definitely on the graft and corruption level they do look a lot like the Perons.
The dictator he most represent strikes me as Mao. He thrives on the personality of cult, and serious politicians did not take him seriously quickly enough.
You people are ridiculous. Nothing like any of the people you accuse him of.
Trump was well loved until he ran against the political machine. He is an old school liberal looking for less government, less regulation, more freedom and less war.
The left wants the exact opposite. Read my posts above about the Left's authoritarian, dictator sins.
And Mao was loved by the people, who little knew how he was messing up their lives to live his own fantasy of power and wealth.
And Mao was loved by the people, who little knew how he was messing up their lives to live his own fantasy of power and wealth.
I'm not "the left," unless you mean I left the Republican party when they bowed to Trump. I just believe in loyalty to the Constitution and not the president. Plenty of people didn't love Trump before he ran for president; there just wasn't a real need to share that fact before he gained political power.
And Mao was loved by the people, who little knew how he was messing up their lives to live his own fantasy of power and wealth.
And Mao was loved by the people, who little knew how he was messing up their lives to live his own fantasy of power and wealth.