I can almost hear — all the way here in NJ — Trump-eteer heads violently exploding all over America.
I can see the ad hominem attacks mounting — “Hedges is a fucking asshole!!” And so is Stukfuk!!!
I predict this response from that jackass Anonymous — “Vote for Trump or vote for the same.”
Therefore, I can repeat my mantra — “Sure, go ahead and vote for Donald. But, you will live to regret it.” The article below states as well as possible why I believe this.
Don’t get me wrong. I fully understand the appeal of the “fuck you” vote. But, at the end of the day — what if it’s you and me who get fucked??
==============================================
The Revenge of the Lower Classes and the Rise of American Fascism
College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay. Their duplicity — embodied in politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — succeeded for decades. These elites, many from East Coast Ivy League schools, spoke the language of values — civility, inclusivity, a condemnation of overt racism and bigotry, a concern for the middle class — while thrusting a knife into the back of the underclass for their corporate masters. This game has ended.
There are tens of millions of Americans, especially lower-class whites, rightfully enraged at what has been done to them, their families and their communities. They have risen up to reject the neoliberal policies and political correctness imposed on them by college-educated elites from both political parties: Lower-class whites are embracing an American fascism.
These Americans want a kind of freedom — a freedom to hate. They want the freedom to use words like “n-word,” “kike,” “spic,” “chink,” “raghead” and “f*g.” They want the freedom to idealize violence and the gun culture. They want the freedom to have enemies, to physically assault Muslims, undocumented workers, African-Americans, homosexuals and anyone who dares criticize their crypto fascism. They want the freedom to celebrate historical movements and figures that the college-educated elites condemn, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederacy. They want the freedom to ridicule and dismiss intellectuals, ideas, science and culture. They want the freedom to silence those who have been telling them how to behave. And they want the freedom to revel in hypermasculinity, racism, sexism and white patriarchy. These are the core sentiments of fascism. These sentiments are engendered by the collapse of the liberal state.
The Democrats are playing a very dangerous game by anointing Hillary Clinton as their presidential candidate. She epitomizes the double-dealing of the college-educated elites, those who speak the feel-your-pain language of ordinary men and women, who hold up the bible of political correctness, while selling out the poor and the working class to corporate power.
The Republicans, energized by America’s reality-star version of Il Duce, Donald Trump, have been pulling in voters, especially new voters, while the Democrats are well below the voter turnouts for 2008. In the voting Tuesday, 5.6 million votes were cast for the Democrats while 8.3 million went to the Republicans. Those numbers were virtually reversed in 2008 — 8.2 million for the Democrats and about 5 million for the Republicans.
Richard Rorty in his last book, “Achieving Our Country,” written in 1998, presciently saw where our post-industrial nation was headed.
“Many writers on socio economic policy have warned that the old industrialized democracies are heading into a Weimar-like period, one in which populist movements are likely to overturn constitutional governments. Edward Luttwak, for example, has suggested that fascism may be the American future. The point of his book The Endangered American Dream is that members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers — themselves desperately afraid of being downsized — are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.
“At that point, something will crack. The non-suburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for — someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here may then be played out. For once a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly over optimistic.
“One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words “n-word” and “kike” will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.”
Fascist movements build their base not from the politically active but the politically inactive, the “losers” who feel, often correctly, they have no voice or role to play in the political establishment. The sociologist Ãmile Durkheim warned that the disenfranchisement of a class of people from the structures of society produced a state of “anomie” — a “condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals.” Those trapped in this “anomie,” he wrote, are easy prey to propaganda and emotionally driven mass movements. Hannah Arendt, echoing Durkheim, noted that “the chief characteristic of the mass man is not brutality and backwardness, but his isolation and lack of normal social relationships.“
In fascism the politically disempowered and disengaged, ignored and reviled by the establishment, discover a voice and a sense of empowerment.
As Arendt noted, the fascist and communist movements in Europe in the 1930s
“… recruited their members from this mass of apparently indifferent people whom all other parties had given up as too apathetic or too stupid for their attention. The result was that the majority of their membership consisted of people who had never before appeared on the political scene. This permitted the introduction of entirely new methods into political propaganda, and indifference to the arguments of political opponents; these movements not only placed themselves outside and against the party system as a whole, they found a membership that had never been reached, never been ‘spoiled’ by the party system. Therefore they did not need to refute opposing arguments and consistently preferred methods which ended in death rather than persuasion, which spelled terror rather than conviction. They presented disagreements as invariably originating in deep natural, social, or psychological sources beyond the control of the individual and therefore beyond the control of reason. This would have been a shortcoming only if they had sincerely entered into competition with either parties; it was not if they were sure of dealing with people who had reason to be equally hostile to all parties.”
Fascism is aided and advanced by the apathy of those who are tired of being conned and lied to by a bankrupt liberal establishment, whose only reason to vote for a politician or support a political party is to elect the least worst. This, for many voters, is the best Clinton can offer.
Fascism expresses itself in familiar and comforting national and religious symbols, which is why it comes in various varieties and forms. Italian fascism, which looked back to the glory of the Roman Empire, for example, never shared the Nazis’ love of Teutonic and Nordic myths. American fascism too will reach back to traditional patriotic symbols, narratives and beliefs.
Robert Paxton wrote in “The Anatomy of Fascism”:
“The language and symbols of an authentic American fascism would, of course, have little to do with the original European models. They would have to be as familiar and reassuring to loyal Americans as the language and symbols of the original fascisms were familiar and reassuring to many Italians and Germans, as [George] Orwell suggested. Hitler and Mussolini, after all, had not tried to seem exotic to their fellow citizens. No swastikas in an American fascism, but Stars and Stripes (or Stars and Bars) and Christian crosses. No fascist salute, but mass recitations of the pledge of allegiance. These symbols contain no whiff of fascism in themselves, of course, but an American fascism would transform them into obligatory litmus tests for detecting the internal enemy.“
Fascism is about an inspired and seemingly strong leader who promises moral renewal, new glory and revenge. It is about the replacement of rational debate with sensual experience. This is why the lies, half-truths and fabrications by Trump have no impact on his followers. Fascists transform politics, as philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin pointed out, into aesthetics. And the ultimate aesthetic for the fascist, Benjamin said, is war.
Paxton singles out the amorphous ideology characteristic of all fascist movements.
“Fascism rested not upon the truth of its doctrine but upon the leader’s mystical union with the historic destiny of his people, a notion related to romanticist ideas of national historic flowering and of individual artistic or spiritual genius, though fascism otherwise denied romanticism’s exaltation of unfettered personal creativity. The fascist leader wanted to bring his people into a higher realm of politics that they would experience sensually: the warmth of belonging to a race now fully aware of its identity, historic destiny, and power; the excitement of participating in a wave of shared feelings, and of sacrificing one’s petty concerns for the group’s good; and the thrill of domination.”
There is only one way left to blunt the yearning for fascism coalescing around Trump. It is to build, as fast as possible, movements or parties that declare war on corporate power, engage in sustained acts of civil disobedience and seek to reintegrate the disenfranchised — the “losers” — back into the economy and political life of the country. This movement will never come out of the Democratic Party.
If Clinton prevails in the general election, Trump may disappear, but the fascist sentiments will expand. Another Trump, perhaps more vile, will be vomited up from the bowels of the decayed political system. We are fighting for our political life. Tremendous damage has been done by corporate power and the college-educated elites to our capitalist democracy. The longer the elites, who oversaw this disemboweling of the country on behalf of corporations — who believe, as does CBS Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, that however bad Trump would be for America he would at least be good for corporate profit — remain in charge, the worse it is going to get.
Stuck – flash, you’re a stupid motherfucker. Just stop commenting on my posts, ya worthless infected pustule.
Sorry Stuck.I apologize for calling out a comment that you posted admittedly not knowing jack shit about..my bad.
flash, I hope that I don’t discourage you by calling you names. It’s part of the game. I luv ya man, I’m not afraid to say it, unlike homophobic Mahtomedi.
Stucky, thanks for sharing this. I too, read in disbelief the proponents of Trump.
I posted this piece the other day with you in mind… I hope you saw it.
The Rise of American Authoritarianism: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism
There are more and more people recognizing where we’re headed, but we may as well be shouting at a derailing freight train. People won’t listen… in fact, they will criticize you for not wanting it to happen. All you can do is prepare yourself. It’s a fourth turning and America is going to select a leader like Trump, Clinton or Sanders who will take this country down the drain. There’s no longer a way to prevent it.
Stuck – 1-5
Tell me how that differs from the last 10 elections?
we already have American authoritarianism …. we already have socialists, communists and anarchists in positions of power, and they lie with every breath.
From the article: ” College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay. Their duplicity — embodied in politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — succeeded for decades. These elites, many from East Coast Ivy League schools, spoke the language of values — civility, inclusivity, a condemnation of overt racism and bigotry, a concern for the middle class — while thrusting a knife into the back of the underclass for their corporate masters. This game has ended.”
They were lying every step of the way. They lied themselves into professorships, into government “diversity” offices, and into elementary and secondary schools and colleges / universities. Some managed to lie their way into corporate offices like Facebook, Twitter and so on; some lied there way into media. And they all lied even more once they got there – about what?
About being even slightly concerned about civility, inclusivity, a condemnation of overt racism and bigotry, or even having any concern for the middle class! They are all hardened, committed Marxists in practice if not theory – the end justifies the means for them, and if all whites are demonized as racists (if true or not), all blacks are brainwashed into voting for dependency, all producers are bankrupted by overtaxation to support the unproductive and the whole things falls down into rubble for being unsustainable – it doesn’t matter, we are building the Socialist / Communist Utopia for the ages, and all these little people we are victimizing are necessary sacrifices for the greater good! We will penalize “hate speech” until no one dares criticize us, and we conquer all!
I’m not in favor of fascism, but I like mind control even less, and that’s what the Left is imposing on us. Trump is no angel, but he beats the “neoliberal” hands down in all areas.
Power corrupts and absolute power is what the candidate wants. Needs.
I’ve read much of what Chris Hedges has written over the years and found him to be a truthteller even when it was against his best interests to “go with the flow”.
I truly can’t believe how many readers here are, what Stucky aptly describes as “Trumpeteers”.
The guy is a sideshow, a carny, a con-artist (Trump U), perhaps even a bold-faced criminal.
Yet, he blathers on about “making America great again” with a word salad, stream of consciousness routine that would have made Robin Williams proud, only it’s not funny. I mean, if elected, can you even imagine his state of the union address? He couldn’t stay on a scripted speech if it killed him. He seems very ADD to me. That makes for a very dangerous President.
If any of you Trumpeteers think he’s even interested in making your life or your kids or grandkids life better, forget about it, he could give a giant shit. He’s in it for the power, prestige, and to further his wealth.
Meantime, Bernie Sanders has consistently carried the torch for the middle class as a public servant for at least 20 years. We know where he stands because he’s put forth bills in the Senate and before that in the House, to benefit his constituents.
But just like the “limbic” response to the word “fascist” as described by HSF in his comment, the limbic response to “Democratic Socialist” boils down to “Socialist” and that must be something bad because it’s kinda-sorta like “Communist”. Except it isn’t. What Bernie wants to do is take the ball away from the 1% and big corporations and give it back to we the people.
The happiest people on Earth live in those countries with a “Democratic Socialist” government.
That picture above that says Trump the last president is the exact nonsense we are sick of.
Trump always gets the negative picture without any evidence.How about first real estate tycoon or multi billionaire president? If anyone knows how to run an economy it’s him.
Yeah, Westcoaster, the happiest people are in Sweden (where the police just admitted they can’t keep order), Germany (where the people are burning refugee relocation centers) and France (where the dead from the latest attacks have been buried, but not forgotten). Does Greece count? Their social systems were the most generous in Europe, until the financial collapse. How about Spain? Their Catalans sure seem content with paying the lion’s share to support their neighbors. Did I overlook anyone? The north end of Italy paying for their social safety net? How about Norway, with their “immigrant youth” challenges?
If you can’t pay for it and can’t sustain it without coercion, how can it’s people be “happy”?
Also, there’s no way to keep “Democratic Socialist” from becoming “Socialist” and eventually turning into “Communist”; that’s the way it was DESIGNED. Hegelian dialectics proposes Capitalism + Socialism leads to Communism. After that, the State will wither away as all labor happily in pursuit of equality, justice and peace for all.
Can you tell me a country where that has ever happened?
You are delusional if you think Sanders will prevent an American Stalin from turning the US into a giant gulag archipelago; the private prisons we have now are already a symptom. Sanders will just make it worse, faster. Peddle your delusions to someone else, some gullible enough to believe them, and you can make each other miserable – while leaving us alone.
Stop calling me a crypto-fascist or I’ll punch you in the GD voting booth and you’ll stay plastered…
It will probably take some kind of ..strong man… to straighten out our republic. Democracy is leading us to financial ruin .Sooner or later we will have to return to a sound money system. Someone will have to take back control of our currency from the central bankers. Maybe a military coup is in order. Not sure but I know if we do nothing our nation will be destroyed from within .This much I’m certain.
“Fascism is a religion of the state. It assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people. It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good. It takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure. Everything, including the economy and religion, must be aligned with its objectives. Any rival identity is part of the “problem” and therefore defined as the enemy.” ~ Jonah Goldberg from “Liberal Fascism”.
We currently live in a fascist state. The Progressive Left has been in love with fascism for a century now. Fascism always sprouts from the soil of Marxism. Progressives worship at the altar of the state. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton are dyed in the wool fascists. From Hillary’s response when it was pointed out to her that her ill-advised healthcare plan would destroy countless small businesses : “I can’t save every under-capitalized entrepreneur in America. If they can’t be part of the solution, who cares if they have problems?” (O con noi, O contro di noi), to Bill’s famous quip when asked what his problem was with letting local school districts spend tax dollars the way they saw fit, he snapped: “Because it’s not their money.” Yes, I see. It’s the state’s money. The Almighty omniscient, omnipotent Saviour called THE State. Let us pray. Our father who art in Washington….
So you’re worried about Trump being a fascist? Really? Not to worry because we already have a fascist in the White House. A fascist that rules with a pen and a phone and believes that “any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good.” A fascist that believes that the state is “responsible for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action.” While I am no die hard Trump fan, I cannot see him being any worse than the current jackass in the Oval Office, and I actually think that he will attempt to do what he can to lessen interference by the state in matters of education and economics while kicking political correctness in the proverbial ballsack. Attempt, however, is the keyword. Whether he can be successful remains to be seen, but at least he will try, I believe. No other candidate will even make an effort to poke the Leviathan in the eye. The rest will all kneel for their communion.
Westcoaster,
This is how he carries that torch for the middle class:
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/04/study-average-american-will-lose-staggering-amount-of-cash-under-sanders-tax-plan/
A torch I would rather not have carried for me.
bb.
A military coup isn’t needed (or a good idea).
All we really need is a Supreme Court that obeys its duty of enforcing the Constitution as written instead of illegitimately creating new law according to their personal whims and agenda’s.
Stucky, whatever happened to the idea that it doesn’t really MATTER who wins the presidency? We all are aware of some hidden group of puppet masters who control all the policy changes in our country/world, so if someone who doesn’t march to their tune gets control of power, they simply re-educate him or off him.
What makes you think that Trump would be able to avoid that scenario? Could it be that with a TRUE majority behind him, his attempt to change things might have some effect? Sure, those of us out here in flyover country know that there will be no wall to keep out immigrants, but we also know that immigrants don’t come where they aren’t handed out free shit. If we stop handing out free shit to people who are just coming for the free shit, it is the same as building a wall. Trump probably knows that… personally, if he manages to get the whole politically correct revolution stopped in its tracks, it would do more for freedom loving people than anything.
And as far as you declaring anyone who disagrees with you to be stupid mother effers… that seems a bit FASCIST to me.
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stucky – king of the putting his finger in the air and deducing which way the wind blows…..
@jamesthewanderer
— “…but I like mind control even less, and that’s what the Left is imposing on us. Trump is no angel, but he beats the “neoliberal” hands down in all areas.”
I know right. And we’re lucky he’s arrived just in the nick of time. Amazing.
The mind controllers managing the “the left” for the past few decades are so dumb. I’m glad they never thought to do market research into getting the alt-right excited about expressing consent to be ruled again.
Who’s the leader of the club
That’s made for you and me
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there
You’re as welcome as can be
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Donald Trump!
Donald Trump!
Forever let us hold our banner
High! High! High! High!
Come along and sing a song
And join the jamboree!
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Donald Trump club
We’ll have fun
We’ll be new faces
High! High! High! High!
We’ll do things and
We’ll go places
All around the world
We’ll go marching
Who’s the leader of the club
That’s made for you and me
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there
You’re as welcome as can be
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Donald Trump!
Donald Trump!
Forever let us hold our banner
High! High! High! High!
Come along and sing a song
And join the jamboree!
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Hey Razzle!
Trump is a plant? A stooge for the mind-control left?
You need to get out and / or pay attention more.
Trump has gone out of his way to offend illegal aliens, political correctness nerds, those who author and support bad international trade deals, establishment RINOs who thought he couldn’t win the nomination, and others.
He has further said things about immigration that no other candidate has, declared he doesn’t support any new foreign wars, admitted using (and the usefulness) of eminent domain (which I DON’T admire), suggested that deportation is the solution to illegal immigration, and called for prosecutions of various crimes currently tolerated.
If he is a creation of the mind-control Left, then he is a Frankenstein’s monster that has turned on its creators.
And you can ask John Boehner about how the alt-right (what is that again, exactly? Who?) consents to be governed – until they don’t. Ryan is about to find this out too, and Mitch and McCain (I hope). We consent to be governed until the government turns against us, and then things get sticky.
How would Trump’s version of Fascism be any worse than the police state leftist fascism we already have? Will Grigg’s probably asking, as well.
I’d like to see some specifics, Mr. Stucky. Pretty please? 🙂
Lessee: Patriot Act. Hate Crimes. NDAA. Homeland inSecurity. TSA. No-fly lists. MRAPs and M16s and SWAT teams for misdemeanor warrants. Abuse of RICO. “Arrest the money”. Agenda 21 policy of the BLM and USF&W.
Trump and fascism? A popcorn fart in a hurricane.
@jamesthewanderer
— “A stooge for the mind-control left?”
I said the mind controllers who were controlling the left. Big difference.
If someone wanted to manipulate you… do you have an idea of how they might go about it? Have you spent much time thinking about how someone genuinely smarter than you and better organized might manipulate a person such as yourself?
— “He has further said things about immigration that no other candidate has…”
He has said things that anyone who has been paying attention on the internet for the past 10 years knew would be a good idea to sell. It has to come from a primary source, that primary source has to be attacked… poorly… so that it builds the emotional momentum. and attachment.
— “We consent to be governed until the government turns against us, and then things get sticky.”
Here is what is happening… and I agree it is sticky.
A bunch of stooges have been setup by the government (the progressive left). The government (the real one, not the dancers on the stage) is now marketing to you a way for you to express your consent to have that same government fix the problem they created.
Sounds like a great business plan.
@Desertrat
— “How would Trump’s version of Fascism be any worse than the police state leftist fascism we already have?”
What is happening is a bunch of anti-government sentiment is being channeled into eagerness for a government solution. A bunch of anti-government folk are dropping their panties in eagerness. One man. One man… and a massive apparatus.
It’s marketing. Very well done marketing… and people are genuinely so frustrated they actually will think changing one man in that apparatus is going to change their relationship with that apparatus.
Sorry if I seem a little testy today guys, my day started off with NJ Gov. Chris Christie calling my house to ask for my support of Trump at which point I promptly sailed the kitchen phone out of the French door and out onto the golf course (pretty good as it is about 70 feet and I am old). Next we take the roadster out for a trip to the doomstead and holy fukkin shit, I thought they had declared the dollar collapse……….it’s complete mayhem. In almost forty years in my county, never have I seen so many people show up to vote. Looked like the whole damn county was there as if their life depended on pulling that lever.
You can prolly guess that we drove by with the three finger salute high in the air and chuckled about the sheep herding in to be raped again. Like I said , can’t wait til the theatrics are over and we can talk about some other rigged illusion.
@EC… ??? Whuh?
Hey Razzle!
“I said the mind controllers who were controlling the left. Big difference.” —–Really?
“If someone wanted to manipulate you… do you have an idea of how they might go about it? Have you spent much time thinking about how someone genuinely smarter than you and better organized might manipulate a person such as yourself?” —–If such folks exist, they’re smart enough to realize I’m too smart to be manipulated by slogans, empty suits (such as Romney) or pseudo-heroes like McCain; they might be smart enough to realize that once people see through manipulation, they go looking for pitchforks and lampposts, and manipulation is ALWAYS seen through, eventually.
“A bunch of stooges have been setup by the government (the progressive left). The government (the real one, not the dancers on the stage) is now marketing to you a way for you to express your consent to have that same government fix the problem they created.” —–The progressive left set THEMSELVES up, as smarter, more moral and more enlightened than the rest of us. If the mind-controllers don’t really FIX the problem (deport all illegal aliens, kill the bad trade deals, end politically correct suppression of free speech, break up the TBTF banks, punish the guilty and release the innocent) then the revolts will continue. If the same old cronies get richer while the same problems continue, this will be seen and the revolt continues. If it’s real it’s what’s needed, if it’s not it will be seen through, and protested again – as Jefferson intended.
However….
I’m not so sure its’ one thing or another thing, control / consent or open revolt. I suspect the same controllers who think they control us are about to learn about “fuzziness”. For example:
Let’s suppose the folks who are arresting Cliven Bundy’s friends on trumped-up (?) charges from the previous grazing activity start suffering “accidents”. TPTB try clamping down with more force, and the situation spirals out of control, with government agents shooting down folks in the street and snipers taking to the field and taking out government agents’ family members. How long would you persist when your people become targets as much as the “militia”, “oathkeepers” or whatever?
Let’s suppose the bankers start implementing NIRP in America, and bankers around the country start suffering non-paper losses right and left from the victims of the theft ….
Let’s suppose the illegal aliens keep coming, and start disappearing. Shallow graves are found in the desert, belonging to corpses that obviously didn’t succumb to thirst to be buried by fellow-travelers. Newspapers decry “vigilante racism” or whatever term they invent to use on the perpetrators, but illegal aliens keep disappearing; the immigrant communities try arming themselves in self-defense, but that only goes so far, and now law enforcement is faced with suppressing citizens with no jobs, no houses and nothing left to lose, or deporting the illegals before the vigilantes can get to them….
Civilization is not an on-off switch, nor is consent, nor is coercion. Lately all the fun has been on the coercion side, but I doubt that will last forever. Anyone who wants to manipulate had better hope they are NEVER found out. The consequences will be …. severe.
@Bea… please explain. “Next we take the roadster out for a trip to the doomstead and holy fukkin shit, I thought they had declared the dollar collapse……….it’s complete mayhem. In almost forty years in my county, never have I seen so many people show up to vote.”
Stuck- Excellent job of stirring the shit pot, it got all over. You are the consummate devils advocate, thank you.
1)— For once a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. TRUE
2)— In fascism the politically disempowered and disengaged, ignored and reviled by the establishment, discover a voice and a sense of empowerment. TRUE, IS THIS BAD? PER SE?
3)— Fascism is aided and advanced by the apathy of those who are tired of being conned and lied to by a bankrupt liberal establishment, whose only reason to vote for a politician or support a political party IS TO ELECT THE LEAST WORST. TRUE, AGAIN I FAIL TO SEE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS SENTENCE.
4)— Fascism is about an inspired and seemingly strong leader who promises moral renewal, new glory and revenge. This is why the lies, half-truths and fabrications by Trump have no impact on his followers. TRUE, MANY FEEL JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, BUT AS YOU POINT OUT IN 1 ABOVE, WE DONT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN DO WE.
5)— Fascism rested not upon the truth of its doctrine but upon the leader’s mystical union with the historic destiny of his people. THIS POINT IS HEAVILY ESOTERIC, BORDERLINE JARGON, BUT, SO? IS THIS WRONG PER SE?
Trump scares the shit out of me, I get an uneasy feeling when I think of him as President TELLING me what to do, and he will, no doubt. Take a look at that GIGANTIC Ego, he was born to tell others what to do, fuckin scary from a Libertarian standpoint. That Trump U was degenerate and I am sure there has been plenty more cock ass bullshit. Fuck him, and his Billions, no one has that kind of coin without walking over people and exploiting the weak, nobody.
I am still voting for him, even if its rigged and my vote means shit. This is happening right now, Trump is exposing layers of accumulated political filth, we are discussing it now, many others are joining us. The Trump Candidacy has been a healthy dose of wake the fuck up folks. The Times are a changin, the speed of change is starting to accelerate rapidly. The Donald has already been a healthy influence. The further he gets the more indecent exposure occurs.
Thanks much for your efforts.
Grog- Thanks for the link, for me its been years since Confessions, Ill take a fresh look at his recent work.
“Stop calling me a crypto-fascist or I’ll punch you in the GD voting booth and you’ll stay plastered…”
HA!
One of the single greatest moments in television history.
“Trump scares the shit out of me, ”
Now that’s just funny as hell. He’s not real, man. Take it easy, and just flip a booger at the TV screen when he comes on.
I’m not going to vote for Trump. I’m not going to vote against him, either. I’m not a voter.
“I posted this piece the other day with you in mind… I hope you saw it. The Rise of American Authoritarianism: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism ”
——–Thinker
I did see it. It was SUPERB!!
True short comment, I swear on my son’s lives. In the car yesterday, I asked dad who he would vote for. He’s a contrarian … voted for Goldwater, George Wallace …. and this time it’s Ben Carson, whether or not he’s on the ticket.
I asked “What do you think about Trump?”
“He make too many stupid promises. And the way he works people into excitement reminds me of Hitler.”
And that was that.
My dad isn’t a nut job. He’s not a conspiracy nut. I have never ever heard him compare any other American politician to Hitler. My father lived under Hitler’s regime/ And Trump scares him.
” we already have American authoritarianism …. we already have socialists, communists and anarchists in positions of power … ” ————– james the wanderer
You see, here’s the thing, that’s only true to SOME extent.
FEW people in America have actually experienced REAL authoritarianism, and the ones that have are immigrants. NO AMERICAN has ever experienced real authoritarianism … unless they’ve lived overseas.
Instead of Hitler, let’s use Stalin or Ho Chi …. it’s real when you literally fear your life is over EVERY time there’s a knock on the door … when you have not greatly reduced freedoms, but ZERO freedoms … when your rights and freedoms aren’t worth a pound of rat shit …. that’s kinda what it’s like. In ‘Murika, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
“stucky – king of the putting his finger in the air and deducing which way the wind blows…..”
————DillyDoe
Go fuck your hairy dog’s ass, or your wife’s, whichever is prettier.
Never, not once in all my time posting here, have I ever posted anything other than MY OWN THOUGHTS, ya piece of whale-shit.
You’re one of the few people here I would literally like to punch in the face.
Hey Stucky!
“FEW people in America have actually experienced REAL authoritarianism, and the ones that have are immigrants. NO AMERICAN has ever experienced real authoritarianism … unless they’ve lived overseas.”
Not sure I can agree with you on that one. One kid was on the street carrying a broomstick. He didn’t drop it FAST ENOUGH when the police demanded it, so he was shot.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/authorities-say-broomstick-wielding-man-shot-by-salt-lake-city-police/
Or try a search on “toy gun deaths”. Or maybe Snowden might have an opinion. How about the people of New London, CT who didn’t want to sell? Or maybe Lavoy Finicum…sorry, can’t ask him anything.
Does it have to be death? Does Peter Schiff’s dad (chained to a cot until he died) count? Anyone who’s ever been audited by the IRS for belonging to a conservative organization in their crosshairs?
You must have a pretty narrow definition of authoritarianism.
And stucky taking his ball and going home in 3….2….1….
I was for trump before i was against him.
Maggie ,
Sorry, I should have said the poling place is only a mile from my home and I have to pass that way to get on the interstate. It was really something to see, something close to what you could imagine as the horror of the crowds in a frenzy at Wal-Mart on Black Friday where 60 inch flat panel TV’s are being sold for $100. Gridlocked traffic and people on foot crossing the highway with the determination of the typical Black Friday shopper in the hood.
Authoritarianism here is getting harder to ignore. Seems to me it would take quite a bit of effort to keep from seeing it.
Wish I had the money to buy a bottle of good booze. Hell, I’d settle for a ten dollar big bottle of Sutter Home wine. Broker than broke I am and that is as good a qualification as any to throw in my opinion on this all so important matter.
I’ll vote for whoever I think will burn this fucking shithouse down the fastest. It looks like Trump is the Golden Boy of the elite, but we’ll see about that. Don’t discount hitlery. The Clinton’s must have awesomely powerful friends as neither one has been assassinated or even charged with any of the horrendous crimes they committed.
For that matter, Trump hasn’t either. You know he’s got skeletons in his closet. Even the most fervent Trump supporter out there must know, in your heart of hearts, that Trump didn’t get here to this time and place without some blood.
So who will I vote for? Who’s the best candidate hasten the end? I’m voting for Donald. Who will win the prize? Who will be the blessed leader of the free world? Who will courageously guide us all to our destiny?
I haven’t a clue. The best candidate, meaning the worst, will be the one with their right hand on the bible taking the oath next January.
I hope to fuck I have a big bottle of something to drink that day. I’ll want to celebrate.
NEWS UPDATE FOR THE TRUMPETEERS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
IN KY-
Trump- 41%
CRUZ 31%
RUBIO 13%
Trump has 48% in LA at this time
I’m surprised Cruz is doing so well in KY.
hmm as a semi lurker Stucky , im pretty sure I have seen posts where you have links to them ?
Would that not be ‘someone else’s thoughts or opinions ?
I’m open to the possibility of being wrong lol ,whatever sir !
Is not the definition of Fascism defined from WW2 Mussolini ?
Government and privately owned corporations in cahoots?
Again , maybe I am wrong .
But if I am correct , would that not explain much?
In the ussa and a good bit of the rest of the world?
Sharpen that sword Sir , ….. unfortunately , on the probability curve ….. it will, sadly, be needed .
POCB’s will not go gently into the night .
https://youtu.be/DT2AzrawHpY
Westy says:
“The happiest people on Earth live in those countries with a “Democratic Socialist” government.”
LOL. Well buddy I live in one of your democratic socialist utopias and I can honestly tell you I ain’t to fucking happy about it. I’ll admit that statements like that do make me smile though.
“In ‘Murika, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Ya. I figure we’re pretty much clueless about what real authoritarianism really looks like in the west. We are used to a more nanny state type roll with the occasional smack by big daddy. We are yet to see what a full blown bitch slapping, wife abusing government actually looks like. I sense it’s time is coming… will be interesting and not too much fun to see how it plays out.
Maggie says: @Bea… please explain.
Looks like we all have a lot of ‘splaining to do.
I’m not taking sides, I said if it comes down to cankles or combover, I will be a Trumpeteer, if only because The Donald is pro-hetero. He speaks my language, which is locker room.
I read somewhere that a lot of men are actual closet Trumpeteers, hiding that fact from their harridan wives who (I suppose) favor Hilly.
Thanks to Trump, more Hispanics have been galvanized to go vote. Ain’t Democracy great?
EC- How are things in the AV and how are the Hispanics reacting to the Donald (for real)?
The so-called Aerospace Valley has always been a Republican valley. They won’t miss my vote either way.
The AV was a small alfalfa growing community with a few sheep farmers scattered around. It boasts its native sons, John Wayne, Frank Zappa and Judy Garland. Folks up here are naturally friendly, thrifty and in the habit of helping each other. These things are foreign to LA but they developed here of necessity when making a trip down below was a days trek, folks going down below would run errands for others.
When I got here in the early 80’s. there were few other Hispanics except for the field workers who were leery of me because they were mostly illegals, Mexican nationals. Until I got to California, I had not seen so many illegal immigrants in one place. I come from beaner town where we are mostly pochos, American nationals with an attitude towards illegals.
Today, the idiots from LA have migrated here, driven of necessity by the cheaper home prices. I have seen stats that say the valley is now 57% minority, blacks and browns. The traffic is getting to be like down in the San Fernando valley – heavy and rude.
Univision is very anti-Trump and they have clout with public opinion among Spanish speakers. The other Spanish channels only cover the news in 30 second spots but Univision covers it like it was the moon landing.
While we were known as pochos back in El Paso, LA native beaners distinguish themselves from Mexican nationals by referring to them as ‘Spanish’. Katt Williams would not dare tell LA vatos to go back to Mexico, they’d cut him.
So, with that attitude, I suppose Californians are not worried about the fate of illegals. They will probably vote for the Trump. My brother is on the border, he said they waited patiently for nearly an hour to vote Republican, for Trump, I guess.
Hispanics make cats look orderly but Trump has really motivated them to register to vote for or against him.
I
Trump-eteers …. the new Village Idiots of TBP. Stupid motherfuckers who can’t give a valid reason to vote for Trump other than HATE hate hate. hahaha
Nevertheless …. 102 comments, in one day, and on a weekend!!
My work here is done.
F’off and die, all of you Trumpy Trump maroons.
Stucky, if Trump is a Socialist or even a National Socialist, he should fit right in with the ones already running the joint. If he’s a Totalitarian, he’s in good company. With the existing cabal of shitheads running the joing, he shouldn’t be that big of a threat to the existing order.
I’m at a point where I don’t mind voting for him because he seems to threaten them so much; seems to piss them off so much. Maybe he’s just not in the right country club?
And consider this- Realistically, we really aren’t risking much by voting for him. The system is doomed, anyway, so it can’t really hurt us much to let him have the ball for a while. What can he do to us that isn’t already being done to us? How can he hurt us worse than we’re already being hurt? If he gets us into just 1 war, that’s still fewer than the ones Bush and Barry had us fighting. If he runs up the debt, it’s only more of the same. If he purges the Congress and sends them all to prison camps, it’s no worse than what many Americans were thinking about.
Do you think Trump will sell our military secrets to the PRC?
Do you think Trump will “lead from behind” in unnecessary military adventures in the Middle East?
Do you think Trump will invade a country to make his daddy proud?
Do you think he’ll force a boondoggle education plan down our throats?
Do you think he’ll balloon the national debt by 15 trillion?
Do you think he’ll expand medicare entitlements?
Do you think he’ll get caught cheating, then bomb an aspirin factory to cover his ass?
Do you think he’ll kiss certain middle eastern nation’s rear ends?
Do you think he’ll oversee shameless corporate welfare handouts to big business?
Do you think he’ll channel govt money to contributors’ failing businesses?
Do you think he’ll send the ATF to burn down a church full of fringe Christians?
Do you think he’ll try spark racial division and meet with black separatists?
Do you think he’ll meet secretly with Big Pharma and Big Insurance to craft an Unconstitutional medical care law that will be passed in the middle of the night by 1 party against the wishes of 2/3 of the population?
Do you think he’ll nationalize a shitty car maker and then try to force their shitty cars down our throats?
Do you think he’ll bow to other nations’ leaders?
Do you think he’ll turn the military into a social experiment for tranny soldiers and all-female SF units?
I could go on, but the more examples I think of, the harder it seems to think he’s going to be any worse than what we’ve already had.
To paraphrase Dean Wormer, “It’s time somebody put their foot down, and that foot is Trump.”
Hedges is calling Trump’s voters a bunch of racist, sexist, bigoted homophobes who are only taking a break from cross burning and incest and alcoholism and fist-fighting to go vote for their messiah so they can say Nigger in the workplace?
What the fuck?
Somebody needs to tell that pretentious Liberal fuck to step down off his pedestal and stop fellating himself. I’ve enjoyed his writing in the past, but fuck him. If he’s going to call all Trump voters haters, then I hate him. It’s not like I signed up for some racist back-to-the-50s crusade when I said I like Trump; I just dislike the other candidates more. Actually, I hate them, too.
I guess I’ll grab a beer, smack my wife, and recite my list of Niggers, Chinks, Spics, and HomoButtPirates I hate while I sharpen my killin’ knife for Trump’s inevitable victory and our Hate-a-Palooza scheduled for after the inauguration. We’re planning a lynching after the parade and the potluck dinner we’re making our wives cook. We were going to let them wear shoes, since it’s usually cold at that time of year, but we’re planning a festive Chris Hedges Book Burning, which should keep everything nice and toasty.
Every post that Stucky does, and then solidifies with his follow-up comments, proves that he is the new Village Idiot here on TBP.