Benito Mussolini in the March on Rome that installed him as dictator in Italy
I’m sure by now most of my regular readers are aware that Trump and his allies are plotting (violent) revenge against all those trying to hold them accountable for their many crimes. Democracies can die and be replaced by dictatorships.
Thomas Edsall in the New York Times “The Roots of Trump’s Rage”
Here are the reflections of some sophisticated political observers:Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post “Trump says the quiet part out loud: He’ll destroy democracy”
Charlie Savage, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan in the New York Times “Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans”
Jamelle Bouie in the New York Times “Trump Wants Us to Know He Will Stop at Nothing in 2025”
Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post “Trump doesn’t just want to win. He wants revenge”
Heather Digby Parton in Salon “Trump’s big payback: The plot for MAGA’s revenge should scare voters straight”
Areeba Shah in Salon “Nightmare scenario: Legal scholars alarmed over Trump’s “plot to abuse his power” for revenge”
No doubt you can find other links. It is hard to express how frightening this is for all of us including Trump supporters. Haven’t his sycophants in politics ever heard of a purge? Are any of us safe when ruthlessness and lawlessness prevail? Don’t the wealthy and powerful know that they benefit most from social stability? Don’t the poor and powerless know that the rich and powerful care nothing for them? Don’t anti-government fanatics know that the fulfillment of their wishes leads to a Hobbesian state of nature?
Stupid Mussolini, stupid Trump. History has always shown that idiotic megalomaniacs like this always end up really badly.
”Democracies can die and be replaced by dictatorships.”.
My view: this will never, ever happen in America. Trump is nothing but a delusional, ignorant, butthurt fool with a huge but fragile ego. He will practically self-destruct.
Wishing you a great week end.
Luigi
PS. ”…with a huge but fragile ego…”. Not to mention, very little brains. But of course I am not saying anything new here.
I also think that he’s just a loudmouth. He won’t do anything. Had he been 25, perhaps he’d followed up to his bullying, and even then he’d end up badly. The man is well on the way to his grave, unless he’s completely dumb, he’ll realize that he could use what little time he has left, for more rewarding things.
I hope you’re right about Trump and his allies.
again, hope you’re right.
There have been so many apocalyptic stories, notions and fictions about an end to America, I shudder to think how any of them represent a plausible reality. The cartoon character, Pogo, said:we are the enemy. Not that cryptically, no ,but close enough. Chaos has been a frequent theme. And, rightly so. It is closely enough related to anarchy to merit comparison. I won’t say anything about physics and math, because without them, chaos and anarchy would hold anyway. Neither Mussolini or Hitler ended well. So, what to do? The best you can, with what you have and know. Entropy does not care. Nor does rust.
Of course, no one can predict the future.
Ironically, just after I wrote my initial comments, I have read how Trump congratulated the likes of him in Argentina. But I refuse to believe that a fascist ignoramus would be allowed to lead a country like America and turn it into a fascist state.
Even if it happened, he would end up badly: someone would stop him. It happened to Mussolini and others, and after all, history changes only on the surface.
So it either not happen at all, or if it happened, it would not last long. Fear never worked in the long term, only the short one.
Sure, there’s people who support him, but they aren’t the majority, as far as I know, even many people who supported him in the past changed their mind.
If anything, his previous presidency didn’t at all demonstrate that he has efficiently realized his delusional plans. Had this happened, then yes, there could be a chance that he could become president again. Moreover, people just get bored with the same people in power; they want new faces, for no logical reason.
At least, this is what I think.
While Trump is currently the ‘outsized’ leader of the Party, MAGA has become a movement that is in a symbiotic relationship with the Party. The Party is unwilling to, or even unable to, tell MAGA what it does not want to hear.
Not even Trump himself is truly in control. It has evolved into a system with feedback loops and emergent properties that defy attempts to apply past political history as a basis for either prediction or understanding.
Since many followers live in a political worldview that does not align with reality, I fear that we are on a path that could literally mean the end of the Republic. (there is already long-term damage to the crucial criteria of the government being “of the People”)
In the movie “Cabaret” (1930’s Germany setting) a young Englishman asks his uber-rich German friend if he doesn’t worry about the Nazi’s. The German’s reply was “they control the Communists, later we will control them.”
Sometime later they stop at an idyllic country beer garden. A Nazi Youth bursts into song of ultra-nationalism, romanticism and a vision of the future. He is enthusiastically joined, one by one, by his fellow fair goers. All with Nazi salute.
As they depart, English asks German friend : ” Do you still think you can control them?”
It has been less than 100 years. Many of us had parents watch it unfold in real time.
I still have hope, but not optimism.
thanks for the comments Lyle. I agree with what you say. The outlook for the Republic is indeed grim.
Yes, it is true Doctor John, we are living in grim times but we can give thanks that we are (for now) led by President Joe and his cabinet of experienced statesmen!, and we have the wise council of the distinguished commentators in the accepted media to guide us on our journey..
Perhaps now is the time to put our trust in the divine providence that nurtured and sheltered us through many harrowing experiences in the past, yet we have always emerged from the darkness and into the Sunlight ever stronger than before!
Like Lyle T, I also have hope, and so should we all!