Donald Trump’s extreme rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi propaganda and his penchant for siding with America’s adversaries and autocrats pose a unique challenge to his Republican opponents and, ultimately, US voters.
The ex-president, who has a good chance of being the next commander in chief, warned over the weekend that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the United States. And he parroted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to discredit American democracy in his latest craven genuflection to the ex-KGB officer, who’s been accused of war crimes.
Trump’s comments on Saturday, at a rally in the first-in-the-nation GOP primary state of New Hampshire, are contrary to America’s founding values and political traditions. They are the latest sign that Trump, who sought to overturn the will of the voters after the 2020 election, would act in an even more extreme fashion in a second White House term. His rhetoric is also likely to play into the central premise of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign – that he’s the only option to thwart a return to power by an ex-president who could destroy US democracy. It is not yet, however, helping the incumbent in polls that show him trailing Trump in vital swing states.
The simple truth is that even if minorities didn’t exist, and everyone everywhere in the U.S. was the same race and religion and culture, conservatism by its nature has to create an other to differentiate itself and maintain its culture. So then the problem would be you’re not the right kind of Christian or you’re not the right kind of white. This already happened btw with Irish and Italians immigrants in early US history.
Salem witch trials…
As if people in here aren’t “othering” conservatives, severing ties with friends and family and encouraging others to do the same. Creating an other is apolitical, a tool used by Leaders to motivate their base. Landlords, millionaires, cops, managers and so on are favorite “other” groups used by left wing politicians. ACAB, death to landlords, references to guillotines and so on are evidence of this.
Most of the time Paradox of intolerance is just an excuse to be a dick to people you disagree with, all while feeling good and justified about it.
Sure, it’s possible to use any tool for dickish reasons. But applied at a community or state level, it means that you’re generally selecting for ideologies which are inclusive of the majority of others. It doesn’t mean that anyone who disagrees is outcast or expelled, only that their pov is not translated to law or policy.
It’s not a very good litmus test to determine right and wrong because tolerance is subjective based on what you feel to be untouchable, inviolable topics. Those could be religion, gender ideology, sexual preference, free speech, right to bear arms, right to own property, right to bodily autonomy, right to associate, and so on, or some combination of these but likely not all of them. It varies with the individual, though most would agree on some of them. The paradox of intolerance should not be expanded to include too much, because it then becomes simply another tool for rhetoric. In the Bill of rights our constitution does a pretty good job describing which topics are off limits, I think.
Trump is making it worse, certainly, but we are already at risk in this shithole country.
For myself and friends who are also members of Team Rainbow, we feel that we are in much more danger than we were in 2015. It feels like if this goes on uninterrupted we will end up with a legal system back where it was illegal to be LGBT. I think that there will be more state level than national level legislation at first, but like with abortion, that’s going to be the ultimate goal.
For women, they’re already there. Republicans have indicated they’re going to be trying to pass national anti-abortion legislation. Again, they start with the states, and each state pushes through slightly different legislation to see what they can get away with. If one gets overturned they pass another with different wording but the same effect.
We live in a safe state, but we (and many of the people we know) have started making plans, like looking into countries with golden visa programs (basically a path to immigration by investment). We’re also looking what it will take to transfer to work for our companies in one of their European offices. If we had been living someplace like Texas (even Austin), we would have moved to the coasts by now.
Okay, and do you think you’ll feel safe if Trump loses? The fascists already control the Supreme Court.
Though honestly, I think they’ll do like they did with Bush in 2000 and just give Trump the presidency.
No, but the timing might change. Honestly, I’m not really sure that Trump gives a crap about the culture war issues. I think he’s LGBT-phobic, racist, misogynistic, and personally abusive - but I also think that his clinical level of narcissism means virtually everything he does is self-focused. His support for the far right agenda seems performative to me, where he’ll use it to whip up his base and make deals with the true believers.
If the Dems take 2024 in a sweep, I think we will breathe a little easier, but as you said without being able to unstack the courts or get rid of the filibuster, there’s no way we’re going to change direction. We’re also going to still be dealing with the red states and the culture war propaganda coming from them.
Right now I think it’s probably about a 50% chance we will be moving in the next 5 years, which will increase if the situation continues to evolve. I’m mostly looking at Portugal, but we might also move someplace else first if needed for work, then look to get permanent residency someplace.
Replace ‘Trump’ with ‘Russia’.
They are both entangled in a fight for survival. Both of them need the support of the US people if they have any hope of making it. It’s imperative for either party that they win this and nothing is off the table when it comes to politics or influence.
There is an existential war at hand and none of the embattled parties give two shits about the aftermath.
History is repeating…
Stop saying he has a good chance without also saying “if he cheats”.
There’s no need to say “if he cheats” because there’s no doubt that he will.
He’s been sowing doubt for years.
Ah, but how is Biden earning my vote?
Bernie 2016!!!
This is by design.
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The headline is unhinged.
I say this as someone who doesn’t support or vote for either of the major two parties
If you are American, you are part of the problem.
If 100% of the population showed up to vote, we would have gotten Al Gore and been on a much better path globally than we are now.
I was too young to vote that election but I went with my mom and Grandma that year, and I’m the reason my grandma didn’t accidentally vote Pat Buchanan on her poorly designed Florida ballot that year. I did my part!
Maybe AL Gore should’ve run a better campaign? Maybe the DNC shouldn’t have disillusioned its voter base so much that they wouldn’t have voted for Nader?
Ppl complain so much about voters but not the system. And when they do complain about the system they refuse to vote for candidates who actually campaign about changing it because, "they probably won’t win. "
much of the emphasis is put on the citizens voting on election day but what is far more important is the process used to select the candidates. By the time the citizens get a say it’s too late. Every election it’s one faction of the elite versus the other.
There’s never an option for working class people on the ballot (especially in a general election). This applies to the entirety of the duopoly.
It’s very obviously scare mongering propaganda, and it’s working exactly as intended.
