From the GOP playbook?

[sun rise]

Defining "success" should eschew partisanship.
Otherwise, the tendency is that....
Dems'll say every Dem Prez is successful, & every Pub Prez is unsuccessful.
Pubs'll say every Pub Prez is successful, & every Dem Prez is unsuccessful.

Success is when I get my way. Failure is when you get your way.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

To compare Trump to Hitler is laughable.

Disagree. To compare how fascistic Trump is free to be with how fascistic Hitler was free to be is laughable.

But in my opinion, the two men aren't as different as their circumstances. Trump is just as sociopathic, authoritarian, angry, and bigoted as Hitler was.

How do you think that Trump would treat athletes taking a knee if the options open to Hitler were available to Trump?

 

[Twilight Hue]

When the shoe fits. And of course, the only comparison the OP is making concerns effective propaganda, so don't get too far ahead of yourself.

So says all the socialist commie pinkos.

Take that shoe on the other foot. :0b

 

[Augustus]

Trump is just as sociopathic, authoritarian, angry, and bigoted as Hitler was.

Now I think Trump is an absolutely colossal ****, but I don't think he wants to commit genocide on an industrial scale.

 

[Revoltingest]

Success is when I get my way. Failure is when you get your way.

I know.

 

[Revoltingest]

Disagree. To compare how fascistic Trump is free to be with how fascistic Hitler was free to be is laughable.

But in my opinion, the two men aren't as different as their circumstances. Trump is just as sociopathic, authoritarian, angry, and bigoted as Hitler was.

How do you think that Trump would treat athletes taking a knee if the options open to Hitler were available to Trump?

We'll have to agree to disagree about the degree
of difference between Adolf Hitler & Donald Trump.

 

[Stanyon]

Much of what the current administration is doing is frighteningly Orwellian. From the perspective of undermining democracy with an Oligarchy it has the potential to be as horrifying as the Nazis were, although in hugely different ways. It's hard to know how to quantify different horrors on such large scales, but ending western democracy would seem to hold its own against the worst that history has to offer.

Note: I'm not making any sort of black and white claims here. We were heading towards Oligarchy long before the current administration, but I think this administration is accelerating us down that horrific path.

Trump only has three more years, maybe seven, I'm pretty sure the United States will manage to survive.

 

[icehorse]

Trump only has three more years, maybe seven, I'm pretty sure the United States will manage to survive.

I think it's a matter of there being a tipping point, and even if we don't quite get to the tipping point, as time passes it gets harder and harder to recover. Citizen's United has already had a massively negative impact on our democracy, and it's repercussions are still growing.

 

[Stanyon]

I Citizen's United has already had a massively negative impact on our democracy, and it's repercussions are still growing.

Could you list some examples of what you see as the massively negative impact that Citizens United has had on U.S. Democracy?

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Now I think Trump is an absolutely colossal ****, but I don't think he wants to commit genocide on an industrial scale.

Why wouldn't Trump commit genocide on Americans or anybody else? Because it's immoral? because all people have a right to life? Because it's not the loving thing to do? Because his conscience would trouble him?

I have no reason to believe that Trump wouldn't be just like Hitler or Mussolini if the option were available to him. He's angry, bigoted, promotes violence, is vindictive, selfish, and has no apparent respect for life outside of his household. If he were exactly like Hitler regarding genocide, we wouldn't likely know more about it than we do.

But that's not the point. Revoltingest said that comparing Trump and Hitler was laughable. I said that comparing their circumstances and opportunities were laughable, but find the two men to be of similar dispositions and character. Even if you are correct that Trump would not commit genocide even if he were free to do so, I still find them to be more alike than different.

To say that Trump wouldn't commit genocide if he had the opportunity is like saying that the church wouldn't burn witches if given the authority. You might be right, but there is no reason to think so. Trump's tendencies are unmistakably fascistic.

Hitler's are everywhere. They're always willing to seize power selfishly and cruelly whenever possible. Think of brutal authoritarian regimes as opportunistic infections of a people whose intellectual and moral immunity to them is compromised. That was the state of the German people when they let Hitler into their world, and that is how I see the American people today. They wanted change, and were willing to lower the bar to get it, so, they voted for what they perceived to be a strongman who didn't let little things like the law or the truth get in his way.

Like Joe Pesci. From Carlin:

I decided to worship the sun. But, as I said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't f*ck around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was having trouble with.


For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that c*cksucker out with one visit. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.

 

[icehorse]

Could you list some examples of what you see as the massively negative impact that Citizens United has had on U.S. Democracy?

This is sort of a LMGTFY moment, but here's a link to get you started. That said, if you disagree with the premise, then I'd say that should be a different thread.

The more outside money politicians take, the less well they represent their constituents

 

[Stanyon]

This is sort of a LMGTFY moment, but here's a link to get you started. That said, if you disagree with the premise, then I'd say that should be a different thread.

The more outside money politicians take, the less well they represent their constituents

Why did you mention Citizens United only in your post when we both know that republicans and democrats take money from special interest groups? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the romantic idealism of democracy but I'd also add that it is obvious the political game and it's underpinnings has changed considerably over the years, you can't blame only one head for what the body of a two headed child does.

 

[icehorse]

Why did you mention Citizens United only in your post when we both know that republicans and democrats take money from special interest groups? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the romantic idealism of democracy but I'd also add that it is obvious the political game and it's underpinnings has changed considerably over the years, you can't blame only one head for what the body of a two headed child does.

I'd agree that both parties are culpable. But the GOP is more so.