Voter Anger and the 2016 Presidential Election

https://www.c-span.org/video/?417098...on-voter-anger

This has at least some connection to the OP since fascist dictators tend to rise to power in nations where general discontent (and widespread anger) exists among a broad segment of the population. Pat Choate, the Reform Party's Vice-Presidential candidate in the 1996 election, has some interesting comments concerning what's going to happen within the Republican Party following Trump's [presumed] loss on November 8th. (Maybe I should have posted this over in the "Tragic Death of the Republican Party" thread ...)

This entire discussion reminds me of the pithy remarks of two sage political philosophers concerning the challenges that face democracies and representative forms of government. I'm not sure who uttered the following - it might have been George Bernard Shaw or maybe H. L. Mencken - but the quote went something like this: "Every democracy carries within it the seeds of its own destruction." The second quote, I believe, came form Benjamin Franklin. In response to a question from a citizen following the [first?]constitutional convention: "What have you given us?" Franklin responded: "A republic - if you can keep it!"

This election reminds me of when a popular forum troll gets a lot of attention for doing attention-seeking ****, everyone's ears perk up everytime they say something, people are mystified why this troll keeps saying outrageous ****, and then eventually they get banned. November is right around the corner, hold tight. His plan has always been to get as much attention as possible and sell as much **** as possible to idiots.

and many others, not least:

<-------------------------

This guy is being considered for Secretary of Homeland Security

lolUSA. Surely not

And that's why all the nice words Trump has said this week are meaningless and should be ignored. His potential cabinet is a truly scary thing to behold.

Riots are not constitutionally protected peaceful protests, DUCY?

Riots should be stopped.

Except these fascists haven't seen a protest that they don't consider to be a riot.

This really is amazing. After all the secret Kenyan muuuslim, lock her up, and 2nd amendment solution talk...

Do these people have an American bone in their body? ****ing pathetic.

The other day, I said that I was glad I didn't reenlist, because I would have had to follow President Trump's orders. But, increasingly, I'm wishing that I had reenlisted so that I could resist those orders if and when resistance to those orders became necessary.

I know that makes me sound like those Oathkeepers morons. But it's really how I feel. This is such a scary time for America, and the whole thing really could just fly apart under President Trump.

Simply saying words does not make them true.

There are riots, and there are protests. There are normal protests, and there are stupid protests. In either case, not all protests are riots.

Don't be daft.

https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/stat...56380176973825

https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/837878032262172672

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/sta...47122353696769

Trump lies to the American people, tells them he was wiretapped by Obama.


https://twitter.com/AP/status/838391150381842433

https://twitter.com/brianklaas/statu...24479676137473

https://twitter.com/amjoyshow/status/838086885947879424

https://twitter.com/journorosa/statu...15925235232769

Hi there, I want to make sure I understand your point. I realize this is an older post, but I wanted to reply to it anyway.

So personally, I think that either Donald Trump, and/or those around him that he bends to, are Fascists. Are you saying that the proper way to argue this would be to point out something like this:

The Trump Administration has created a new office to report on crimes that undocumented immigrants have committed.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politi...ing/index.html


This scapegoating of undesirable members of society (immigrants, in this case), is similar to what the Nazis did when they published crimes committed by Jews.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...he-didnt-like/


Therefor, this is an indicator that the Trump Administration is Fascistic. Also, do you take issue with einbert's characterization of Socialism? If so, why?


I'm interested in your perspective.

Looking back at those posts I don't know if ShameT was trying to say that Trump was not a fascist or that he is a fascist, but that einbert was just leaving the anti-socialist part out. Trump definitely seems anti-socialist.

ShameT is it that you are suggesting that einbert, out of his own anti-socialism, is leaving that part out because he's afraid it would make Trump look less bad?

You realize that reads like an admission that it happened right?

First of all, it doesn't. Second of all, if a wiretap did happen, it was ordered by the DoJ independently, not Obama (the significance of the statement). Thirdly, if a wiretap did happen, Trump has much greater problems, as that means DoJ was able to go before a federal judge and produce probable cause that he was engaging in criminal activity.

And if Trump was colluding with a foreign power, of course the DoJ was right to investigate him. That's one of their jobs.