Re: The Art of the Donald Trump Sideshow
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 11:04 am
That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://garbi.online/forum/
Sadly, that actually took me a bit to see it. Then I laughed.hepcat wrote:
Republican leaders are currently thrashing about - holding secret meetings, issuing confidential memos and making public denunciations - as they approach a state of near panic over what Donald Trump is doing to their party. It's enough to make some believe that Mr Trump may not have the Republican establishment's best interests at heart. Could Donald Trump be a secret double-agent, sent by Democrats to destroy their party from within?
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has borne the brunt of more than a few Trump barbs, seems to think there's a possibility. "Maybe Donald negotiated a deal with his buddy Hillary Clinton," Mr Bush tweeted this week, after Mr Trump cited a poll showing his supporters would stick with him if he left the Republican Party. "Continuing this path will put her in the White House."
The New York billionaire has a spotty political history, at best. He was a Republican, then he was a pro-choice Democrat, and now he's a fire-breathing, anti-immigration populist conservative. Could this latest iteration of Mr Trump's political brand be just a ruse, the elaborate cover for a liberal saboteur who has spent the past year setting explosives that threaten the unity of the party he pledged to support?
He's belittling his Republican colleagues. He's pulling the party to the nativist right in direct conflict with the goal set by strategists in 2013 to appeal to a more ethnically diverse nation. And he's generally sucking up all the political oxygen, making it harder for other candidates to get their message out. All in all, many experts say he's making it much more difficult for a Republican to win the general election next fall. Maybe he's doing it on purpose. It's a theory that has been bubbling long before Mr Bush's recent Twitter accusation. "If Donald Trump were a Democratic mole placed in the Republican Party to disrupt things, how would his behaviour be any different?" asked conservative political commentator George Will in July. "I don't think it would be."
When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
If that happens I'm moving off continent, I think I already said.tgb wrote:When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
Well, then, can I have your stuff?GreenGoo wrote:If that happens I'm moving off continent, I think I already said.tgb wrote:When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
I call his house!tgb wrote:Well, then, can I have your stuff?GreenGoo wrote:If that happens I'm moving off continent, I think I already said.tgb wrote:When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
from inside the house?Archinerd wrote:I call his house!tgb wrote:Well, then, can I have your stuff?GreenGoo wrote:If that happens I'm moving off continent, I think I already said.tgb wrote:When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
tgb wrote:For the 1 or 2 among us still not taking Trump seriously:
6 scenarios that can lead to a Trump victory.
Unagi wrote:from inside the house?Archinerd wrote:I call his house!tgb wrote:Well, then, can I have your stuff?GreenGoo wrote:If that happens I'm moving off continent, I think I already said.tgb wrote:When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
OK, I'll call you on it...name some.Defiant wrote:tgb wrote:For the 1 or 2 among us still not taking Trump seriously:
6 scenarios that can lead to a Trump victory.
I've gone from thinking he was a loudmouth to thinking he was a troll to thinking he was a vicious troll, but I still think it's fairly unlikely he'll even be in the general election.
(I also think the accusations of fascist are unfounded and the comparisons to Hitler absurd - there are dozens of other evil tin pot leaders that would make for a far more appropriate comparison.)
I'm taking my stuff with me. Duh.Unagi wrote:from inside the house?Archinerd wrote:I call his house!tgb wrote:Well, then, can I have your stuff?GreenGoo wrote:If that happens I'm moving off continent, I think I already said.tgb wrote:When that happens can we move in with you?GreenGoo wrote:If Trump gets elected President of the US of A I think we'll have our answer then.
Did FDR campaign on that, whipping his supporters up into a frenzy by playing on their fear and hate?Defiant wrote:We can start with FDR's internment of Japanese Americans
Plus, Trump is moving so fast that few have noticed how deftly he alienated Asian-Americans on top of Muslims, Latinos, and African-Americans.RunningMn9 wrote:Although to be fair, Donald Trump has invited the FDR comparison, as he thinks that it reflects well on him that he is advocating measures that were instituted by a President that many Democrats/liberals consider one of our greatest. He doesn't seem to get that they view FDR that way *despite* their revulsion for his actions towards Japanese Americans.
What genocides did Hitler commit before he became the leader of the country? Compare apples to apples. Hitler's rise was based on the same sort of crap that Trump is coddling.Defiant wrote: Lets leave the Hitler comparisons for those actually committing mass genocide.
Hitler's rise was based on gangs of thugs burning the houses and beating the skulls of his opponents before the elections ever occurred. The Nazis--not an army, just the toughs who fought in the streets for the party--already had barracks stocked with weapons in the early 1920's. Hitler attempted an actual violent coup in 1923, leading to his arrest and a treason trial. Things went on like this with Weimer politics becoming essentially lawless for another decade before Hitler took real power.Jeff V wrote:What genocides did Hitler commit before he became the leader of the country? Compare apples to apples. Hitler's rise was based on the same sort of crap that Trump is coddling.Defiant wrote: Lets leave the Hitler comparisons for those actually committing mass genocide.
Passionate’ Trump fans behind homeless man’s beating?Holman wrote:Hitler's rise was based on gangs of thugs burning the houses and beating the skulls of his opponents before the elections ever occurred. The Nazis--not an army, just the toughs who fought in the streets for the party--already had barracks stocked with weapons in the early 1920's. Hitler attempted an actual violent coup in 1923, leading to his arrest and a treason trial. Things went on like this with Weimer politics becoming essentially lawless for another decade before Hitler took real power.Jeff V wrote:What genocides did Hitler commit before he became the leader of the country? Compare apples to apples. Hitler's rise was based on the same sort of crap that Trump is coddling.Defiant wrote: Lets leave the Hitler comparisons for those actually committing mass genocide.
I hate to say it (I really do), but I think this is the natural result of a party that campaigns on anti-intellectualism, educators as ivory tower residents out of touch with reality and that scientists and their science are what they are because they hate america.RunningMn9 wrote:YK - I feel your pain. I don't think that all of the Republican candidates are blithering idiots, just the ones that the GOP primary voters seem to favor.
In other words, the problem isn't the candidates. The problem is the people choosing them.
See Wallace comparison above.GreenGoo wrote:Passionate’ Trump fans behind homeless man’s beating?Holman wrote:Hitler's rise was based on gangs of thugs burning the houses and beating the skulls of his opponents before the elections ever occurred. The Nazis--not an army, just the toughs who fought in the streets for the party--already had barracks stocked with weapons in the early 1920's. Hitler attempted an actual violent coup in 1923, leading to his arrest and a treason trial. Things went on like this with Weimer politics becoming essentially lawless for another decade before Hitler took real power.Jeff V wrote:What genocides did Hitler commit before he became the leader of the country? Compare apples to apples. Hitler's rise was based on the same sort of crap that Trump is coddling.Defiant wrote: Lets leave the Hitler comparisons for those actually committing mass genocide.
Are you suggesting that militia groups and white supremists that like what Trump is saying aren't already armed? Are you suggesting that Trump isn't tapping into hatred that already exists, for his own gains?
It's not just that they're "not identical;" it's that they're an order of magnitude apart. You really can't read anything about Weimar Germany and not see that Hitler comparisons (even pre-war Hitler comparisons) are overblown.Let's be clear. Trump isn't Hitler incarnate and this isn't some weird parallel universe where every single step, political move and result is identical to Hitler's rise to power. Arguing that because Trump and Hitler are not identical comparisons are unreasonable is a straw man.
"Not hating anyone" pretty much disqualifies you as Hitler, doesn't it?For me personally, I don't think Trump actually hates anyone, not in the way Hitler did anyway.
Humanity has lots of awful traits, but we can at least be grateful that racial eliminationism isn't in play this time around.That doesn't mean he isn't playing fire that is humanity's worst traits.
Arresting Trump would be pretty weird, but then again he hasn't tried a coup via assassinations and a private army.Can you imagine the absolute shit storm that would follow a Trump arrest? Being Martyr'd by the state would almost certainly result in Hitler-like popularity beyond what he is currently experiencing.
The only way to compare Hitler and Trump as populist demagogues is in very specific, very particular ways, and there's not much of that going on.Criticizing Trump does not require invoking Hitler, but there are certainly aspects that seem similar. Unfortunately just the name Hitler makes everyone lose their shit, and that results in arguments about how Trump is or isn't exactly like Hitler, like this one. And that's a distraction and beside the point.
Are you seriously going to go point for point with this? Geezus.Holman wrote:See Wallace comparison above.GreenGoo wrote:Passionate’ Trump fans behind homeless man’s beating?Holman wrote:Hitler's rise was based on gangs of thugs burning the houses and beating the skulls of his opponents before the elections ever occurred. The Nazis--not an army, just the toughs who fought in the streets for the party--already had barracks stocked with weapons in the early 1920's. Hitler attempted an actual violent coup in 1923, leading to his arrest and a treason trial. Things went on like this with Weimer politics becoming essentially lawless for another decade before Hitler took real power.Jeff V wrote:What genocides did Hitler commit before he became the leader of the country? Compare apples to apples. Hitler's rise was based on the same sort of crap that Trump is coddling.Defiant wrote: Lets leave the Hitler comparisons for those actually committing mass genocide.
Are you suggesting that militia groups and white supremists that like what Trump is saying aren't already armed? Are you suggesting that Trump isn't tapping into hatred that already exists, for his own gains?
It's not just that they're "not identical;" it's that they're a couple of orders of magnitude apart. You really can't read anything about Weimar Germany and not see that Hitler comparisons (even pre-war Hitler comparisons) are overblown.Let's be clear. Trump isn't Hitler incarnate and this isn't some weird parallel universe where every single step, political move and result is identical to Hitler's rise to power. Arguing that because Trump and Hitler are not identical comparisons are unreasonable is a straw man.
"Not hating anyone" pretty much disqualifies you as Hitler, doesn't it?For me personally, I don't think Trump actually hates anyone, not in the way Hitler did anyway.
Humanity has lots of awful traits, but we can at least be grateful that racial eliminationism isn't in play this time around.That doesn't mean he isn't playing fire that is humanity's worst traits.
Arresting Trump would be pretty weird, but then again he hasn't tried a coup via assassinations and a private army.Can you imagine the absolute shit storm that would follow a Trump arrest? Being Martyr'd by the state would almost certainly result in Hitler-like popularity beyond what he is currently experiencing.
The only way in might be possible to compare Hitler and Trump as populist demagogues is in very specific, very particular ways, and there's not much of that going on.Criticizing Trump does not require invoking Hitler, but there are certainly aspects that seem similar. Unfortunately just the name Hitler makes everyone lose their shit, and that results in arguments about how Trump is or isn't exactly like Hitler, like this one. And that's a distraction and beside the point.
Beyond this, all Hitler comparisons make Trump's critics look silly and hyperbolic--which only helps Trump. It turns the criticism into a cartoon. We can identify all the similarities we want (both stoked racism, both appealed to patriotism, both had peculiar hair), but there's no getting around the fact that all Hitler comparisons imply that the object represents the extreme limits of political evil imaginable in the modern world.
I think Trump is awful, probably the nastiest thing and the greatest risk we've seen in American politics since the rise of the modern Radical Right. I think pretty much everything he says is wrong and is calculated to play to Americans' fears and worst qualities. I do believe he is stoking racism and nativism to frightening effect, and I fear that it will only get worse. But criticize Trump as Trump. There's more than enough material there.
."Not hating anyone" pretty much disqualifies you as Hitler, doesn't it?