Fascism seems to come in waves across the globe. It isn't just the USA facing this threat, but much of the developed world. My personal opinion is that we are being set up for another global war. There are too many "peasants" to please the oligarchs, who don't need this many of us. You'd think they would back off their abortion rhetoric, but control starts at the individual level - men over women and children, and white men over men of color. The children that result from abortion bans are likely to have grown up in poverty and chaos (not in all cases) and can be used as canon fodder. How else are rich people going to get young people to die and fight for their financial interests? The first and MOST important tactic of fascism is to gain control of women and then the easily impressionable children. Hitler used the Hitler Youth corps to spy on families. Here, we have the Young Republican Clubs.
Spot on. And remember that there were a lot of Nazi sympathizers in the UK and in the US prior to Hitler's rise to power. The KKK of the 1920's (and their fear and hate) went to Germany and taught the 'Brown Shirts' how to roll. King Edward VIII (before and after his abdication) was a great Nazi sympathizer as was Neville Chamberlain. There were many pro-Hitler groups meeting in the UK before WW II. Heck, the 'Hindenburg' routinely landed at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in the 30's and that's where it crashed. And here we are; same hatred and fear, some 70+ years later. And Thom is right; once we govern by fear and hate, all bets are off.
Thank you! I think. So many details we absolutely need to know. This is one of the most important reports I’ve read. Americans who still support the GOP and TFG or his clones, are not only ignorant about history, they are dangerous. If we don’t speak up now, Vote and work to preserve our Democracy, we won’t have one. Santayana’s warning, paraphrased: Those who ignore History are destined to repeat it.
As the standard of living drops in America, more and more Americans are becoming fascists. This was probably planned over 50 years ago. First, ship the jobs and manufacturing plants to other countries, then import as many union busting immigrants as possible, then loot and steal and borrow and obstruct and blame it on the socialists. Anyone who opposes regulating capitalism and keeping money out of politics, is an enemy to the nation and God.
Thom, the similarities between the 1930’s Germany and the U.S. of today are strikingly frightening. I can only hope that Faux Entertainment News doesn’t convince Dominion to accept a,deal and avoid admitting to its years long of lying to it’s listeners as well as its talking heads continuing to spread their lies and innuendo in their efforts to distract their followers from the real happenings in America.
I hope Dominion takes Faux News to a jury trial and forces it to expose all of their dirty laundry and all of the skeletons in their collective closets. And, I hope Murdoch is arrested for personally abetting in the January 6th riot that resulted in the death and injuries of so many people, plus all of the destruction to the Capital. Building.
I hope, too, that Trumpet can be found guilty of propagating an insurrection against the US and sentenced to life without parole; as well as all of those in Congress who can be found to have aided and abetted him.
We need a general housecleaning of all the filth and rot the GQPTP has brought into politics since the days of Reagan and Gingrich.
Truly frightening . But making more sense everyday .
We see it happening in mostly red states but it surely is infiltrating all of the United States and so many countries around the world.
I read an article a while back about greed as an addiction. The human brain acts in the same capacity with increased sums of money as it does with increasing intake of addictive substances. Its a simplification on my part but it makes sense. All moral values get cast to the winds in order to continuously accrue more and more money and the power that comes with it.
So these powerful people become irritated with anyones needs other than their own needs/ wants.
The language of these people becomes nasty and remote. They truly stop caring about people who cannot challenge them monetarily.
We are all becoming categories .
The poor, the minorities, the trans, the LBTGQ’s the immigrants , those on Social Security, retirees and disabled , all superfluous.
We ask ,’ have they no shame, no heart?’
And the answer is No.
Just as an addict will do what he must to get his next drug, the wealthiest and most powerful will wipe out anyone in their way.
See Kevin McCarthy ruthlessly setting us up for default on our debt.
It will trash our finances as well as much of the worlds . He doesn’t care.
He will blame Biden for not negotiating , on the debt of the last many years , much of it accrued under Trump. Because the Maga hostages cannot take responsibility to continue paying on what needs to be paid on .
A point seemingly lost on this group and their fractious leaders , McCarthy, Trump et al.
Just a review of fact.
The debt ceiling under Trumps administration was raised three times.
RE: "So, to the question about what’s really behind the war Republicans are waging against American democracy, the answer is simple: rightwing billionaires who want more, more, more money and are willing to make common cause with bigots, fascists, and wannabee killers to get it."
Authoritarians "... waging war against democracy ..." because:
Yes, we are witnessing our version of Germany's path to fascism. We are also reliving our earlier history of attempts by oligarchs to create our form of fascism. The Confederate fascists/oligarchs went to war to protect and increase their wealth. They also propagandized their citizens into fighting their war. The Industrial fascists/oligarchs, at the start of the 20th century, tried to get retired Marine Major General Smedley Butler to lead a military coup to remove FDR, who eventually reduced their wealth and power. Now we have a new set of fascist oligarchs trying to end our form of democracy because it will reduce their wealth and power.
These authoritarian oligarchs will do what ever it takes to protect their wealth, their authoritarian power and the authoritarian economic system that has, three times now, allowed the concentration of wealth into the hands of oligarchs/fascists. To stay wealthy and powerful, they will:
- Take control of mass commercial media to promote what they want promoted and hide what they want hidden. They will use that media to keep us divided and distracted from their ultimate goal.
- With the help of a SCOTUS, buy as many politicians in all parties as they can. They own the GOP. They own a few Dems and influence many others. They will use those politicians, in their media, to help keep us divided and distracted from their ultimate goal. They will use those politicians to pass laws that protect and enhance their authoritarian power and protect the authoritarian economic systems that funds their wealth.
- End our form of democracy using their media, their politicians and their wealth from our authoritarian economic system. An economic system that has put 40% of the nation's wealth into the hands of 1% of its citizens and left only 7% of the wealth for the bottom 80% of citizens.
For more on replacing democracy with fascism, check out "How Fascism Works" by Jason Stanley:
"Fascist politics are running rampant in America today—and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history. ... He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations."
Here is what perplexes me. It is well known and quite obvious that the right wing is virulently anti semitic, that they used Soros as code for Jew is just one example, another is the chant in Charlotteville of Jews will not replace us, and of course holocaust denialism.
With such blatant evidence how does one explain Steven Miller, Rupert, Steve Wynn, the Addelsons, and other Las Vegas millionaires, the Mercers, Barre Seid who left 1.6 billion to the Federalist Society, and especially Rupert Murdoch https://observer.com/2016/03/algemeiner-celebrates-power-Jews-at-packed-manhattan-gala/ is it all about Israel? Are Republicans seen as the champions of the Israeli state? For sure Evangelicals and end time Christians certainly are.
The Israeli right knows that these are virulent antisemites, but because they are the biggest supporters of Israel (as part of their end times eschatology) and the primary source of tourist income, they pragmatically overlook their antisemitism
Not too smart, an equivalent is a gay Republican or any Republican who is not white, straight and Christian, or for that matter not male.
Lots of Germans made that mistake in the 1920's and 30's, as did Russians in 1917.
Because of pogroms and the forced movement of Ashkenazi to the pale of settlement, the Jews were early supporters of the Bolsheviks., but their welcome wore out, until there was a flood of refuseniks fleeing to the west and America
I appreciate your point regarding the fact that there are two parties and the Democrats are thoroughly useless in defending us against Republicans because it is their political expediency that allows marginalized groups to be used as election fodder with little authentic action in their favor. And the Democrat's nationalism in their lining up to supply Ukraine with countless billions in weapons in favor of their feckless leader Joe Biden reinforces the fantasy that oligarchal leadership is somehow favorable to fascism when they are in fact one and the same. And let us not forget fascism rises when the political system fails its people, and in the US that has certainly been a bipartisan effort.
Ya, I wouldn't want to use the ERIC system either when my agenda is to out-right lie about everything that doesn't fit with what I maintain to be voter fraud. It's so annoying when someone keeps pointing to your lies.
That's why we cannot quit doing just that---THANK YOU THOM!
I pass-by a heavy equipment/construction place often, and yesterday I noticed they have their flag flying up-side-down, a signal for help. They do need help, just not for the reason they inverted OUR flag. This cult that you describe thinks they can survive without the majority of society. I know from my own little rural red county that they are not the future. The diversity movement is stronger than ever among the youth and corporate America knows it. They have decided to add a rainbow flag for even more freedom. Think I'll go have a Bud Light.
The “base”, the politically agitated minority on the right who can be duped, swayed, hoodwinked, and manipulated are always where things get dicey and momentum builds until there are uncontrollable forces able to wreak havoc and destruction. What does it take for “the people” to wake up and for those in positions of power to reverse the trends? Why are Democrats so “impotent” in getting their message out and countering the lies?
We have heard it a million times. Education is the key. Solid, truthful, factual information must find its way to the people. Citizens must be alert, discriminating, and capable of critical thinking and detecting BS. It’s too bad we don’t have some way for people to learn and develop those essential skills. Maybe in another 100 years.
Based on the newsletter I put out every day for my friends, I find that on a daily basis, there are probably 4 times more eye-grabbing headline stories about GOP fascists than there are about Democrats even though the President and Senate are led by Democrats. The Democratic Party infrastructure appears to be under-informed, overly cautious (e.g., Sanders v Clinton - she lost) and strategically outgunned by the fascists. It has only been in the past 12 months that the MSM has even started to use the "F" term in reference to Republicans. Only a few Democrats seem to recognize that the fascists are tracking Hitler's playbook to power. How is the failed Bierhalle Putsch any different from the failed Jan 6th Insurrection? Hitler helped engineer a failing economy to gain public support. Today Speaker McCarthy is doing the same thing with the "debt ceiling." The DNC fails to recognize that the stolen election fuss was not aimed at overturning 2020 election results, but making the entire country question US election integrity for 2024 - the neo-fascist's Reichstag fire. We did not elect Sleepy Joe because we expected energetic leadership, but because he was the Un-Trump. It is hard to envision a re-run in '24. People want change and an end to the corruption. Half of Trump's government sabotage in office still has not been reversed. Meanwhile the MAGAs blind support for their Fuhrer remains strong.
Hitler's rise to power was enabled by the financial support of the wealthiest men in Germany and by the support of the Catholic church (which was critical to the support of Hitler's becoming the vice chancellor). Despite the propaganda, the entire history of the Catholic church has been its enriching itself at the expense of its subjects over the past 1700 years.
British leaders including the king and Lloyd George and Keynes all thought what had taken place in Italy and Germany was a positive development. Hitler's deal with the industrialists was his agreeing to ban unions. This is the bargain that is struck by the Republican Party leaders with the billionaires or the over class of the USA. Fascism is the ultimate form of governance for capitalists as it suppresses workers' rights while making it easier to wage war and this in turn profits the industrialists enormously. IG Farben received billions of reichsmarks from the Nazi as well as being gifted with new factories and a slave labor force from the occupied countries.
Fascism seems to come in waves across the globe. It isn't just the USA facing this threat, but much of the developed world. My personal opinion is that we are being set up for another global war. There are too many "peasants" to please the oligarchs, who don't need this many of us. You'd think they would back off their abortion rhetoric, but control starts at the individual level - men over women and children, and white men over men of color. The children that result from abortion bans are likely to have grown up in poverty and chaos (not in all cases) and can be used as canon fodder. How else are rich people going to get young people to die and fight for their financial interests? The first and MOST important tactic of fascism is to gain control of women and then the easily impressionable children. Hitler used the Hitler Youth corps to spy on families. Here, we have the Young Republican Clubs.
Spot on. And remember that there were a lot of Nazi sympathizers in the UK and in the US prior to Hitler's rise to power. The KKK of the 1920's (and their fear and hate) went to Germany and taught the 'Brown Shirts' how to roll. King Edward VIII (before and after his abdication) was a great Nazi sympathizer as was Neville Chamberlain. There were many pro-Hitler groups meeting in the UK before WW II. Heck, the 'Hindenburg' routinely landed at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in the 30's and that's where it crashed. And here we are; same hatred and fear, some 70+ years later. And Thom is right; once we govern by fear and hate, all bets are off.
We have a year and a half to register young voters. That's what I'm going to do.
Thank you! I think. So many details we absolutely need to know. This is one of the most important reports I’ve read. Americans who still support the GOP and TFG or his clones, are not only ignorant about history, they are dangerous. If we don’t speak up now, Vote and work to preserve our Democracy, we won’t have one. Santayana’s warning, paraphrased: Those who ignore History are destined to repeat it.
As the standard of living drops in America, more and more Americans are becoming fascists. This was probably planned over 50 years ago. First, ship the jobs and manufacturing plants to other countries, then import as many union busting immigrants as possible, then loot and steal and borrow and obstruct and blame it on the socialists. Anyone who opposes regulating capitalism and keeping money out of politics, is an enemy to the nation and God.
In my ongoing discussion. I forgot the most important thing - Great article, Thom!
Thom, the similarities between the 1930’s Germany and the U.S. of today are strikingly frightening. I can only hope that Faux Entertainment News doesn’t convince Dominion to accept a,deal and avoid admitting to its years long of lying to it’s listeners as well as its talking heads continuing to spread their lies and innuendo in their efforts to distract their followers from the real happenings in America.
I hope Dominion takes Faux News to a jury trial and forces it to expose all of their dirty laundry and all of the skeletons in their collective closets. And, I hope Murdoch is arrested for personally abetting in the January 6th riot that resulted in the death and injuries of so many people, plus all of the destruction to the Capital. Building.
I hope, too, that Trumpet can be found guilty of propagating an insurrection against the US and sentenced to life without parole; as well as all of those in Congress who can be found to have aided and abetted him.
We need a general housecleaning of all the filth and rot the GQPTP has brought into politics since the days of Reagan and Gingrich.
Truly frightening . But making more sense everyday .
We see it happening in mostly red states but it surely is infiltrating all of the United States and so many countries around the world.
I read an article a while back about greed as an addiction. The human brain acts in the same capacity with increased sums of money as it does with increasing intake of addictive substances. Its a simplification on my part but it makes sense. All moral values get cast to the winds in order to continuously accrue more and more money and the power that comes with it.
So these powerful people become irritated with anyones needs other than their own needs/ wants.
The language of these people becomes nasty and remote. They truly stop caring about people who cannot challenge them monetarily.
We are all becoming categories .
The poor, the minorities, the trans, the LBTGQ’s the immigrants , those on Social Security, retirees and disabled , all superfluous.
We ask ,’ have they no shame, no heart?’
And the answer is No.
Just as an addict will do what he must to get his next drug, the wealthiest and most powerful will wipe out anyone in their way.
See Kevin McCarthy ruthlessly setting us up for default on our debt.
It will trash our finances as well as much of the worlds . He doesn’t care.
He will blame Biden for not negotiating , on the debt of the last many years , much of it accrued under Trump. Because the Maga hostages cannot take responsibility to continue paying on what needs to be paid on .
A point seemingly lost on this group and their fractious leaders , McCarthy, Trump et al.
Just a review of fact.
The debt ceiling under Trumps administration was raised three times.
Mc Carthy pretends not to know this.
A very weak grasp on reality .
RE: "So, to the question about what’s really behind the war Republicans are waging against American democracy, the answer is simple: rightwing billionaires who want more, more, more money and are willing to make common cause with bigots, fascists, and wannabee killers to get it."
Authoritarians "... waging war against democracy ..." because:
Yes, we are witnessing our version of Germany's path to fascism. We are also reliving our earlier history of attempts by oligarchs to create our form of fascism. The Confederate fascists/oligarchs went to war to protect and increase their wealth. They also propagandized their citizens into fighting their war. The Industrial fascists/oligarchs, at the start of the 20th century, tried to get retired Marine Major General Smedley Butler to lead a military coup to remove FDR, who eventually reduced their wealth and power. Now we have a new set of fascist oligarchs trying to end our form of democracy because it will reduce their wealth and power.
These authoritarian oligarchs will do what ever it takes to protect their wealth, their authoritarian power and the authoritarian economic system that has, three times now, allowed the concentration of wealth into the hands of oligarchs/fascists. To stay wealthy and powerful, they will:
- Take control of mass commercial media to promote what they want promoted and hide what they want hidden. They will use that media to keep us divided and distracted from their ultimate goal.
- With the help of a SCOTUS, buy as many politicians in all parties as they can. They own the GOP. They own a few Dems and influence many others. They will use those politicians, in their media, to help keep us divided and distracted from their ultimate goal. They will use those politicians to pass laws that protect and enhance their authoritarian power and protect the authoritarian economic systems that funds their wealth.
- End our form of democracy using their media, their politicians and their wealth from our authoritarian economic system. An economic system that has put 40% of the nation's wealth into the hands of 1% of its citizens and left only 7% of the wealth for the bottom 80% of citizens.
For more on replacing democracy with fascism, check out "How Fascism Works" by Jason Stanley:
"Fascist politics are running rampant in America today—and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history. ... He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations."
https://jason-stanley.com/book/how-fascism-works/
Here is what perplexes me. It is well known and quite obvious that the right wing is virulently anti semitic, that they used Soros as code for Jew is just one example, another is the chant in Charlotteville of Jews will not replace us, and of course holocaust denialism.
With such blatant evidence how does one explain Steven Miller, Rupert, Steve Wynn, the Addelsons, and other Las Vegas millionaires, the Mercers, Barre Seid who left 1.6 billion to the Federalist Society, and especially Rupert Murdoch https://observer.com/2016/03/algemeiner-celebrates-power-Jews-at-packed-manhattan-gala/ is it all about Israel? Are Republicans seen as the champions of the Israeli state? For sure Evangelicals and end time Christians certainly are.
The Israeli right knows that these are virulent antisemites, but because they are the biggest supporters of Israel (as part of their end times eschatology) and the primary source of tourist income, they pragmatically overlook their antisemitism
Not too smart, an equivalent is a gay Republican or any Republican who is not white, straight and Christian, or for that matter not male.
Lots of Germans made that mistake in the 1920's and 30's, as did Russians in 1917.
Because of pogroms and the forced movement of Ashkenazi to the pale of settlement, the Jews were early supporters of the Bolsheviks., but their welcome wore out, until there was a flood of refuseniks fleeing to the west and America
I appreciate your point regarding the fact that there are two parties and the Democrats are thoroughly useless in defending us against Republicans because it is their political expediency that allows marginalized groups to be used as election fodder with little authentic action in their favor. And the Democrat's nationalism in their lining up to supply Ukraine with countless billions in weapons in favor of their feckless leader Joe Biden reinforces the fantasy that oligarchal leadership is somehow favorable to fascism when they are in fact one and the same. And let us not forget fascism rises when the political system fails its people, and in the US that has certainly been a bipartisan effort.
There will always come a time when posturing for the powerful will turn to being immediately expendable.
Stressful as hell besides.
Ya, I wouldn't want to use the ERIC system either when my agenda is to out-right lie about everything that doesn't fit with what I maintain to be voter fraud. It's so annoying when someone keeps pointing to your lies.
That's why we cannot quit doing just that---THANK YOU THOM!
I pass-by a heavy equipment/construction place often, and yesterday I noticed they have their flag flying up-side-down, a signal for help. They do need help, just not for the reason they inverted OUR flag. This cult that you describe thinks they can survive without the majority of society. I know from my own little rural red county that they are not the future. The diversity movement is stronger than ever among the youth and corporate America knows it. They have decided to add a rainbow flag for even more freedom. Think I'll go have a Bud Light.
The “base”, the politically agitated minority on the right who can be duped, swayed, hoodwinked, and manipulated are always where things get dicey and momentum builds until there are uncontrollable forces able to wreak havoc and destruction. What does it take for “the people” to wake up and for those in positions of power to reverse the trends? Why are Democrats so “impotent” in getting their message out and countering the lies?
We have heard it a million times. Education is the key. Solid, truthful, factual information must find its way to the people. Citizens must be alert, discriminating, and capable of critical thinking and detecting BS. It’s too bad we don’t have some way for people to learn and develop those essential skills. Maybe in another 100 years.
Based on the newsletter I put out every day for my friends, I find that on a daily basis, there are probably 4 times more eye-grabbing headline stories about GOP fascists than there are about Democrats even though the President and Senate are led by Democrats. The Democratic Party infrastructure appears to be under-informed, overly cautious (e.g., Sanders v Clinton - she lost) and strategically outgunned by the fascists. It has only been in the past 12 months that the MSM has even started to use the "F" term in reference to Republicans. Only a few Democrats seem to recognize that the fascists are tracking Hitler's playbook to power. How is the failed Bierhalle Putsch any different from the failed Jan 6th Insurrection? Hitler helped engineer a failing economy to gain public support. Today Speaker McCarthy is doing the same thing with the "debt ceiling." The DNC fails to recognize that the stolen election fuss was not aimed at overturning 2020 election results, but making the entire country question US election integrity for 2024 - the neo-fascist's Reichstag fire. We did not elect Sleepy Joe because we expected energetic leadership, but because he was the Un-Trump. It is hard to envision a re-run in '24. People want change and an end to the corruption. Half of Trump's government sabotage in office still has not been reversed. Meanwhile the MAGAs blind support for their Fuhrer remains strong.
Hitler's rise to power was enabled by the financial support of the wealthiest men in Germany and by the support of the Catholic church (which was critical to the support of Hitler's becoming the vice chancellor). Despite the propaganda, the entire history of the Catholic church has been its enriching itself at the expense of its subjects over the past 1700 years.
British leaders including the king and Lloyd George and Keynes all thought what had taken place in Italy and Germany was a positive development. Hitler's deal with the industrialists was his agreeing to ban unions. This is the bargain that is struck by the Republican Party leaders with the billionaires or the over class of the USA. Fascism is the ultimate form of governance for capitalists as it suppresses workers' rights while making it easier to wage war and this in turn profits the industrialists enormously. IG Farben received billions of reichsmarks from the Nazi as well as being gifted with new factories and a slave labor force from the occupied countries.