There is a segment of the population that finds safety, comfort and security in authoritarianism... so long as it is their version of authoritarianism.
in the U.S. of A. it is male, at least 55%, their camp following women, a percentage of Hispanic males, and even black and Asian males, augmented and agitated by religious authorities. This percentage is highly motivated, much more motivated than the 45%, who are the intended victims of the 55%.
The corporate elite is wise in the ways of human behavior, they have the money to hire experts, think thinks, psychiatrists, psychologists to study the human mind, and have aligned themselves with and promoted the fearful and agitated 55% and used that money to agitate and promote even more, and dominate the means of communication
"The only people who will be happy at the end of this regime will be the billionaires who conspired to overthrow the government.
The financial system, the military, and the entire social safety net are at the whims of messianic oligarchs who think the most important thing is becoming the first trillionaires and getting to Mars. They have no empathy, emotion, or soul. They truly think they are above us. They have constructed an alternate reality where they can play god with humanity. Our “happiness” is the last thing on their minds."
Trump follows the example of Victor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister, who used various methods, including lawsuits followed by buyouts by wealthy loyalists to control the media.
"Hungary has become a quite successful informational autocracy, or spin dictatorship, a quote by Peter Kreko, an analyst and head of the Political Capital think tank in Budapest.
It's crucial that we, as informed citizens, stay vigilant and aware of such tactics. The following World News article, "How Hungary's Orban uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark." in apnews.com, details how Orban and Russia control the news media. It's a stark reminder of the power of the media and the need for public awareness. Remember, Orban visited Maralogo before the election. Trump admires dictators.
Fascism is so gradual that even a history professor is doomed to repeat it.
While in grad school 50 years ago, I met my BFF Axel from Stuttgart. Our relationship groomed me as a cosmopolitan as we visited back and forth over the decades. As I got to know his family, and the parents of his friends, I could not help but inquire in casual chit-chat what it was like as Hitler rose to power. The answer was always something gradual until the Reichstag fire coup. By then he had so much surprising institutionalized support that is was unstoppable. He ran on "Make Germany Great Again." The greedy tycoons saw him as a dimbulb clown who would be easy to manipulate into business expansion. That was pretty much how Hitler likely viewed them. However, Hitler had a militia and an army that he controlled which made his way or the concentration camp the only option.
During retirement, I ran across Columbia U professor R.O. Paxton's "Anatomy of Fascism" (the pdf is free to download if you google a bit). In 2018, I emailed Bob and asked him if he thought Trump was a fascist. Shockingly, he said no. "But, Bob, I used your criteria to come to that conclusion." Trump snuck up on him too apparently, because in 2021, he published an OpEd in Newsweek: "I've Hesitated To Call Donald Trump A Fascist Until Now."
Hegseth would likely be ineffective and a morale killer, since his remarks betray that he has no idea what real generals do. But he is not there yet. Gen Flynn is not eligible to be JCS chair.
Why is Charles Flynn ineligible to be JCS Chair,? And since when laws and eligibility stop Trump.
Here is what I found: "What is the criteria for chairman?
The person leading the Board of the organisation must be seen to have the highest personal standards with regard to honesty, reliability, and commitment to the role. They must lead by example. There should be no doubt that they can be trusted at all times"
And that determination is up to the President,in this case Trump.
That Hegseth would be ineffective and a moral killer is irrelevant to Trump, He wants some one who will obey and let loose the military on the populace.
An ineffective and non combat ready military is the plan and goal of Putin, and frankly a lot (too many) Marxist and leftists, Trump and his regime don't care, so long as they can use the military to squash the libs and immigrants.
Deep in the heart of Texas, and many other places, a real American patriot is a myth, not unlike the Headless Horseman, Melania the American, the Flynn Bros., or Santa Clause.
Time to take to the streets and also boycott those corporations that are kissing 45’s ass. It may get ugly but necessary if we are to repel fascism. It’s war.
Is it naïve to hope that Trump will sue someone such as Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, etc., and get beat in court or in a countersuit in which it is proven to the satisfaction of a fair and unbiased judge and/or jury that the person originally sued had spoken the truth (which is still the standard for permitting defamatory statements). Could a few such suits and massive judgments in favor of defendants put a real crimp in the bully’s style? Will our courts hold up and truth ultimately prevail?
Thom says:
“Any company so willing to engage with such tainted government leadership should alarm us all: Going forward, the honesty, reliability, and safety of their products may well be corrupted by their praetorian relationship with Trump’s regulators, rather than responding to the competitive forces of the actual marketplace.”
This suggests boycotts might be in order. However, it seems to me that the more important issue is that far too much relies on responses to “the competitive forces of the actual marketplace”. I believe the marketplace is already badly corrupted and that we should be rethinking about significantly redesigning that milieu.
I had a thought which we might try to convey to ABC/Disney and others. If anyone has imagined a “benevolent dictatorship” this will not be that. Everyone should know right now that benevolence is definitely nowhere to be found in these cards.
Check out Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum. That is where we are headed. Also possibly little fiefdoms a la Curtis Yarvin, each controlled by a dictator-like billionaire, most likely from the tech industry. Need a new term for sneaky fascism
Let's hope readers and post contributors will finally Ken the villany of corporations and their salient contributions to this fascist coup--a realization of which has been largely ignored with accompanying individual denials for individual emotional discomfort's sake. Little can be attributed to effective counter to fascist control until people realize that personal emotional issues only neutralize a meaningful, valid, fully mature response. The war is on. Get beyond yourself and identify the enemies dispassionately.
I'm sorry....before Musk robber barons....progressives made a dent but we never really had democracy. We were supposed to after the voting rights act but......
If you examine what Putin did to acqure power -- and rubles-- it's happening now. He's probably as rich, if not richer than Musk. IMHO Biden is our last hope.
Last September, DOJ asserted that Sergey Kiriyenko had created some 30 internet domains to spread Russian disinformation, including on Elon Musk’s X which was formerly known as Twitter. In October, the Wall Street Journal disclosed that Musk had been in contact with Kiriyenko and Vladimir Putin which Dmitry Peskov affirmed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Kiriyenko
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue doing so in future, We have interfered (in U.S. elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/russias-prigozhin-admits-interfering-us-elections-2022-11-07/
I know that the FBI has been on the job. I wonder what they have? Why are the Dems not asking these questions? MSM? It just seems to me that if there were an involutary takeover, everything else is a distraction if we want to keep a semblance of fairness.
"The power of government to both reward and punish is awesome. No other entity can legally take money away from citizens at gunpoint and hand it to others it favors."
That is often true where governments actually govern. Then, they even regulate corporations. That is not true in the USA.
Here, corporate oligarchs form a ruling class that uses its wealth to control an obsolete two-party system—a cartel system with winner-take-all vote tallies that prevent forming an actual representative Democracy. Moreover, the situation enables their corporations to regulate government. Screams of"Save our Democracy" actually mean "Preserve our ruling class oligarchy!!"
"No other entity has the power to deprive people of their freedom and even their lives."
About 500,000 people each year who lose their lives and homes to a murderous ruling-class owned corporate "health care" system would have to disagree with you, Tom. No real democracy maintains such a system to keep people dependent on needed health care. The for-profit "health care" system is the most efficient way ever devised to allow a ruling class to gradually and permanently move all of the wealth of everyday citizens to themselves. The plan of the Democratic Party is encapsulated in the words of their icon Hillary Clinton: Americans will "NEVER, EVER" have a single payer health care system. That was virtue signalling to her ruling class backers as her party deceived their own rank and file and rigged their own primary. This election, the operatives of both parties wanted to get rid of Lina Khan, who actually made the terminal mistake of regulating corporations. Both parties made certain that her removal happened.
Telling people such nonsense as quoted comments above and brainwashing them to believe that they live in an actual democracy ensures that the corporate ruling class will own them forever. Doing your part here to preserve the brainwashing.
Mr. Nuhfer, you are the only person here responding with an actual analysis of the socio-structural forces forming our lives. All the rest is useless biological and psychological reductionism paired with personal attacks, and often laced with childish vulgarity presented by the usual intellectual clowns. Good job!
Thank you. Similar sites exist to supply confirmation bias to sheepdog for the Democratic Party rather than to confront reality. Reality is too frightening.
It's the Aesop fable of the frogs who wanted a king. Zeus gave them a log and they thought it was boring. So he gave them a stork who ate them. When the frogs complained Zeus said they must live with their choice.
When one says "Fascism" I suspect most Americans think "Nazis", who were an offshoot of the movement. They don't see mass rallies with Swastika waving crowds and think we're safe from such poison. And it is a convenient term--Putin, after all, used it to "justify" his invasion of the Ukraine. But there are real hallmarks to Fascism and Trump and his henchmen neatly check the boxes.
But whether the movement will survive him is an open question; dictators rarely leave strong successors as grooming one creates a new center of power. Afterwards their states often fall into chaos and ruin, get another strongman or (rarely) the people are "woke" to the need for a normal country again.
Unable to respond intellectually, you respond with misogeny! You appear over qualified for a cabinet post in the coming administration! Don't bother responding as I have too much respect for Mr. Hartmann to continue such an immature dialogue.
There’s no need. Unlike some countries the American government is self-assured enough that it doesn’t have to murder opponents. I would have added “or jail them” but that might be changing, such as going after Hunter Biden just to get at this father, and perhaps Trump’s immaturity and insecurity will lead to his imprisoning lots of people. Weak folks are terrified of the world, though no matter how many they lash out at it is never enough. (See Nixon using the pot laws to bludgeon his perceived enemies.) But killing is a different step and it is hard to see how it could be useful. After all, it does leave a trail, creates martyrs and infuriates and frightens those who want to stay out of the whole thing. A good example was Trujillo, the rotten dictator of the Dominican Republic. He got away with a lot until he murdered three sisters who stood up to him. Then he lost control of the public reaction and was shot.
I think we should adopt the motto: "Stop the Steal (of working class wealth by the corporate elite."
Yes!! Stop the steal. It’s a fucking no brainer and you know what else? Both left and right will be cheering. Just like with the United CEO
There is a segment of the population that finds safety, comfort and security in authoritarianism... so long as it is their version of authoritarianism.
in the U.S. of A. it is male, at least 55%, their camp following women, a percentage of Hispanic males, and even black and Asian males, augmented and agitated by religious authorities. This percentage is highly motivated, much more motivated than the 45%, who are the intended victims of the 55%.
The corporate elite is wise in the ways of human behavior, they have the money to hire experts, think thinks, psychiatrists, psychologists to study the human mind, and have aligned themselves with and promoted the fearful and agitated 55% and used that money to agitate and promote even more, and dominate the means of communication
Here is from Jim Stewardson's Mind war https://www.mind-war.com/p/unalienable-rights
"The only people who will be happy at the end of this regime will be the billionaires who conspired to overthrow the government.
The financial system, the military, and the entire social safety net are at the whims of messianic oligarchs who think the most important thing is becoming the first trillionaires and getting to Mars. They have no empathy, emotion, or soul. They truly think they are above us. They have constructed an alternate reality where they can play god with humanity. Our “happiness” is the last thing on their minds."
Who are these companies, beyond Amazon, Open AI, Disney, Meta... Happy to avoid them!!!
Virtually all. Here's what Trump did for them in 2017. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-2017-trump-tax-law-was-skewed-to-the-rich-expensive-and-failed-to-deliver
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/pass-through-deduction-benefits-wealthiest-loses-needed-revenue-and-encourages
Many of the highest earners do not even file tax returens and expect exonoration. Biden tried to collect. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-launches-new-effort-aimed-at-high-income-non-filers-125000-cases-focused-on-high-earners-including-millionaires-who-failed-to-file-tax-returns-with-financial-activity-topping-100-billion
Thanks for this
Thank you for this info. Read and noted.
Ever needed to access medical care? Good luck avoiding that system the two parties have arranged for you.
Trump follows the example of Victor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister, who used various methods, including lawsuits followed by buyouts by wealthy loyalists to control the media.
"Hungary has become a quite successful informational autocracy, or spin dictatorship, a quote by Peter Kreko, an analyst and head of the Political Capital think tank in Budapest.
It's crucial that we, as informed citizens, stay vigilant and aware of such tactics. The following World News article, "How Hungary's Orban uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark." in apnews.com, details how Orban and Russia control the news media. It's a stark reminder of the power of the media and the need for public awareness. Remember, Orban visited Maralogo before the election. Trump admires dictators.
This is the kind of stuff that happened when the Soviets acquired most of eastern Europe. I documented Cuba.
Fascism is so gradual that even a history professor is doomed to repeat it.
While in grad school 50 years ago, I met my BFF Axel from Stuttgart. Our relationship groomed me as a cosmopolitan as we visited back and forth over the decades. As I got to know his family, and the parents of his friends, I could not help but inquire in casual chit-chat what it was like as Hitler rose to power. The answer was always something gradual until the Reichstag fire coup. By then he had so much surprising institutionalized support that is was unstoppable. He ran on "Make Germany Great Again." The greedy tycoons saw him as a dimbulb clown who would be easy to manipulate into business expansion. That was pretty much how Hitler likely viewed them. However, Hitler had a militia and an army that he controlled which made his way or the concentration camp the only option.
During retirement, I ran across Columbia U professor R.O. Paxton's "Anatomy of Fascism" (the pdf is free to download if you google a bit). In 2018, I emailed Bob and asked him if he thought Trump was a fascist. Shockingly, he said no. "But, Bob, I used your criteria to come to that conclusion." Trump snuck up on him too apparently, because in 2021, he published an OpEd in Newsweek: "I've Hesitated To Call Donald Trump A Fascist Until Now."
Thanks. Wish this site had more posts like yours.
Thanks. I whish more sites had posts like Thom's.
Admiral, what are your thoughts these days on the JCS and Pentagon being co opted by Trump?
My nominee for Chairman of the JCS,is Lt Gen Mike Flynn's brother General Charles Flynn.
Hegseth would likely be ineffective and a morale killer, since his remarks betray that he has no idea what real generals do. But he is not there yet. Gen Flynn is not eligible to be JCS chair.
Why is Charles Flynn ineligible to be JCS Chair,? And since when laws and eligibility stop Trump.
Here is what I found: "What is the criteria for chairman?
The person leading the Board of the organisation must be seen to have the highest personal standards with regard to honesty, reliability, and commitment to the role. They must lead by example. There should be no doubt that they can be trusted at all times"
And that determination is up to the President,in this case Trump.
That Hegseth would be ineffective and a moral killer is irrelevant to Trump, He wants some one who will obey and let loose the military on the populace.
An ineffective and non combat ready military is the plan and goal of Putin, and frankly a lot (too many) Marxist and leftists, Trump and his regime don't care, so long as they can use the military to squash the libs and immigrants.
Flynn is ineligible because he is retired and may not be recalled to active duty to fill that role - assuming Trump plays by the rules.
I didn't realize that Charles Flynn was retired. But again Trump playing by the rules? Has ne ever?
We need to publish the names of these companies far and wide .. along with a simply explanation on why to avoid !!
Right now I wish for Disney, ABC's parent, to be the saddest place on earth.
Deep in the heart of Texas, and many other places, a real American patriot is a myth, not unlike the Headless Horseman, Melania the American, the Flynn Bros., or Santa Clause.
Time to take to the streets and also boycott those corporations that are kissing 45’s ass. It may get ugly but necessary if we are to repel fascism. It’s war.
Is it naïve to hope that Trump will sue someone such as Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, etc., and get beat in court or in a countersuit in which it is proven to the satisfaction of a fair and unbiased judge and/or jury that the person originally sued had spoken the truth (which is still the standard for permitting defamatory statements). Could a few such suits and massive judgments in favor of defendants put a real crimp in the bully’s style? Will our courts hold up and truth ultimately prevail?
Thom says:
“Any company so willing to engage with such tainted government leadership should alarm us all: Going forward, the honesty, reliability, and safety of their products may well be corrupted by their praetorian relationship with Trump’s regulators, rather than responding to the competitive forces of the actual marketplace.”
This suggests boycotts might be in order. However, it seems to me that the more important issue is that far too much relies on responses to “the competitive forces of the actual marketplace”. I believe the marketplace is already badly corrupted and that we should be rethinking about significantly redesigning that milieu.
I had a thought which we might try to convey to ABC/Disney and others. If anyone has imagined a “benevolent dictatorship” this will not be that. Everyone should know right now that benevolence is definitely nowhere to be found in these cards.
Check out Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum. That is where we are headed. Also possibly little fiefdoms a la Curtis Yarvin, each controlled by a dictator-like billionaire, most likely from the tech industry. Need a new term for sneaky fascism
Let's hope readers and post contributors will finally Ken the villany of corporations and their salient contributions to this fascist coup--a realization of which has been largely ignored with accompanying individual denials for individual emotional discomfort's sake. Little can be attributed to effective counter to fascist control until people realize that personal emotional issues only neutralize a meaningful, valid, fully mature response. The war is on. Get beyond yourself and identify the enemies dispassionately.
Gerald the enemies have been clearly identified on the many pages of this substack and even the corporate media.
We know their faces, now what to do about it.
It has ever been thus.
As I said yesterday, Putin is the spider to the fly -- they will be his marks.
But it has NOT ever been thus. There has been US.
But now there’s not. You think its too late?
What will it take? I’ll do whatever you say
To fight the barbarians at the gate
I'm sorry....before Musk robber barons....progressives made a dent but we never really had democracy. We were supposed to after the voting rights act but......
If you examine what Putin did to acqure power -- and rubles-- it's happening now. He's probably as rich, if not richer than Musk. IMHO Biden is our last hope.
Last September, DOJ asserted that Sergey Kiriyenko had created some 30 internet domains to spread Russian disinformation, including on Elon Musk’s X which was formerly known as Twitter. In October, the Wall Street Journal disclosed that Musk had been in contact with Kiriyenko and Vladimir Putin which Dmitry Peskov affirmed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Kiriyenko
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue doing so in future, We have interfered (in U.S. elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/russias-prigozhin-admits-interfering-us-elections-2022-11-07/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections
I know that the FBI has been on the job. I wonder what they have? Why are the Dems not asking these questions? MSM? It just seems to me that if there were an involutary takeover, everything else is a distraction if we want to keep a semblance of fairness.
Daniel you asked: "I know that the FBI has been on the job. I wonder what they have? Why are the Dems not asking these questions? MSM? "
My learned answer is that they are preoccupied with finding a less than obvious way of morphing into the cult.
When Trump takes over, they (and we) will become the perps.
"The power of government to both reward and punish is awesome. No other entity can legally take money away from citizens at gunpoint and hand it to others it favors."
That is often true where governments actually govern. Then, they even regulate corporations. That is not true in the USA.
Here, corporate oligarchs form a ruling class that uses its wealth to control an obsolete two-party system—a cartel system with winner-take-all vote tallies that prevent forming an actual representative Democracy. Moreover, the situation enables their corporations to regulate government. Screams of"Save our Democracy" actually mean "Preserve our ruling class oligarchy!!"
"No other entity has the power to deprive people of their freedom and even their lives."
About 500,000 people each year who lose their lives and homes to a murderous ruling-class owned corporate "health care" system would have to disagree with you, Tom. No real democracy maintains such a system to keep people dependent on needed health care. The for-profit "health care" system is the most efficient way ever devised to allow a ruling class to gradually and permanently move all of the wealth of everyday citizens to themselves. The plan of the Democratic Party is encapsulated in the words of their icon Hillary Clinton: Americans will "NEVER, EVER" have a single payer health care system. That was virtue signalling to her ruling class backers as her party deceived their own rank and file and rigged their own primary. This election, the operatives of both parties wanted to get rid of Lina Khan, who actually made the terminal mistake of regulating corporations. Both parties made certain that her removal happened.
Telling people such nonsense as quoted comments above and brainwashing them to believe that they live in an actual democracy ensures that the corporate ruling class will own them forever. Doing your part here to preserve the brainwashing.
Mr. Nuhfer, you are the only person here responding with an actual analysis of the socio-structural forces forming our lives. All the rest is useless biological and psychological reductionism paired with personal attacks, and often laced with childish vulgarity presented by the usual intellectual clowns. Good job!
Thank you. Similar sites exist to supply confirmation bias to sheepdog for the Democratic Party rather than to confront reality. Reality is too frightening.
I stand for the anthem and kneel for the cross - AND - bend all the way over for anyone who has the most money and power no matter what.
So many truck window slogans missing 33% of their virtue.
Trump will do what he said he will do.. and got the vote on that basis..so its called democracy.. so get used to it
It's the Aesop fable of the frogs who wanted a king. Zeus gave them a log and they thought it was boring. So he gave them a stork who ate them. When the frogs complained Zeus said they must live with their choice.
When one says "Fascism" I suspect most Americans think "Nazis", who were an offshoot of the movement. They don't see mass rallies with Swastika waving crowds and think we're safe from such poison. And it is a convenient term--Putin, after all, used it to "justify" his invasion of the Ukraine. But there are real hallmarks to Fascism and Trump and his henchmen neatly check the boxes.
But whether the movement will survive him is an open question; dictators rarely leave strong successors as grooming one creates a new center of power. Afterwards their states often fall into chaos and ruin, get another strongman or (rarely) the people are "woke" to the need for a normal country again.
Meanwhile enjoy King Stork.
for many its Fix it or F*** it time.. and they are happy to see some leadership that is lead or follow and get out of the way.
So tell me Mr. Southway, who's going to get Fixed? Who's going to get F***ed?
Just follow instructions and you will be OK
Unable to respond intellectually, you respond with misogeny! You appear over qualified for a cabinet post in the coming administration! Don't bother responding as I have too much respect for Mr. Hartmann to continue such an immature dialogue.
Ok.. thats fine.... but...How did you get to misogeny from my comment?
“While it’s unlikely oligarchs who refuse to go along with Trump will begin to fall out of 14th floor windows like in Russia, …”
I can’t imagine why you think this ‘unlikely’. What makes you think so? Please explain your reasoning here.
There’s no need. Unlike some countries the American government is self-assured enough that it doesn’t have to murder opponents. I would have added “or jail them” but that might be changing, such as going after Hunter Biden just to get at this father, and perhaps Trump’s immaturity and insecurity will lead to his imprisoning lots of people. Weak folks are terrified of the world, though no matter how many they lash out at it is never enough. (See Nixon using the pot laws to bludgeon his perceived enemies.) But killing is a different step and it is hard to see how it could be useful. After all, it does leave a trail, creates martyrs and infuriates and frightens those who want to stay out of the whole thing. A good example was Trujillo, the rotten dictator of the Dominican Republic. He got away with a lot until he murdered three sisters who stood up to him. Then he lost control of the public reaction and was shot.
Lots of people would disagree with that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_NughDXxf0