Thanks for understanding. I think A.S. has more integrity than that. He recognizes his vulnerability and has reflected. Each case, individual. But of course, who knows.
“Anthony Scaramucci (AS): Business people are more indifferent to the radical right than they are to the radical left. They believe that the radical right is not interested in overly taxing them or taking their enterprises away. And they think the proposals made by someone like AOC or Bill de Blasio, which would flatten society and reduce meritocracy, would be very unfair. . . . This isn't a left or right thing. This is about right or wrong. And the first thing we have to do is empower these people . . . .”
Matthew 19:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Good interview. Important. I think he’s being honest. Blunt. Likely very accurate situational analysis. But, dude’s a hedge fund guy. He’ll play it either way. That’s disgusting.
Sorry. I knew that was a hash snippy emotional response to reading his take, which I believe is very true. But, I also completely believe he WILL hedge his bets and play it either way. Fascism or Democracy.
I remember Anthony from the days before he was in politics. He was a regular on CNBC's financial shows. When he joined Trump's team, I thought he had gone over the edge in supporting Trump's proto-fascism. But he soon realized that Trump was unhinged and was dangerous. I give him credit for having that epiphany.
Sounds like a typical response of a successful American business man which I have heard so many times since 2016....he recognises the threat to democracy and society but as long as the perceived threat to his business and personal wealth from de Dems is higher than the (less personal?) threat to society and democracy from Trump and GOP, he will not stick his neck out to defend democracy........and if push comes to stuff, will make the same wrong choice as the Capital and Business men did in Italy and Germany in the 1920-1930's and other authoritarian regimes. I hear this far too often because they believe they can personally benefit from and will not become victimised in an authoritarian regime. They know how these regimes ended in disaster in the past but are convinced this will not happen in US. This does not give me much hope for the American democracy in 22 and 24.
A.S. says "We need to re-establish our civic virtue, and to pull ourselves back together." True but the Republicans, along with their allies in right wing media outlets are doing everything in their collective power to keep the country as polarized and divided as it possibly can. Because as a minority party with only minority support for its policy positions on economic and social issues, Republicans foster discontent and distrust in our country's institutions and voting systems not only to stay in power but to regain Control of congress and Presidency.
Business people, the very wealthy and entrepreneurs don't fear authoritarians, they just hear low taxes and deregulation. Evangelicals hear antiabortion judges and Democrats want to take Christmas away, alienated disaffected blue collars workers, who saw their factories close due to globalization hear anger and nihilism towards elites and their institutions, racists and white supremacists hear shit hole counties, immigration and border crisis, gun owners and libertarians hear they're going to take your guns away. Anti vaxers hear vaccine mandates are an infringement of their liberties despite risking disease and their own death, Angry and armed MAGA mobs hear Biden and the Democrats have stolen the election from their leader and they have to take back their country. Almost half the country and one of its major political parties live in an alternative reality sustained by a constant barrage of media propaganda. Is it any wonder why authoritarianism in America is on the rise?
The dying Republican Party seems to have resorted to extreme measures to prevent their party from going extinct, including their massive propaganda campaign and the acceptance of fascist politcs. But ten or so years ago, the voters were getting a bad taste in their mouth with tradtional Republican leaders, pandering to the neoliberal order and not stopping Obama. So the party had to change tactics. The party actually got more entrenched with the corporate agenda under Trump, and business loved him at first. They sold it to the voters with the "fear of the other" tactic, meanwhile hiding their fascist intent of business/government collusion.
Arizona, Georgia & Michigan- “The tight races in the trio of states had a big electoral impact. As NPR's Domenico Montanaro has put it, "just 44,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin separated Biden and Trump from a tie in the Electoral College."” From an NPR article.
He's talking about the votes that won the electoral College for Biden, not the popular vote (which is irrelevant to winning the presidency). With so narrow a win by Biden, voter suppression, voter purges, Democratic voter apathy, new state laws allowing GOP legislators to overturn Democratic wins, it's highly likely that we'll see 1-party (GOP) rule for a generation or more. A GOP trifecta (now that SCOTUS is fully compromised) will mean a rollback of civil rights across the country (women, children, LGBTQ, minorities, etc). The medus will be further gutted as libel laws are rolled back and most news will be propaganda or dear leader Fox News (MSM seems equally blind to history of the demise of journalism under authoritarian rule as they continue their both-sides journalism and easy money book sales). Big business will find that Putin's extortion of the wealthy and corporate entities will be the path followed by a US dictator, but as with all short-sighted greed, they won't realize their miscalculation until it's far too late.
I spent months writing to everyone with a platform (journalists, politicians, never-Trumpers, activists, historians), pleading with them to describe (in vivid detail) the reality of life under authoritarian rule. Nada. One reality is that the rising anarchists will demand a steady diet of red meat. If the wealthy oligarchs believe that they will be spared, they are delusional. Ditto the Trump fanatical members of any minority group. Their loyalty will be tossed in the trash heap. Loyalty is a 1-way street under authoritarian rule.
Fascism is usually headed by a sociopath and because of this, there is no loyalty to anyone, because sociopaths have no conscience, nor empathy. They view themselves as a demigod, so everyone else is superfluous. Trump of course is a sociopath.
The road to fascism is paved with gullibility, corruption, deception, division, jingoism, national exceptionalism, far right autocratic rule, belligerent foreign policy, government/business collusion, anti-intellectualism, political bigotry, scapegoating , yearning for the country’s mythical past greatness, a sense of victimhood, anti-Marxism, a cult of machismo, extreme social hierarchy, sadism and the intolerance of dissent.
We are headed down this road but there is a sign ahead that says "Warning! Fascism Ahead 5 Miles!" People are ignoring this sign.
I agree with your analysis. I would also layer on Tom Nichol's conclusion about the 'narcissism of the bored affluent class'. I would only add that, not only are people ignoring the road sign, their deliberately speeding up. This is why I often mention anarchy along with fascism. The GOP-created monster, by definition, cannot be controlled. Even now we see McConnell groveling at the feet of Herschel Walker to please the base. It won't be nearly enough once Trump siccs the base on McConnell. So the GOP is not simply leading the base off a cliff, they're tied to the base, and will themselves be dragged off the cliff.
Once conservatives get sold on fascism, no amount of corrective information will change them. This is attributed to the Backfire Effect in social psychology. This effect is attributed to a larger amygdala in the conservative brain. Fascism is a conservative fantasy land.
I think Scaramucci's take on the motivation of business people is a real revelation. They have no sense of the civic responsibility necessary for a democracy to flourish.
Ayn Rand's simpleton philosophy is as far as they've taken their thinking about governance, I guess.
Little do they know that Rule *By* Law will swallow them up too. F'n dummies.
Ayn Rand was a sociopath and they seem to gravitate toward a far right, selfish system of economics and governance. Combine this with a lack of conscience and we get a dangerous mixture. Sociopaths are dangerous role models!
A strong Democratic party that prioritized saving democracy and strategically communicated the danger would have had a fighting chance. The Biden administration and Schumer/Pelosi focused on infrastructure and wasted 10 months of their most valuable time. Now Trumpism is stronger by multitudes than it was during the Trump presidency.
Honest question: Isn't focusing on infrastructure and other improvements part of what Scaramucci means about empowering people so they feel included? Infrastructure and related bills will bring jobs and other benefits to everyday lives. What's more empowering than being able to get to work safely or having the internet to job search. Childcare so you can go to work, etc.
That said, I agree that the Dems' lack of communication on the threats to democracy are troubling to say the least.
It's a question of priorities...focusing on infrastructure was a clear signal (albeit unintended) that voter suppression/election interference/insurrection wasn't the danger that many os know that it is. It allowed entrenchment of normalcy bias to the extent that Younkin is viewed as a moderate and may well win Virginia, where he will fall in line with extremist GOP policy, because that's all that remains of the former GOP...extremism. Once democracy is protected, then a focus on shoring up the weak social safety net would be the next priority. Focusing first on democracy is not only the moral obligation, but it has strong support from independents and never-Trumper Republicans. Social spending is more challenging, but could have been far more adept accomplished with excellent communications. Instead, Democratic leadership allowed an explosion of culture wars to explode. Most people have no idea that Biden's administration passed the child tax credit, and most Republicans believe that the GOP handed them this benefit. This is political malpractice by the Democratic leadership. If they're so unable to communicate a win, and too inept to correctly prioritize, then hire a team who can do so. Day 1 I would have hired every never -Trump ex-GOP consultant in the country.
All good points, thanks. I feel like they got caught off guard and still don't take the threat seriously. They and much of the country doesn't think the threat is real, still, even after all we've witnessed. And the Dems have always had this communication problem, or as Ruth has pointed out, a branding problem. They need to hire the Lincoln Project folks.
Democratic leadership had 4 years during the 'Trump era' to hire the top communications/PR companies in the country...to create/fine-tune crucial messaging...and to line up avenues for educating the public on a daily basis. They had 4 years to replicate Stacy Abrams work in Georgia in all 50 states. They did exactly nothing. There are fantastic Democratic office holders in many states, but the DC leaders are (with few exceptions) hapless and ineffective. Worse, they are unwilling to change or step aside. This is not a progressive/moderate issue, it's speaking clearly from a position strength on a pro-democracy/pro-humanity/pro-saving the planet platform, supported by 65% of the country.
Thanks for understanding. I think A.S. has more integrity than that. He recognizes his vulnerability and has reflected. Each case, individual. But of course, who knows.
“Anthony Scaramucci (AS): Business people are more indifferent to the radical right than they are to the radical left. They believe that the radical right is not interested in overly taxing them or taking their enterprises away. And they think the proposals made by someone like AOC or Bill de Blasio, which would flatten society and reduce meritocracy, would be very unfair. . . . This isn't a left or right thing. This is about right or wrong. And the first thing we have to do is empower these people . . . .”
Matthew 19:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Good interview. Important. I think he’s being honest. Blunt. Likely very accurate situational analysis. But, dude’s a hedge fund guy. He’ll play it either way. That’s disgusting.
Best not to stereotype anyone including "hedge fund guy."
Sorry. I knew that was a hash snippy emotional response to reading his take, which I believe is very true. But, I also completely believe he WILL hedge his bets and play it either way. Fascism or Democracy.
I remember Anthony from the days before he was in politics. He was a regular on CNBC's financial shows. When he joined Trump's team, I thought he had gone over the edge in supporting Trump's proto-fascism. But he soon realized that Trump was unhinged and was dangerous. I give him credit for having that epiphany.
He was White House Communications Director "for a time."
Ruth, you're such a diplomat!
Seriously, I'm impressed with the extent to which Scaramucci has come around and is spilling the beans on Trump. Thank you for this interview.
That "for a time" is from him. I allow interviewees to provide their own bios and then I edit down.
"We need an American renewal. We need to re-establish our civic virtue, and to pull ourselves back together. That could mean mandatory voting. "
Right. And that will take place just as soon as one of Koch brothers gets around to it.
Sounds like a typical response of a successful American business man which I have heard so many times since 2016....he recognises the threat to democracy and society but as long as the perceived threat to his business and personal wealth from de Dems is higher than the (less personal?) threat to society and democracy from Trump and GOP, he will not stick his neck out to defend democracy........and if push comes to stuff, will make the same wrong choice as the Capital and Business men did in Italy and Germany in the 1920-1930's and other authoritarian regimes. I hear this far too often because they believe they can personally benefit from and will not become victimised in an authoritarian regime. They know how these regimes ended in disaster in the past but are convinced this will not happen in US. This does not give me much hope for the American democracy in 22 and 24.
A.S. says "We need to re-establish our civic virtue, and to pull ourselves back together." True but the Republicans, along with their allies in right wing media outlets are doing everything in their collective power to keep the country as polarized and divided as it possibly can. Because as a minority party with only minority support for its policy positions on economic and social issues, Republicans foster discontent and distrust in our country's institutions and voting systems not only to stay in power but to regain Control of congress and Presidency.
Business people, the very wealthy and entrepreneurs don't fear authoritarians, they just hear low taxes and deregulation. Evangelicals hear antiabortion judges and Democrats want to take Christmas away, alienated disaffected blue collars workers, who saw their factories close due to globalization hear anger and nihilism towards elites and their institutions, racists and white supremacists hear shit hole counties, immigration and border crisis, gun owners and libertarians hear they're going to take your guns away. Anti vaxers hear vaccine mandates are an infringement of their liberties despite risking disease and their own death, Angry and armed MAGA mobs hear Biden and the Democrats have stolen the election from their leader and they have to take back their country. Almost half the country and one of its major political parties live in an alternative reality sustained by a constant barrage of media propaganda. Is it any wonder why authoritarianism in America is on the rise?
The dying Republican Party seems to have resorted to extreme measures to prevent their party from going extinct, including their massive propaganda campaign and the acceptance of fascist politcs. But ten or so years ago, the voters were getting a bad taste in their mouth with tradtional Republican leaders, pandering to the neoliberal order and not stopping Obama. So the party had to change tactics. The party actually got more entrenched with the corporate agenda under Trump, and business loved him at first. They sold it to the voters with the "fear of the other" tactic, meanwhile hiding their fascist intent of business/government collusion.
This comment - which I agree with - reads like something from 1933. Hyperbole? I think not.
Wait! What does he mean “Trump only lost by 40,000 votes”? Nationally, it was 7 million votes.
Arizona, Georgia & Michigan- “The tight races in the trio of states had a big electoral impact. As NPR's Domenico Montanaro has put it, "just 44,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin separated Biden and Trump from a tie in the Electoral College."” From an NPR article.
NPR, December 2, 2020
In Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin the vote in those states was about 41k total that tipped the electoral college for Biden.
He's talking about the votes that won the electoral College for Biden, not the popular vote (which is irrelevant to winning the presidency). With so narrow a win by Biden, voter suppression, voter purges, Democratic voter apathy, new state laws allowing GOP legislators to overturn Democratic wins, it's highly likely that we'll see 1-party (GOP) rule for a generation or more. A GOP trifecta (now that SCOTUS is fully compromised) will mean a rollback of civil rights across the country (women, children, LGBTQ, minorities, etc). The medus will be further gutted as libel laws are rolled back and most news will be propaganda or dear leader Fox News (MSM seems equally blind to history of the demise of journalism under authoritarian rule as they continue their both-sides journalism and easy money book sales). Big business will find that Putin's extortion of the wealthy and corporate entities will be the path followed by a US dictator, but as with all short-sighted greed, they won't realize their miscalculation until it's far too late.
Those who know the least about fascism are those most likely to vote for it. Our kakistocracy continues to degrade.
I spent months writing to everyone with a platform (journalists, politicians, never-Trumpers, activists, historians), pleading with them to describe (in vivid detail) the reality of life under authoritarian rule. Nada. One reality is that the rising anarchists will demand a steady diet of red meat. If the wealthy oligarchs believe that they will be spared, they are delusional. Ditto the Trump fanatical members of any minority group. Their loyalty will be tossed in the trash heap. Loyalty is a 1-way street under authoritarian rule.
Fascism is usually headed by a sociopath and because of this, there is no loyalty to anyone, because sociopaths have no conscience, nor empathy. They view themselves as a demigod, so everyone else is superfluous. Trump of course is a sociopath.
The road to fascism is paved with gullibility, corruption, deception, division, jingoism, national exceptionalism, far right autocratic rule, belligerent foreign policy, government/business collusion, anti-intellectualism, political bigotry, scapegoating , yearning for the country’s mythical past greatness, a sense of victimhood, anti-Marxism, a cult of machismo, extreme social hierarchy, sadism and the intolerance of dissent.
We are headed down this road but there is a sign ahead that says "Warning! Fascism Ahead 5 Miles!" People are ignoring this sign.
I agree with your analysis. I would also layer on Tom Nichol's conclusion about the 'narcissism of the bored affluent class'. I would only add that, not only are people ignoring the road sign, their deliberately speeding up. This is why I often mention anarchy along with fascism. The GOP-created monster, by definition, cannot be controlled. Even now we see McConnell groveling at the feet of Herschel Walker to please the base. It won't be nearly enough once Trump siccs the base on McConnell. So the GOP is not simply leading the base off a cliff, they're tied to the base, and will themselves be dragged off the cliff.
Once conservatives get sold on fascism, no amount of corrective information will change them. This is attributed to the Backfire Effect in social psychology. This effect is attributed to a larger amygdala in the conservative brain. Fascism is a conservative fantasy land.
Thanks, all…that was my guess! Glad to see people are so informative in this space. Much appreciated.
I think Scaramucci's take on the motivation of business people is a real revelation. They have no sense of the civic responsibility necessary for a democracy to flourish.
Ayn Rand's simpleton philosophy is as far as they've taken their thinking about governance, I guess.
Little do they know that Rule *By* Law will swallow them up too. F'n dummies.
Ayn Rand was a sociopath and they seem to gravitate toward a far right, selfish system of economics and governance. Combine this with a lack of conscience and we get a dangerous mixture. Sociopaths are dangerous role models!
A strong Democratic party that prioritized saving democracy and strategically communicated the danger would have had a fighting chance. The Biden administration and Schumer/Pelosi focused on infrastructure and wasted 10 months of their most valuable time. Now Trumpism is stronger by multitudes than it was during the Trump presidency.
Honest question: Isn't focusing on infrastructure and other improvements part of what Scaramucci means about empowering people so they feel included? Infrastructure and related bills will bring jobs and other benefits to everyday lives. What's more empowering than being able to get to work safely or having the internet to job search. Childcare so you can go to work, etc.
That said, I agree that the Dems' lack of communication on the threats to democracy are troubling to say the least.
It's a question of priorities...focusing on infrastructure was a clear signal (albeit unintended) that voter suppression/election interference/insurrection wasn't the danger that many os know that it is. It allowed entrenchment of normalcy bias to the extent that Younkin is viewed as a moderate and may well win Virginia, where he will fall in line with extremist GOP policy, because that's all that remains of the former GOP...extremism. Once democracy is protected, then a focus on shoring up the weak social safety net would be the next priority. Focusing first on democracy is not only the moral obligation, but it has strong support from independents and never-Trumper Republicans. Social spending is more challenging, but could have been far more adept accomplished with excellent communications. Instead, Democratic leadership allowed an explosion of culture wars to explode. Most people have no idea that Biden's administration passed the child tax credit, and most Republicans believe that the GOP handed them this benefit. This is political malpractice by the Democratic leadership. If they're so unable to communicate a win, and too inept to correctly prioritize, then hire a team who can do so. Day 1 I would have hired every never -Trump ex-GOP consultant in the country.
All good points, thanks. I feel like they got caught off guard and still don't take the threat seriously. They and much of the country doesn't think the threat is real, still, even after all we've witnessed. And the Dems have always had this communication problem, or as Ruth has pointed out, a branding problem. They need to hire the Lincoln Project folks.
Democratic leadership had 4 years during the 'Trump era' to hire the top communications/PR companies in the country...to create/fine-tune crucial messaging...and to line up avenues for educating the public on a daily basis. They had 4 years to replicate Stacy Abrams work in Georgia in all 50 states. They did exactly nothing. There are fantastic Democratic office holders in many states, but the DC leaders are (with few exceptions) hapless and ineffective. Worse, they are unwilling to change or step aside. This is not a progressive/moderate issue, it's speaking clearly from a position strength on a pro-democracy/pro-humanity/pro-saving the planet platform, supported by 65% of the country.
And they are quickly running out of time