Welcome to Lucid! I’m pleased to offer subscribers these excerpts from the new epilogue I wrote for the paperback edition of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, which publishes today. You can order the book here. _________________________________________________
I am appropriately scared. But it's hard to know what to do! I'm in a blue state. I can help out-of-state candidates, I can hassle my own reps (but they are largely with the program already,) I can follow what's happening--but it's hard to know what else to do! Ideas?
Continue the good work Ruth. For an outsider (European) looking into American politics from a distance I get the impression that the majority of the American people don't see (or don't want to see?) what is happening and how potentially dangerous it is. Trump and GOP now seem to focus on creating chaos by sabotaging anything Biden and the Dems are trying to do and smartly energizing existing anti Government feelings in the population, aiming to regain power. Whilst the Democrats basically are a Democratic coalition covering the whole political spectrum from left to right, seemingly less effective due to requiring continuing compromises to be made, the GOP is much more narrowly focussed on the Right to Centre part of the spectrum, which make it easier to be disciplined, with Trump working hard to install a more ultra right wing discipline. To me a key player seems to be McConnell, who has enabled Trump since 2016 and failed to stop him when he still could. He is trying to use Trump, like the German conservatives did with Hitler in the Weimar Republic, to create the chaos and then for them to grab power. A very dangerous game and we all know how it ended.....Hitler turned the table on them!! What I have seen of Trump so far, I expect he will do the same with the old guards of the GOP including McConnell. Dump them and grab power for himself and his cronies.......and the American people will be come the ultimate victim.
Ruth: Thank you for this piece! January 6 could be viewed as a dry run for the ‘next trip’ as the planned attack on the Michigan Capitol and Governor Whittmer is viewed in part as a dry run for January 6. One hope I have is, we know better this time as we’ve been forewarned. I just hope WE listen.
Excellent piece! What is so striking to me about the last five years is the abandonment of reality and truth by so many of those following Trump. The tribal solidarity on the "right"is so strong that lies from a tribal member of authority, supersedes the truth from someone outside their tribe. They have entered the realm of post-truth and postmodernism. Hannah Arendt warned about this phenonenon many years ago. What is so dangerous, is that what Trump is selling is proto-fascism. Steve Bannon has spoken about destroying our present political stucture and rebuilding it from the ground up. He also admires Mussolini, which makes Bannon a major threat to our society. He is a proponent of a destructive concept. The far right propaganda was so effective in the past five years that even after Trump's defeat, believers are still angry and yearning for revolution. They can't be convinced that they are wrong (The Backfire Effect), so our pandemonium continues. Those who know the least about fascism are the ones whom embrace it the most stridently.
I love your writing and clarity Ruth! Is the GOP with its extremists militia groups now nothing more than a armed insurgency ready to start a civil war to take 'their' country back? Is armed violence and rioting erupting in our city streets in 2022-24 the next step on the road to falling over into authoritarian control? If we can see the threat, and plan for another coup attempt, can't we be prepared well enough to fight back and save our democracy?
I am appropriately scared. But it's hard to know what to do! I'm in a blue state. I can help out-of-state candidates, I can hassle my own reps (but they are largely with the program already,) I can follow what's happening--but it's hard to know what else to do! Ideas?
Continue the good work Ruth. For an outsider (European) looking into American politics from a distance I get the impression that the majority of the American people don't see (or don't want to see?) what is happening and how potentially dangerous it is. Trump and GOP now seem to focus on creating chaos by sabotaging anything Biden and the Dems are trying to do and smartly energizing existing anti Government feelings in the population, aiming to regain power. Whilst the Democrats basically are a Democratic coalition covering the whole political spectrum from left to right, seemingly less effective due to requiring continuing compromises to be made, the GOP is much more narrowly focussed on the Right to Centre part of the spectrum, which make it easier to be disciplined, with Trump working hard to install a more ultra right wing discipline. To me a key player seems to be McConnell, who has enabled Trump since 2016 and failed to stop him when he still could. He is trying to use Trump, like the German conservatives did with Hitler in the Weimar Republic, to create the chaos and then for them to grab power. A very dangerous game and we all know how it ended.....Hitler turned the table on them!! What I have seen of Trump so far, I expect he will do the same with the old guards of the GOP including McConnell. Dump them and grab power for himself and his cronies.......and the American people will be come the ultimate victim.
The GOP is focused on fascism, although they would never admit to that. The GOP is the party of Trump, a sociopath. Fascism is the politics of lunacy.
Ruth: Thank you for this piece! January 6 could be viewed as a dry run for the ‘next trip’ as the planned attack on the Michigan Capitol and Governor Whittmer is viewed in part as a dry run for January 6. One hope I have is, we know better this time as we’ve been forewarned. I just hope WE listen.
Agree!
Excellent piece! What is so striking to me about the last five years is the abandonment of reality and truth by so many of those following Trump. The tribal solidarity on the "right"is so strong that lies from a tribal member of authority, supersedes the truth from someone outside their tribe. They have entered the realm of post-truth and postmodernism. Hannah Arendt warned about this phenonenon many years ago. What is so dangerous, is that what Trump is selling is proto-fascism. Steve Bannon has spoken about destroying our present political stucture and rebuilding it from the ground up. He also admires Mussolini, which makes Bannon a major threat to our society. He is a proponent of a destructive concept. The far right propaganda was so effective in the past five years that even after Trump's defeat, believers are still angry and yearning for revolution. They can't be convinced that they are wrong (The Backfire Effect), so our pandemonium continues. Those who know the least about fascism are the ones whom embrace it the most stridently.
well put, Steve!
I love your writing and clarity Ruth! Is the GOP with its extremists militia groups now nothing more than a armed insurgency ready to start a civil war to take 'their' country back? Is armed violence and rioting erupting in our city streets in 2022-24 the next step on the road to falling over into authoritarian control? If we can see the threat, and plan for another coup attempt, can't we be prepared well enough to fight back and save our democracy?
One would think so...
The sad truth is that many people who really need to read your new edition and heed its warnings will fail to do both.
Probably, alas!
And if they were able to still would claim not to see the writing on the wall