* A mere nudge from a friend, JGB reminds me that we're very nearly - well, perhaps actually living within the scenario of the "Handmaiden's Tale". Read a "Cliff Notes" style summary of the book if you've never read the entire book... Chilling.
Demographics are real..,enough Trump voters will be dead by 2024 along with enough Gen Z people coming of voting age to give Democrats a 5-7 point advantage in the Presidential election….By 538’s calculations that means Democrats have a 95-97% chance of carrying the electoral college,..,
By 2028 so many more Boomers will have died as to make unlikely this current GOP will ever have anyone in the Oval Office again!
I have a request for a future article. Could you write about how those who currently hold power are failing to confront the reality we are facing? Be specific in who and how.
Lucid and Steady both call out who is turning America into a theocratic authoritarian nightmare but neither has tackled the flip side. It takes multiple factors for this happen and those who are allowing it, through denial, incompetence or complicity, must be called out as well.
Texas and Florida are like belligerent teens whom the parents will not deal with. They move faster than lighting and cannot be kept up with all their mischief. They exhaust resources. They influence and threaten the reputation of the whole family. Texas was talking succession from the Union forty years ago when I lived there briefly. Maybe it's time to let them go. Build the wall around yourselves, keep your electric grid, and pull the federal resources. The only problem is the people but then again, the populace of Texas keeps voting this group of state legislators in. They know they can get away with bad behavior.
In Florida, DeSantis naming a commission using the terms Crime & Security in it -- with reference to elections, really defines his mission. These people are hard to take down. And they corral law enforcement into their web. The roots must be destroyed of this poisonous plant.
So well said, "... beloved leader being victimized by a shadowy array of forces bent on taking him down." It's like a big boy's Batman game. It's remarkable that the threat to our democracy is the ability or inability to message to our fellow citizens in time. Mirroring the time of the American Revolution, where much was communicated 1:1 by talking or hand-penned letters, gathering in churches to plan and discuss. It's a struggle to change hearts. Corruption vs. empathy.
How interesting that you start with a quote from 1984.
There are so many quotes that could be pulled from this book. Sadly the VERY people that need to read 1984 are probably trying to ban it from their local school library.
The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.
Power is not a means; it is an end.
One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
Ruth, I think I may have enjoyed reading this essay of yours the most.
Not only will the big lie go down in history as one of the most successful propaganda operations in American history but it will enshrine Trump not just as an ordinary demagogue but as a gifted demagogue. He once described himself as a "very stable genius". He is not a genius in the broader sense of the term; he's too ignorant, narcissistic and impulsive for that. He has been tireless in his efforts to mount a comeback. He single handedly transformed the Republican party -- a once conservative party -- into an authoritarian leader cult bent on autocracy and corruption, which is threatening to destroy our democracy. That's a big f*cking deal.
And to accomplish this goal in 2024 and return to power he is transforming our election machinery by replacing nonpartisan election officials with his 'stop the steal loyalists' on the state and local levels. In many states now, the certification of election results will now be under the control of conspiracists and Trump partisans, who will claim voter fraud without evidence.
But I think if you look at what he has done and is doing to the Republican party you can say that's a huge accomplishment of historic proportions. To lead the country-- a once great democracy or as Lincoln said the last best hope on earth into autocracy with neofascistic overtones is something only an infamously great leader with performative talent and natural genius at propaganda could accomplish.
* A mere nudge from a friend, JGB reminds me that we're very nearly - well, perhaps actually living within the scenario of the "Handmaiden's Tale". Read a "Cliff Notes" style summary of the book if you've never read the entire book... Chilling.
Check out our analysis of the Big lie and great replacement theories on
stopfascismnow.org
The BIGGEST LIES: Africans in Africa are/were cannibals. That black people are/were 3/5 of a person...and so many more BIG LIES.
Demographics are real..,enough Trump voters will be dead by 2024 along with enough Gen Z people coming of voting age to give Democrats a 5-7 point advantage in the Presidential election….By 538’s calculations that means Democrats have a 95-97% chance of carrying the electoral college,..,
By 2028 so many more Boomers will have died as to make unlikely this current GOP will ever have anyone in the Oval Office again!
Thank you for this, Ruth. Most of my footnotes in life right now return to Timothy Snyder’s “on tyranny.“
Anyone else here watch 200 Mules? Very solid documentation of election fraud.
The Big Lie is that there was no fraud in the 2020 election.
I have a request for a future article. Could you write about how those who currently hold power are failing to confront the reality we are facing? Be specific in who and how.
Lucid and Steady both call out who is turning America into a theocratic authoritarian nightmare but neither has tackled the flip side. It takes multiple factors for this happen and those who are allowing it, through denial, incompetence or complicity, must be called out as well.
Texas and Florida are like belligerent teens whom the parents will not deal with. They move faster than lighting and cannot be kept up with all their mischief. They exhaust resources. They influence and threaten the reputation of the whole family. Texas was talking succession from the Union forty years ago when I lived there briefly. Maybe it's time to let them go. Build the wall around yourselves, keep your electric grid, and pull the federal resources. The only problem is the people but then again, the populace of Texas keeps voting this group of state legislators in. They know they can get away with bad behavior.
In Florida, DeSantis naming a commission using the terms Crime & Security in it -- with reference to elections, really defines his mission. These people are hard to take down. And they corral law enforcement into their web. The roots must be destroyed of this poisonous plant.
Well said, thank you for an insightful write up.
Here's another sad fact. Many humans can't discern cause and effect.
We are now subject to daily propaganda blaming some made up leftist/Marxist agenda nonsense for simple free market easily understood pricing issues.
Those that watch a specific channel are.
Scapegoat the opposition. Denigrate them.
Offer up yourself as some answer to a fake evil.
All the while being the cause.
Who does big oil support?
Who got tax cuts?
If you are rational you may not understand that many humans are not. If you are a freethinker you have to understand that most humans are not.
A party that claims to be for free markets then blames the Dems for free market problems.
Liars don't care if they are hypocrites either.
Can't reason with them or their supporters.
Very scary times when many vote based on their current economic condition and won't think and can't think about the future.
The midterms will decide so much.
The Dems and others need to improve their messaging. The Republicans are working very hard to undermine our democracy and freedoms.
LGBTQ better vote or there may be no more gay marriage.
Women need to vote or they may end up in prison for a miscarriage.
The Working and the Middle classes need to wake up and not give more power to the rich. Serfdom may return if the people let it.
Messaging matters.
Call them traitors. That's what it is.
Humans trust too easily. Many can't think deeply enough.
So well said, "... beloved leader being victimized by a shadowy array of forces bent on taking him down." It's like a big boy's Batman game. It's remarkable that the threat to our democracy is the ability or inability to message to our fellow citizens in time. Mirroring the time of the American Revolution, where much was communicated 1:1 by talking or hand-penned letters, gathering in churches to plan and discuss. It's a struggle to change hearts. Corruption vs. empathy.
Excellent piece Ruth! The J6 Hearings hopefully will reach some; but I worry about the national Will for Trump’s accountability.
The Russians sowed the seeds in 2016 by urging Trump to contest the election results upon Clinton winning.
https://twitter.com/arthurjonesjr13/status/1538880086023327745?s=21&t=w7GshCrxdkBhb6lYCysEtQ
GOP official Fascist platform.
How interesting that you start with a quote from 1984.
There are so many quotes that could be pulled from this book. Sadly the VERY people that need to read 1984 are probably trying to ban it from their local school library.
The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.
Power is not a means; it is an end.
One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
Ruth, I think I may have enjoyed reading this essay of yours the most.
Not only will the big lie go down in history as one of the most successful propaganda operations in American history but it will enshrine Trump not just as an ordinary demagogue but as a gifted demagogue. He once described himself as a "very stable genius". He is not a genius in the broader sense of the term; he's too ignorant, narcissistic and impulsive for that. He has been tireless in his efforts to mount a comeback. He single handedly transformed the Republican party -- a once conservative party -- into an authoritarian leader cult bent on autocracy and corruption, which is threatening to destroy our democracy. That's a big f*cking deal.
And to accomplish this goal in 2024 and return to power he is transforming our election machinery by replacing nonpartisan election officials with his 'stop the steal loyalists' on the state and local levels. In many states now, the certification of election results will now be under the control of conspiracists and Trump partisans, who will claim voter fraud without evidence.
But I think if you look at what he has done and is doing to the Republican party you can say that's a huge accomplishment of historic proportions. To lead the country-- a once great democracy or as Lincoln said the last best hope on earth into autocracy with neofascistic overtones is something only an infamously great leader with performative talent and natural genius at propaganda could accomplish.