Rising fascism in the US

Illinois outlaws book bans in schools and public libraries
(cnn)

Brooks and Capehart:

"There is a cultural war going on in the race and people are basically-- and Trumpism stands for a few things, that people are basically selfish, and all of the institutions are corrupt all the way down."
--David Brooks



This is basically what Putin says about democracies , that they're all corrupt and there's nothing but cheating. He says that this is true about all democracies including Russia-- which, of course, is not a democracy but an autocracy or even fascist. There is voting in Russia, but it doesn't count because Putin will win no matter what, and the people know it. So Putin says that all democracies are the same way everywhere only we're honest about. Putin says that to show the people that he has the power and they can't do anything about it.

So Trump is saying the same thing basically that Putin says, that he won--though knows he lost--and he's the king. But Trump doesn't have the power to back it up and overthrow the government. He has many people who back him up, but not enough to topple the democracy and declare himself the king. So the only way he can win is by cheating, and it's justified because that's the way it works in democracies. This demonstrates that Trump is as much a fascist as Putin is.

Ohhhh.....a double pun!

There is a whole world of urine-based information of which we are quite unaware. I'm not complaining.

As an aside, news from Germany:

It is a turning point in Germany: the right-wing extremist Robert Sesselmann (AfD party)has been elected district commissioner of Sonneberg (Free State Tguringia) in a run-off election.

For weeks, the AfD has been soaring in the polls in the federal government, where it is usually the second strongest party behind the CDU/CSU (center-right conservative party).
Thw AfD is classified by the federal and state Offices for the Protection of the Constitution (domestic intelligence agencies) as right-wing extremist.

I'm sorry to hear this...

It won't be long before the first people say that the AfD will disenchant itself when it actually assumes responsibility. When it has to solve real problems at the municipal level and can no longer just spout gender slogans and culture war folklore across the country. This assumption is already wrong because it implies that the AfD would behave more rationally and constructively in the executive than in the opposition. There is no evidence of this whatsoever. On the contrary, its representatives have made it clear time and again that their aim is maximum obstruction.

Those who vote for the AfD do not do so despite their personnel and their slogans, but precisely because of them. And they don't want to hold anyone responsible, but want the political hut to burn. That is what it is doing now, and it would be good if all sensible people came to put it out before the fire spreads even further.

Ditto here! I am just so glad that Biden is currently President and not tRump! Good luck to you all.

This is probably the wrong thing to be saying, Walter, but I gotta do it anyway.

There is a certain amount of comfort in hearing that America is not the only country with these kinds of problems.

Yeah. My first reaction to your words were of mild relief/satisfaction rather than the "how do we get people on the right to wake up" reaction that was more appropriate.

Sur, the "Germans-are-different" thesis was already refuted decades ago.
But that does not make it any easier.

We (not only here in Germany) should never forget:
Already three years before the actual seizure of power, on 30 January 1933 the National Socialists showed with all their rabid force what they were capable of.
Their experimental field was Thuringia (sic!), Germany's hilly, wooded heart with its "spiritual capital" Weimar. From 1930, the NSDAP sat there for the first time as a junior partner in a state government.

In Thuringia, the National Socialists proved that they not only demanded radical measures in a grandiose manner, but also implemented them as soon as they had the opportunity.
Here they passed the first Enabling Act , which legitimised the suppression of political opponents. They cracked down relentlessly on "degenerate" art and made National Socialist-tinged school prayers compulsory in class.

Nevertheless, hardly anyone realised that Thuringia was only a kind of dress rehearsal for the legal path of the "seizure of power" - and that the whole of Germany would soon learn what initially only happened in Weimar and the surrounding area.

This is eerily similar to the sorts of measures being taken in Texas, Florida, and other MAGA states.

Yes.

The Republican party has become a shadow of itself and worse. It's like a corpse that doesn't realize it's dead animated by insect and microbial activity.

Chris Christie is trying to restore and salvage what is left of the Republican Party party after Trump and MAGA destroyed it. Honestly, I think it's a lost cause, and he should probably start a third party with what's left of the moderate and conservative Republicans.

Chris Christie is really a moderate and, therefore, has no place in the Republican party, which has turned its back on not only moderates but conservatives as well.

If Republicans said out loud what they think.

I remember some fringe elements of the Democrat party was becoming loud and wanting a slice of the pie. I was wondering what I was gonna do. This was in the 70's and 80's. Then they went over to the Republicans and are currently haunting them!

And in Europe ...

From Germany’s CDU to France’s Républicains, politicians are looking to fringe ideologies for revitalisation.

European conservative parties are out of ideas, but absorbing the far right isn’t the answer

'Revitalisation' is cynical word to politicians, because they don't mean 'how can we serve our people and our country better'