monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

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The paranoia about Trump crushing democracy in America is born in part of the desire of people to demonize their political foes.

No it isn't. It's because of the people he selected to have around him and the things they are doing. Such as Scott Pruitt's behind-the-scenes and largely secret efforts to destroy the agency he was appointed to run.

Yes it is. Well I'm glad we settled that.

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It is important to demonize political foes so as to cast those with opposing viewpoints as not simply wrong, but evil, it it is essential to do so in order to elevate your personal status from partisan to paladin, courageous defender of truth, justice and the American Way.

No, it isn't important to "demonize" your political foes. Yes, there are people who succumb to this on all sides but it's done out of laziness and ignorance.

While there was an element of sarcasm in what I wrote, it, nevertheless, is very important to the people who do it and while some may do so out of laziness and ignorance, a great many do so as a deliberate political strategy. It's surprising that you don't understand this.

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If Trump ever decided to emulate his supposed idol, Vladimir Putin, then it would take real courage to oppose him at all, let alone as vehemently as happens today.

Bullshit. Trump would fail. He has neither the power, the backing, or the political acumen to do anything of the kind.

I agree that he would fail and, what's more, I don't ever expect him to try, but you are making one of my central points for me. If the notion is bullshit when used to mock hyperbolic prophets of the Resistance, then it is just as much bullshit when the hand wringing fools warn of it. And I was mocking them them by pointing out that if by some chance he tried and was successful, the majority of the people now ranting about him would, when their worst fears were realized, run for cover. I'm quite certain that there are any number of would be revolutionaries promising to take to the streets and put their lives on the line resisting Tyrant Trump, who at the first sign that they might actually lose those lives, will skulk away. Some segment of them will even become collaborators. It's always been this way and would be so here.

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The number of his vocal critics would dramatically shrink from thousands to a relative handful as the Cosplay Resistance Fighters[???] all scurried like cockroaches into the silent shadows to avoid drawing any attention whatsoever from the iron-fisted strongman.

How about dispensing with the purple prose?

That's rich. I think it's entirely appropriate to use purple prose in a sarcastic fashion to mock those wrapped up in paranoid hysteria.

Actually the number of his vocal critics would expand and his failure would make him even a bigger laughing stock in the USA and in the rest of the world than he is already. Get off the "Resistance" kick. Don't turn everything into a drama.

Of course they would if he made a half-assed attempt and quickly failed, because reasonable people including most current Trump supporters would react with horror and rage (not amusement) and as long as speaking out didn't carry the risk of paying a heavy price, the roar of condemnation would be deafening.

It's precisely why the silly predictions of his destroying American democracy are so worthy of mockery. Charlottesville has increased the fever pitch of the Resistance's (and don't blame me if they've chosen a melodramatic name for themselves) dire prophesies because in so many of their eyes it has demonstrated just how horrible Trump's supporters all are and how widespread the growing white supremacy movement is. Your naivety and/or desire to paint the Resistance in pastel colors is remarkable. Look at the melodramatic, hyperbolic reaction to his simply arguing that violence on both sides should be condemned, and large swathes of Americans agreeing with him. If he made any attempt to seize power beyond what the Constitution grants him there would be screaming to the heavens and calls to arms, not laughter or ridicule.

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In the meantime though the valiant defenders of democracy will vociferously denounce Trump as a budding tyrant and congratulate one another for their fortitude and daring.

You're spending way too much time on the internet. Your description is unrecognizable once you step out into the real world.

I don't know about you, but I come into contact with far less people in the real world than I do on the internet and especially when it comes to members of the Resistance. I see no reason to judge them in a way that is not supported by their online rhetoric. If a life insurance salesman is posting white supremacist bile online unless it is on The Onion, I take it as a serious reflection of his core and I'm pretty sure you would too. Why shouldn't I take Resistance rants any less seriously?

Your difficulty is that you perceive my criticism and mockery as being applied to any and all liberal or person who disapproves of Trump and this is absolutely not the case. Obviously those who have no use for Trump but are not running around warning us that American democracy is in peril or that Trump will transform the nation into an authoritarian police state in which minorities are systematically persecuted, are not the subjects of my disdain. Unlike the folks who dump everyone who is not condemning Trump into a bucket of deplorables, I'm not lumping all of his critics into the Resistance, however not everyone who is a member of the Resistance is a fringe loner furiously typing away on a keyboard in his mother's basement. You need only read the WaPo OpEd page to find this to be the case.

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Even when someone makes a sound but obvious assertion that Trump is not about to impose a dictatorship on America, the wary and struggle weary Resistance Fighters will always answer with something like

No. I already gave you your answer. Get off the internet. You won't find these "Resistance Fighters" once you get offline.

Asserted and answered.

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Charges of members maintaining, for years, a false persona in this relative flyspeck of a forum so that at some fateful moment they can sabotage the good work of the noble paladins here and manipulate public opinion is a perfect example of the fantasy played as something real.

Blah blah blah — I believe you're laboring under a misapprehension concerning these "charges" and are again over-dramatizing for effect. But I wouldn't have guessed that your current role playing the White Knight on this flyspeck of a forum would have such a long run. Time to wipe off the greasepaint and climb back into the sunlight.

And I believe you don't know what you're talking about. How do you see the charge (and if that's not the word for it, what would please your no-drama sensibility?) that someone is a terrible person and liar who has been for years acting a political agent in this forum? Getting a little carried away? or Merely stating the obvious? Blatham was offered the opportunity to back away from his charge and he chose to double down.

If you are going to call for folks to drop the dramatic roles they have adopted in this forum then you should look to walk away from yours as the objective sagacious observer or the Man from Mars simply trying to puzzle out the complexities of a society of which you are not a member. Your distaste for what you believe to be high drama and hyperbole is very subjective, and your counsel that people should not exaggerate or manufacture slights doesn't seem to apply to yourself.