Trump's Second Term

[sackett]

Why is willful ignorance so popular on the right?

I'm.reading Our Man in Tokyo right now, Steve Kemper's 2022 book about J. C. Grew's ambassadorship
in (you guessed it) Tokyo in the 10 years leading up to Pearl Harbor. The psychology of the Japanese righties
was much puzzled over then, and no wonder: they constantly denied stark, staring facts, no matter what.
This behavior was attributed the Oriental concern with face, correctly I think.

Barbara Tuchman, writing about face at that time, said that the appearance of a thing or a statement
was more important than the reality. Sounds right.

Of course, we know that saving or gaining or losing face is certainly not a purely Oriental preoccupation.
It's a universal human frailty, and especially among people who know they're in the wrong but are too weak to
admit it. They can only take refuge in obtuse counterfactuals, and oh brother do they ever.

Kemper, publishing in 2022, took care to draw parallels between Magaism and the bloody-minded lying of the Japanese militarists and their crew. He used the phrase "fake news" to describe 1930s lying, accurately imho.

So the Magatoids are locked into the ultimately suicidal rigidity of Japanese fascists.
Okay, They're perfectly free to do that. If Ziggurat will allow me, I hope that they will start to
appropriate a further ornament of War Bushido. What ornament? Oh, just
good old seppuku. You know, when things go wrong.

 

[NM156]

Oh, good grief. You're not fighting fascism at all. Your just calling everyone you disagree a fascist. Lefties have been doing this for a long, long, time.

I should probably remind you that the wolf actually does show up in the Boy that Cried Wolf.

 

[Trausti]

And yet, so true.

It you're goal is show you're historically ignorant; well, done.

 

[Trausti]

I should probably remind you that the wolf actually does show up in the Boy that Cried Wolf.

Not one of those guys was a fascist or Nazi. The ignorance here is mind numbing.

 

[NM156]

Not one of those guys was a fascist or Nazi. The ignorance here is mind numbing.

How many similarities would we have to show before the comparison becomes apt?

 

[Aridas]

I should probably remind you that the wolf actually does show up in the Boy that Cried Wolf.

Going further, of course, that whole line of argument is one of pointed omission, given that Republicans have constantly made similar accusations, nigh invariably with dramatically less basis to do so and those making the accusations tend to have very different levels of influence and power.

The left, of course, can generally easily shrug off the accusations, given how baseless they are. The right? Objectively, they have a dramatically harder time doing so, which plays into why they've put so much effort into muddying the waters.

 

[Trausti]

How many similarities would we have to show before the comparison becomes apt?

What, did they force people to purchase a product from a private company or else face state sanction? Yeah, know, Mussolini's definition that the state and corporation are one? Did they massively grow the government so that it entered every part of our lives? Did they do massive social programs?

 

[Resume]

How many similarities would we have to show before the comparison becomes apt?

Trump could admit to it, and the apologists would say he's just joking,

 

[Trausti]

The left, of course, can generally easily shrug off the accusations, given how baseless they are. The right? Objectively, they have a dramatically harder time doing so, which play into why they've put so much effort into muddying the waters.

Ah, yes, the right's position that government should be smaller and out of people's lives shows how terribly fascist they are.

 

[NM156]

What, did they force people to purchase a product from a private company or else face state sanction? Yeah, know, Mussolini's definition that the state and corporation are one? Did they massively grow the government so that it entered every part of our lives? Did they do massive social programs?

Oddly absent seems to be a number.

 

[Trausti]

Trump could admit to it, and the apologists would say he's just joking,

I know! He cut our taxes and reduced the sized of government. He's cut thousands of regulations. Totally fascist!

 

[Aridas]

Ah, yes, the right's position that government should be smaller and out of people's lives shows how terribly fascist they are.

Actions speak louder than words.

 

[Trausti]

Oddly absent seems to be a number.

Obamacare was the most notably fascist thing to occur in my lifetime. The state and the corporation merged and people, for a time, were bound by it. But I'm sure you'll defend that sort of fascism.

 

[Trausti]

Actions speak louder than words.

Right, he actually cut my taxes. He actually cut the size of government. Wonderful actions. Thank you, Orange Man!

 

[NM156]

Obamacare was the most notably fascist thing to occur in my lifetime. The state and the corporation merged and people, for a time, were bound by it. But I'm sure you'll defend that sort of fascism.

One of these days some MAGA apologist will actually answer a question. Today is not that day.

 

[Trausti]

One of these days some MAGA apologist will actually answer a question. Today is not that day.

Answer what? It's your position that those Republicans were fascist/Nazi. You've got the burden of proof. I needn't have to prove a negative.

 

[Trausti]

It's so bizarre that lefties feel reducing the size and impact of government is fascist. Just, like, who taught you history?

 

[NM156]

Answer what? It's your position that those Republicans were fascist/Nazi. You've got the burden of proof. I needn't have to prove a negative.

That was not my position at all. As a matter of fact I gave the vast majority (all except one) the benefit of the doubt. Crying wolf means the problem wasn't real.

Until it was (is). Meaning Trump. Dude is AWFULLY similar to the funny mustachioed German. So here we are, in the middle of a fascist takeover of America.

 

[NM156]

It's so bizarre that lefties feel reducing the size and impact of government is fascist. Just, like, who taught you history?

What's bizarre is that you think that's happening. I mean holy ◊◊◊◊ dude.

 

[a_unique_person]

Let's see if anyone wants to jump in now to claim Trump will try to become President for life.

You assume that Trump is a rational actor. He's not.