Adolf Hitler/Donald Trump

[hoola]

Trump=Fermi paradox

[Willie71]

I've seen this comparison a lot, Trump/Hitler, but those more knowledgeable in history say Trump = Mussolini. I'm no expert on this, but Trump's handling of the profit driven media is giving me chills. I don't see this playing out well, regardless if the brand of fascism that nay emerge.

 

Abortion rights to be returned to the states, defunding planned parenthood removing access to cheap/free contraception, removing contraception from Obamacare, are all concerning.

 

Owning stock in a pipeline that the president has influence over is concerning.

 

Having investments in Central America and Russia influencing international policy is concerning.

 

Not using a true blind trust is illegal, as far as I understand.

 

I could go on, but it would be pages of concerns.

[Delta1212]

It would be illegal for any elected official other than the president, who is not legally obligated to use a blind trust.

[swansont]

It would be illegal for any elected official other than the president, who is not legally obligated to use a blind trust.

!

Moderator Note

Wrong thread for this. Please stick to the topic of the OP

[CharonY]

So Trump is no Hitler but some prominent supporters seem to wish he was...

[geordief]

So Trump is no Hitler but some prominent supporters seem to wish he was...

I think it has been said that the comparison is Jackass Benito

 

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/hurricane.html

 

to paraphrase:

 

How can the life of such men

Be in the palm of this fool's hand ?

Don't ask me for historical detail. I am sure Benito was more of a "vision man" and was probably more competent.

But Trump is probably the more pathetic and will surely be better copy.

Glad to see that has belatedly disavowed those repulsive American Nazis though. Still ,if he had simply tried to maintain a distance it would not have seemed out of "character".

Edited November 23, 2016 by geordief

[Ophiolite]

 

Actually the Scots are more thin skinned than the Irish

 

No we are not. How dare you! Why are you always picking on me. It's flagrant, flagrant... flagrant something.

[Willie71]

To discuss fascism, it might be worthwhile to look at a few definitions of fascism, and see how Trump compares to them. I hate to use wikipidia, but these definitions aren't bad:

 

Historians, political scientists, and other scholars have long debated the exact nature of fascism.[22] Each interpretation of fascism is distinct, leaving many definitions too wide or narrow.[23][24]

 

One common definition of the term focuses on three concepts: the fascist negations of anti-liberalism, anti-communism and anti-conservatism; nationalist authoritarian goals of creating a regulated economic structure to transform social relations within a modern, self-determined culture; and a political aesthetic of romantic symbolism, mass mobilization, a positive view of violence, and promotion of masculinity, youth and charismatic leadership.[25][26][27] According to many scholars, fascism—especially once in power—has historically attacked communism, conservatism and parliamentary liberalism, attracting support primarily from the far right.[28]

 

Roger Griffin describes fascism as "a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultranationalism".[29] Griffin describes the ideology as having three core components: "(i) the rebirth myth, (ii) populist ultra-nationalism and (iii) the myth of decadence".[30] Fascism is "a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anti-conservative nationalism" built on a complex range of theoretical and cultural influences. He distinguishes an inter-war period in which it manifested itself in elite-led but populist "armed party" politics opposing socialism and liberalism and promising radical politics to rescue the nation from decadence.[31]

 

Robert Paxton says that fascism is "a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."[32]

 

Umberto Eco,[33] Kevin Passmore,[34] John Weiss,[35] Ian Adams,[36] and Moyra Grant,[37] mention racism (including anti-semitism) as a characteristic of fascism; e.g. fascistic dictator Hitler idealized German society as a racially unified and hierarchically organized Volksgemeinschaft.

 

John Lukacs, Hungarian-American historian and Holocaust survivor, argues that there is no such thing as generic fascism. He claims that National Socialism and Communism are essentially manifestations of populism and that states such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy are more different than similar.[38]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

 

You can see the elements are there, but not fully formed.

 

There is an argument that is debated vigorously, that America has become a one Party state, with the democrats moving too far right with pro corporatist and pro banking policies. One look at the police violence in North Dakota, ordered by the state, with no interference from the federal government would support this assertion, as would no prosecutions of the banking fraud from the 2008 crash. The argument that the fraud was made legal through laws passed by the government doesn't help the argument much.

 

Is it clearly fascupist yet? Nope, but the elements are there, and it's a dangerous dance. One politician in the south is refusing to accept his loss and will not cede the election. This needs to be dealt with firmly and swiftly.

[geordief]

No we are not. How dare you! Why are you always picking on me. It's flagrant, flagrant... flagrant something.

fragrant dilettante?

Edited November 23, 2016 by geordief

[iNow]

The term is flagrante delicto when you're doing it right...

[Airbrush]

Part of the definition of "fascism" in Wikipedia:

 

"....elite-led but populist "armed party" politics opposing socialism and liberalism and promising radical politics to rescue the nation from decadence."

 

​Sounds a little bit like Trump? "Drain the swamp" "Crooked Hillary" "Crooked Media". Trump has fascist mannerisms, even the exaggerated postures of Mussolini.

 

A better title for the discussion should be "Trump / Modern Dictators". Just look at all the similarities between Trump and various modern dictators. Trump says something then says he never said that, as if to revise reality itself. Remember he lived his entire life in a bubble of approval from all yes-men, yes-women, yes-wives, yes-children, and especially yes-lawyers. That rather spoiled the lad.

Edited November 23, 2016 by Airbrush

[Ophiolite]

The term is flagrante delicto when you're doing it right...

But not when you are skillfully and elegantly metamorphosing a phrase to make an amusing point.

[geordief]

But not when you are skillfully and elegantly metamorphosing a phrase to make an amusing point.

But I don't think "fragrant" rings the same bells in Austin, Texas as it does in England

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Archer