You Really Want a Revolution?

Conservatives and liberals worry over an authoritarian revolution led by Donald J. Trump.

The conservative website The Bulwark published What It Means to Be a Republican in 2022 comparing Trump to a mob boss:

Because here’s the rub: To the former president, being “Trump’s friend” means never saying no to him. Even when it comes to acting on lies that caused an insurrection.

It’s the friendship of the mob boss: Do what he tells you and there won’t be any trouble. Which explains a lot of the behind-the-scenes grumbling in Republican politics. The guys paying protection money never actually like the mob boss.

And what is a  fascist more  like than a mob boss?

Meanwhile, The Guardian published The Steal review: stethoscope for a democracy close to cardiac arrest, a book review:

The book reminds us that democracy itself depends on a modicum of trust. That is why Trump’s ability to persuade so many Americans of the truth of so many lies has had such a disastrous effect on our body politic.

 The Guardian also published two more relevant articles. The first US could be under rightwing dictator by 2030, Canadian professor warns:

Trump, he said, “and a host of acolytes and wannabes such as Fox [News]’s Tucker Carlson and Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene”, had transformed the Republican party “into a near-fascist personality cult that’s a perfect instrument for wrecking democracy”.

The second is  The next US civil war is already here – we just refuse to see it:

...Most of the American right have abandoned faith in government as such. Their politics is, increasingly, the politics of the gun. The American left is slower on the uptake, but they are starting to figure out that the system which they give the name of democracy is less deserving of the name every year.

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 The right is preparing for a breakdown of law and order, but they are also overtaking the forces of law and order. Hard right organization have now infiltrated so many police forces – the connections number in the hundreds – that they have become unreliable allies in the struggle against domestic terrorism.

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Activist white supremacists in positions of authority are the real threat to American order and security. “If you look at how authoritarian regimes come into power, they tacitly authorize a group of political thugs to use violence against their political enemies,” German says. “That ends up with a lot of street violence, and the general public gets upset about the street violence and says, ‘Government, you have to do something about this street violence,’ and the government says, ‘Oh my hands are tied, give me a broad enabling power and I will go after these thugs.’ And of course once that broad power is granted, it isn’t used to target the thugs. They either become a part of the official security apparatus or an auxiliary force. Ok

 And in today's news: Marjorie Taylor Greene Loses Access To Facebook One Day After Twitter Ban and her reaction is to threaten harm on private companies enforcing their rules for using their services:

“The sun is setting on Twitter,” she posted, 30 minutes before announcing she had been temporarily booted from Facebook as well.

And then there is Not all polarization is bad, but the US could be in trouble.

What the right will bring is not democracy, is this what you want? What will you do to keep America democratic?

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1/4/22