The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.
Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.
Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.
Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.
It’s a matter of degrees … American establishment wants fascism, they are just taking their time getting there.
The problem isn’t Trump, Trump is an idiot and dime a dozen, once he dies, there will be another idiot just like him that the establishment will court and push into our faces every day.
The problem are the millionaires and billionaires of America that are funding all this crap and keep maintaining it all. If all this relied on Trump’s charisma, it would have died out a long time ago … it’s just a huge marketing machine that keeps it afloat.
As long as we keep seeing these headlines, no matter if it’s Trump or someone else … it’s just a sign that the wealthy want fascism to keep growing because they know it will mean a win fall for them at the cost of all of us.
Thanks America … you’re doing a bang up job.
As an American. You are 100% spot on. Had Republicans not enabled and helped trump at every step. He would have gotten nothing accomplished. They were there every hour of every day ready to lick his greasy taint in an effort to please their voters. It could be any idiot. It just happened to be Trump
And what’s sad is blatant and unapologetic mass murdering warhawks like Cheney’s daughter opposed him, and the idiot MAGA flock call her a traitor. Unbelievable.
With many other countries I could agree. But America is the global reserve currency and basically the world’s police. For the theocrats pushing a takeover it wouldn’t end well. F35s and other highly technical defense system would crumble. Our soft power would evaporate overnight. Many Billionaires would wake up only to find their billions are worth a fraction. Sounds Improbable.
This is a pretty solid take imho, but I’m not sure the ultra wealthy see it that way. Look at how deluded they show themselves to be when there isn’t a PR handler in the mix to filter their thoughts on platforms like Xitter. Their ego and hubris from living in the alternate reality their great wealth affords them presents tremendous risk in this situation.
I believe this.
I’m a bit older (40+) and when I was in college, it was pretty popular for students from more prestigious colleges to be paying students at my college and other less prestigious colleges to do original research for them. Plagiarism with extra steps and pay. The poor student gets paid, and the rich student gets to put their name on it and get the grade.
I think the elite have been buying their credentials for too long and fully believe their own lies. They love the smell of their own farts, as it were.
They are so many generations removed from real knowledge about international markets and so on that there is real possibility that they will make the whole house of cards collapse in hubris.
Well, you saw it recently with the two actresses who were charged with paying a fixer to get their children into Ivy League schools. They are rich. Very rich. Their kids didn’t need to go to any school. It’s about the PRESTIGE and CONNECTIONS.
That drunken date rapist Kavanaugh would’ve had an easy life, regardless of anything he did. But his family wanted bragging rights. That’s the way all these fucks are.
There are two types of wealthy people … those who have all the power and those that want all the power
Those already in power probably don’t want change … but those that don’t have it all certainly would like to see change and a reshuffling of wealth and the chance of gaining control of more, or even everything.
Every major change in history never really changed anything … all it ever does is change the actors and players - old wealth gets removed by new wealth - old elites are replaced by new elites
American political and military power will probably always stay the same for the foreseeable future … the question is who will get the chance to sit at the top and rule the world.
What confuses me is that they seem to miss that historically fascists or authoritarians more generally don’t actually pander to the wealthy once they have power, and many wealthy suddenly end up dead or missing. Look at Xi and Putin for instance. Or history.
It’s a rat cage and everyone is chasing after the hunk of cheese above our cage … the ones closest to the top believe that by climbing on those below them, they can reach higher … and those close to the top are desperately trying to pull down the one just above them to gain that extra bit of chance of going up one more level.
The ultra wealthy at the top may or may not want fascism … but those just below them might because they believe in changing the guard, reshuffling the wealth and giving a new group of a privileged people a chance … like you say, every big political authoritarian change came at the cost of removing many wealthy people, but it also meant a new crop of people to fill the gaps.
They finally found their useful idiot who was capable of energizing a portion of the population who previously didn’t believe voting was important.
The majority of the GOP in office will continue to bend the knee to anyone they view to have the same power. And I fear eventually we will see the same action taken on the left.
Power is the most addictive drug.
People don’t realize they tried this 100 years ago, with Smedley Butler. It was called “The Business Plot.” But Butler was honorable, and snitched. Absolutely nothing was done, and most people don’t know who Butler is. He was at the time THE most decorated Marine in history. But he fucked with the money, and they buried him and his legacy. I tweeted Oliver Stone 10 years ago that he should make a biopic about Butler.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
I agree … more people should know more about this story … fortunately a 2022 film does highlight it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_(2022_film)
Thanks! Didn’t know about this fim.
Neither did I. After watching what I thought was just another fiction thriller, I realized it was based on actual events …
And after just reading the cast list again … holy crap this film has a big list of familiar actors - Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Robert DeNiro
And like I mentioned, you are right, more people should know about this important bit of history which is probably why all these big actors wanted to play in this to promote this film and its story.
It’s so stupid though. The German conservative aristocracy wanted fascism (mainly because they were incredibly unsettled by the post WWI shake ups and terrified of bolshevism) and thought they could control the Nazis to their own ends. That pretty much immediately backfired on them. These people have to see that…
Rich people who think they are gods… weird…