Presidential rhetoric corresponds to presidential action; it precedes and defines it. What a candidate says on the campaign trail connects to what he (or she) will do in office. And if Trump has had a single consistent message, it is that he’ll use the violent arm of the state to cleanse the nation of “scum” and “vermin,” whether immigrants and refugees or dissenters and political opponents like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi.

Americans who want to stop this — three things to do:

  • PrimeMinisterKeyes@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    From the other side of the pond, I find it very worrying and, indeed, disconnected from reality that Americans on Lemmy discuss the body odor or groping or even raping connected to one man that could and, given the chance, absolutely will completely unhinge their entire country at once.
    You might think it smug, but many people all over the world have experienced a tyranny, or are currently experiencing it. There is no second warning, nor will there be a deadline; one day, the disappearings just start, and they will become increasingly random. You will not be in control of the process anymore.
    Or, in the words of Andrew Mack, albeit about the failed Vietnam War: “The American experience [is] in no sense unique, except to Americans.”
    I understand people need to vent, but what I would really hope to see would be discussions on how easy, or how difficult, it is to uproot one’s live and emigrate; how to go about getting a visa, or asylum, or a job in a different country; how long it takes to become fluent in a foreign language; or how long it would take Canada to close its borders once huge waves of refugees set in.
    Today’s “too alarmist” is tomorrow’s “wasn’t alarmist enough.”
    /offmychest

  • snooggums@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    It is simply extraordinary that the nation’s top general would tell anyone, much less one of the most famous reporters in the world, that the former president of the United States was a “fascist” — a “fascist to the core,” even — and a threat to the constitutional order. There is no precedent for such a thing in American history — no example of another time when a high-ranking leader of the nation’s armed forces felt compelled to warn the public of the danger posed by its once and perhaps future chief executive.

    Yeah, it is extraordinary that this person would say it to that person, but Trump’s fascism has been glaringly obvious since he ran in 2016: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-scholar-of-fascism-sees-a-lot-thats-familiar-with-trump

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      29 days ago

      If only some group of people who were against fascism were loudly warning about the signs a decade ago and how we needed to band together and stomp out the embers before they became flames. If only a group like that existed surely they would have been listened to. Perhaps they could have labeled themselves Oppose Fascism or something catchier . . . /s

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        Look bro. The billionaires and corporations require that line goes up.

        Issues like “imminent fascist dictatorship” and “genocidal terrorists seizing control of the most advanced surveillance apparatus in history” are all secondary to line goes up…