4 ms·

What specific trump era republican policies make them more authoritarian than the progressive era democrat ones?

by yesco 4y ago

happytoexplain 4y ago
The parent's chosen word, "policy", is strong I think. I would say "position" or "attitude". E.g. encouraging/praising/wanting things like undue violence against protestors, news censorship, and election overturning - things in that vein.
- yesco 4y ago
  But policy is a genuine materialization of their powers vs what people believe they will do with them. For all his faults I struggle to understand how Trump was in any way "Authoritarian"/ "Fascist" when his policies did not reflect that position, at least relative to his opponents. I find this rhetoric concerning since it isn't all that different than the hysteria about Obama's "FEMA camps" and when republicans just kept calling him Hitler over every little thing. It's fundamentally disconnected from reality and I personally see it a consequence of consuming too much propaganda. You might counter this with the whole "election overturning" thing but at the end of the day, he stepped down and stopped being president when he lost, even if his whining still persists.
michaelmrose 4y ago
How about the attempt to overturn the rightful will of the people as expressed by their votes. There was also the installation throughout the corridors of power of loyalists who lacked in every other qualification save support for the man who would be dictator and changing the rules for termination of government employees to enable to president to unilaterally fire a much larger class of employee who previously would only have been able to be terminated with cause. How about calls to use the courts to arrest enemies? Bizarre rhetoric about treason. Support for the murder of the VP because he wouldn't support a blatant coup.
- yucky 4y ago
  I'm curious how much of this was a reaction to the overtly obvious "Russian Collusion" conspiracy theory. If Trump had been left to fail on his own without the interference by intelligence agencies I suspect he would have far fewer ardent supporters.
  - michaelmrose 4y ago
    This is a bad theory. The Russian collusion angle has to do with the fact that a literal Russian spy met with the Trump campaign, then Trump opined on TV that maybe the Russians could "find" Hillary's emails, then Russia which had a distinct horse in that race then made at least attempts to interfere in the election by hacking and by promulgating dinsinfo on social media in part with the help of data harvested by a Republican think tank. This perception of corruption was furthered when he made positive statements regarding Russia and Putin including telling the world he believed Putin's statement over the word of our intelligence apparatus and deepened when he was caught withholding aid from the Ukrainians whom had been initially invaded lest we forget in 2014 not 2022. None of the above is even slightly controversial. What is lacking is specific proof that there was any quid pro quo between Trump and Russia without which is closer to a denial by Al Capone that he knew or had ordered specific hits than a legitimate protestation of innocence. At best He and Putin had interests that aligned with minimal coordination needed and he stood to gain by the illegal actions of a foreign power he had aligned himself with. Furthermore although the Russia angle was a source of division and much interest on both sides of the aisle it has little to do with support for Trump. Trump is and was a charismatic figure to middle to lower class white America because he told them accurately that they had been left behind in a playing field dominated by the rich and powerful who had long been tilting the game board so that most of the wealth created in large part by hard working Americans ended up in their pockets. He just managed to put most of the blame on the left and brown people and forgot to mention he was one of the rich elites screwing the little guy and intended to deepen and broaden the corruption that allowed them to keep doing this. Compared to this Russia was a side show.
    - yucky 4y ago

What specific trump era republican policies make them more authoritarian than the progressive era democrat ones?

by yesco 4y ago

What specific trump era republican policies make them more authoritarian than the progressive era democrat ones?

The parent's chosen word, "policy", is strong I think. I would say "position" or "attitude". E.g. encouraging/praising/wanting things like undue violence against protestors, news censorship, and election overturning - things in that vein.

yesco 4y ago
But policy is a genuine materialization of their powers vs what people believe they will do with them. For all his faults I struggle to understand how Trump was in any way "Authoritarian"/ "Fascist" when his policies did not reflect that position, at least relative to his opponents. I find this rhetoric concerning since it isn't all that different than the hysteria about Obama's "FEMA camps" and when republicans just kept calling him Hitler over every little thing. It's fundamentally disconnected from reality and I personally see it a consequence of consuming too much propaganda. You might counter this with the whole "election overturning" thing but at the end of the day, he stepped down and stopped being president when he lost, even if his whining still persists.

michaelmrose 4y ago

How about the attempt to overturn the rightful will of the people as expressed by their votes. There was also the installation throughout the corridors of power of loyalists who lacked in every other qualification save support for the man who would be dictator and changing the rules for termination of government employees to enable to president to unilaterally fire a much larger class of employee who previously would only have been able to be terminated with cause. How about calls to use the courts to arrest enemies? Bizarre rhetoric about treason. Support for the murder of the VP because he wouldn't support a blatant coup.

yucky 4y ago
I'm curious how much of this was a reaction to the overtly obvious "Russian Collusion" conspiracy theory. If Trump had been left to fail on his own without the interference by intelligence agencies I suspect he would have far fewer ardent supporters.
- michaelmrose 4y ago
  This is a bad theory. The Russian collusion angle has to do with the fact that a literal Russian spy met with the Trump campaign, then Trump opined on TV that maybe the Russians could "find" Hillary's emails, then Russia which had a distinct horse in that race then made at least attempts to interfere in the election by hacking and by promulgating dinsinfo on social media in part with the help of data harvested by a Republican think tank. This perception of corruption was furthered when he made positive statements regarding Russia and Putin including telling the world he believed Putin's statement over the word of our intelligence apparatus and deepened when he was caught withholding aid from the Ukrainians whom had been initially invaded lest we forget in 2014 not 2022. None of the above is even slightly controversial. What is lacking is specific proof that there was any quid pro quo between Trump and Russia without which is closer to a denial by Al Capone that he knew or had ordered specific hits than a legitimate protestation of innocence. At best He and Putin had interests that aligned with minimal coordination needed and he stood to gain by the illegal actions of a foreign power he had aligned himself with. Furthermore although the Russia angle was a source of division and much interest on both sides of the aisle it has little to do with support for Trump. Trump is and was a charismatic figure to middle to lower class white America because he told them accurately that they had been left behind in a playing field dominated by the rich and powerful who had long been tilting the game board so that most of the wealth created in large part by hard working Americans ended up in their pockets. He just managed to put most of the blame on the left and brown people and forgot to mention he was one of the rich elites screwing the little guy and intended to deepen and broaden the corruption that allowed them to keep doing this. Compared to this Russia was a side show.
  - yucky 4y ago