"Trump is following a playbook written for him by Christian White Nationalists."

[Elok]

I wasn't trying to imply that Hitler was some sort of war hero, or particularly successful as a soldier. My recollection from a Hitler biography I read ten years ago is as follows, correct me where memory fails or misleads: Hitler moved to Germany with the intention of attending a prestigious art school. When he didn't get in, he hung out in the country making vague plans to apply to architecture school instead and never quite getting around to it. When the war broke out, he was ineligible for the draft as a non-citizen, but volunteered for the army anyway, in the full knowledge that he could get killed. He was assigned messenger duty, carrying orders to the front lines--this was not as bad as actual frontline duty, but still entailed some personal danger. He served honorably, with no record of cowardice, and went on to "infiltrate" extremist parties for the army in peacetime until he decided to just hijack and reform one of them in his own image.

Can you imagine Trump doing that? Not the idle dreams or the exceeding orders, but voluntarily signing up to risk his life? I can't. Multiple people (IIRC) have quoted him referring to veterans as idiots--the mask slipped off in John McCain's case, when he simply couldn't believe that anybody thought a wounded veteran was anything other than a sucker and a loser. Trump doesn't want a thousand-year Reich. He doesn't want anything except for a lot of people to love Trump, a lot more people to talk about Trump, and the people who say bad things about Trump to be ground into dust. John Bolton, of all people, had it right when he said Trump isn't thoughtful enough to be a fascist. More than that, he doesn't even have a fascist's pathetic bare minimum of virtue. Which is why he isn't and cannot be a threat.

[BeBMan]

Of course he can be a threat to democracy, even if his primary motivator isn't to build the evahlasting Trump-Kingdom, but narcistic self love/or whatever the exact term is. If he ignores the constitution, the rule of law etcetc he does actively threaten democracy right now, at least if we understand it as more than "voting" (which is what folks also did in the eastern bloc, and even North Korea sez it's a "Democratic Republic") the reason for it is secondary.

If this is long-term, irreparable damage remains to be seen -- I hope it's not, but we don't know.

[Elok]

He's a threat in the same sense as MWHC with a set of car keys: he can cause damage, but mostly incidentally and chaotically, and not in a controlled or sustained way. He may drive us to bankruptcy ahead of our current schedule (I think it becomes utterly unavoidable by 2050 on its 2024 trajectory, unsure), and he will continue to erode democratic norms for a future would-be tyrant with an attention span to take advantage of. That's about it.

[EPW]

He's a threat in the same sense as MWHC with a set of car keys: he can cause damage, but mostly incidentally and chaotically, and not in a controlled or sustained way. He may drive us to bankruptcy ahead of our current schedule (I think it becomes utterly unavoidable by 2050 on its 2024 trajectory, unsure), and he will continue to erode democratic norms for a future would-be tyrant with an attention span to take advantage of. That's about it.

This scenario sounds pretty bad to me?

[Elok]

Yes. Trump needs to be opposed and contained. We're in agreement on that. But, again: effective containment will depend on recognizing the actual nature of the problem. The Democrats have spent the last eight or ten years spouting asinine fantasies about how he's going to be a jackbooted fuhrer. He's not. He plainly and obviously lacks the capacity.

[giblets]

Yes. Trump needs to be opposed and contained. We're in agreement on that. But, again: effective containment will depend on recognizing the actual nature of the problem. The Democrats have spent the last eight or ten years spouting asinine fantasies about how he's going to be a jackbooted fuhrer. He's not. He plainly and obviously lacks the capacity.

Still more accurate than the fantasy version of Trump his supporters believe in.

[Elok]

Agreed. Also a bacon cheeseburger is healthier than a deep-fried twinkie.

[Aeson]

Yes. Trump needs to be opposed and contained. We're in agreement on that. But, again: effective containment will depend on recognizing the actual nature of the problem. The Democrats have spent the last eight or ten years spouting asinine fantasies about how he's going to be a jackbooted fuhrer. He's not. He plainly and obviously lacks the capacity.

The actual nature of the problem is that he's following a playbook in which the goal is explicitly and unapologetically to undermine/bypass our systems of checks and balances. They hope to bring about a theocratic ethnostate. No one who could reasonably stop it is even acting concerned yet. Thus they are making good progress along that path.

With every step taken it will become harder to stop. The "disloyal", "diverse", and ethical are being purged from government. Every agency. All they are leaving is cronies, yes men, and those too scared to resist.

[Bereta_Eder]

do you know what you mean when you say ethnostate?

because the US can never be one.

Ethnos means nation but in a way that is apparent only in the greek language. (where it comes from)


it means state/nation build on peoples.

peoples as in race. not your white race that you copied from somwhere.

but a race as a peoples. that ARE indeed genetically similar.


so a ethnostate is impossible. I think you mean a nation based on "whiteness" but that is not an ethnostate

[Bereta_Eder]

Ethnos is the greek word for the latin word nation. nation as a word doesn't exist in greek and it's different than ethnos. an ethnos isn't necessairy to have a state and it contains an homogenuity that the word nation lacks

[Bereta_Eder]

it's like the restrictive latin word nationality

that could maybe be translated as ypikootita Υπηκοότητα. That means something like citizenship but it has something submissive to it, like serfom maybe. But it is different than nationality.

now Ithageneia ΙθαγÎνεια is the all encompassing word that means both citizenship (which is automatic if you have ithageneia) and IS the personal characteristic of a member of an ethnos

[Uncle Sparky]

Yesterday, JD Vance cancelled a meeting with German Chancellor Scholz to meet with far-right AfD co-leader Alice Weidel.
Gee... anyone still unsure about where the GOP elite stand on the political spectrum?

[Geronimo]

Yesterday, JD Vance cancelled a meeting with German Chancellor Scholz to meet with far-right AfD co-leader Alice Weidel.
Gee... anyone still unsure about where the GOP elite stand on the political spectrum?

Tell us some of the far-right policies advocated by AfD. Maybe we can learn something about JD Vance.

[Dauphin]

I'm sure our friends in or close to Germany can speak more to this first hand, but some primers for you.

AfD embraces mass deportation of migrants as German election nears​

On Saturday, while its conference was under way in the eastern town of Riesa, in Saxony, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) laid out ambitions to close Germany's borders, resume buying Russian gas and, in effect, dismantle the EU.

....

Sellner has written about "remigrating" asylum seekers, some foreigners with residency rights and "non-assimilated" citizens.

....

Her declaration during this discussion that Adolf Hitler was, in fact, a communist sparked condemnation, given the Nazi leader's well-known anti-communism. Critics warned of Nazi revisionism - something the AfD has been accused of before. Björn Höcke once called for a "180-degree turnaround" in Germany's handling of its Nazi past

Being anti-EU is not right wing, just not generally consider a centrists position.
Being willing to trade with Russia is more populist than right wing. Lower energy bills for the masses.
Closing borders is more right-wing, but the kicker is to 'remigrate' certain people (read 'Muslims'), whether they have a historic right to be there or not, including citizenship.
Calling Hitler a Communist, is damn impressive, and generally rebranding the Nazis as not the bad guys may give you an inkling to what they really think.....

[Dauphin]

For the GBNews take (a far right mouthpiece, or as near as, so written as supportive of ADF policies):

Migrant crisis: Germany's AfD pledge 'total closure of borders for 100 days' and mass deportations of immigrants as election draws closer

Germany's AfD party has unveiled plans for a complete border shutdown and mass deportations if successful in next month's election.

...

Addressing party supporters, Weidel outlined sweeping measures for the first 100 days of any AfD-led government.

"The total closing of Germany's borders and the turning back anyone travelling without documents" would be implemented alongside 'large-scale repatriations'," she declared.

The co-leader openly embraced the controversial term "remigration" for the party's deportation policy.
​

​I say to you quite honestly, if this must be called remigration, then let it be called remigration," Weidel told the congress, acknowledging the term's contentious nature.

Critics have compared the policy to ethnic cleansing, though the party maintains it would apply to migrants regardless of their citizenship status.
​
...

Among the AfD's prominent figures is Bjorn Hocke, who was welcomed by supporters at Saturday's congress despite previous controversies.

Hocke had previously called Berlin's Holocaust memorial a "monument of shame" and faced accusations of referencing speeches by Hitler and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.