Have Netanyahu and Trump finally killed poly?

[Geronimo]

Just thinking of your avatar MOBIUS. Miriam Godwinson is definitely MAGA isn't she? We just didn't know what it was at the time

MAGA doesn't strike me as at all religious if only because their idol Trump is clearly not a man of faith. Miriam is a lot more like the Iranian leadership to be honest. Trump seems a lot more like the morganites, which is a shame because while I played the morganites quite frequently I never had any interest in choosing Miriam's fanatics and usually plenty of interest in eliminating them before any others.

[Provost Harrison]

MAGA doesn't strike me as at all religious if only because their idol Trump is clearly not a man of faith. Miriam is a lot more like the Iranian leadership to be honest. Trump seems a lot more like the morganites, which is a shame because while I played the morganites quite frequently I never had any interest in choosing Miriam's fanatics and usually plenty of interest in eliminating them before any others.

You are trying to define MAGA with consistency. You live in the US, you must see this. Have you listened to Hegseth recently?

To add: It's why it is often labelled as Christofascism, that weird amalgamation. Why do you think pro-life crap has got mixed up in MAGA?

[Lorizael]

If I had known all of the crap he was going to pull in this term, I would have given a vote to Harris even if he'd been a perfect angel after he was voted out in 2020.

Remember when you upbraided me for suggesting the MAGA movement was militaristic?

[I AM MOBIUS]

You are trying to define MAGA with consistency. You live in the US, you must see this. Have you listened to Hegseth recently?

To add: It's why it is often labelled as Christofascism, that weird amalgamation. Why do you think pro-life crap has got mixed up in MAGA?

I've heard them called Christian Zionists, and they're well and truly behind Trump and Hegseth...

Proof really that the fascism/Zionism part is essentially interchangeable.

[Agathon]

I recall arguing on this site that the Republican Party was well on its way to fascism, and that was well before the Tea Party, back in the Bush II years. Same for Israel, which is these days openly Kahanist. I wish I could say I was pleased to be correct.

[I AM MOBIUS]

Except this time there is that little matter of the Straits of Hormuz that could sink the entire global economy and lead to the deaths of countless millions in famine, perhaps on an unprecedented scale.

LOL.

When you think they've already dismantled USAID, you wouldn't have to be too much of a conspiracy theorist to wonder if they did it on purpose...?

They didn't, of course - they're too ****ing stupid to have an actual ****ing plan.

[I AM MOBIUS]

I recall arguing on this site that the Republican Party was well on its way to fascism, and that was well before the Tea Party, back in the Bush II years. Same for Israel, which is these days openly Kahanist. I wish I could say I was pleased to be correct.

100%

[I AM MOBIUS]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/23/what-is-christian-zionism-us-envoy-beliefs-about-israels-mena-expansion

Written literally *5 days before* the US/Israel's murderous war of aggression on Iran...

"This is because Christian Zionism essentially fuses religious belief with a military, strategic and even economic programme"

“Specifically, Christian Zionism is not just the belief that the biblical land of Israel is the ordained country of the Jewish people but that it is in America’s strategic, military and economic interest to support the expansion of Israel.”

“translates into absolute unquestioning support for the Israeli regime”

I remember Mike Huckabee being a front-runner for the Republican nomination to run for president one year... 🤪

This is what you get when you let intellectual pygmies like MWHA, Oerdim, et al, have the vote...🤡🙄

[Geronimo]

Remember when you upbraided me for suggesting the MAGA movement was militaristic?

It wasn't militaristic. I'm not even sure it's militaristic now. Militarism is bad surely, but MAGA isn't necessarily all things bad. I would call it Trumpistic which is a form of idiocy.

[Geronimo]

I recall arguing on this site that the Republican Party was well on its way to fascism, and that was well before the Tea Party, back in the Bush II years. Same for Israel, which is these days openly Kahanist. I wish I could say I was pleased to be correct.

the Republican party that existed then bore little resemblance to MAGA and especially to MAGA politicians.

[Geronimo]

Didn't you. Because everyone was warned. Everyone knew about Project 2025. We knew about it in the UK. We knew the dodgiest of billionaires (Thiel, Trump, etc) lined up behind him with their "theories". It was a disaster waiting to happen for an ever-more-addled President.

What was not to see? Maybe the exact details and timings but this was obvious.

There was every reason to expect his second term would resemble his first term more than anything else. The biggest reason to not vote for him was that his actions/inactions on 06 Jan 2021 were deeply impeachable. Everyone predicting he would "govern" in his second term the way he actually has so far in his second term seems to have wrongly predicted the same outcome in his first term.

[Agathon]

the Republican party that existed then bore little resemblance to MAGA and especially to MAGA politicians.

I would disagree. Sidelining the 'reality based community' on a large scale began with the lead up to the Iraq War. Trumpism is in many ways just that on steroids.

[Provost Harrison]

There was every reason to expect his second term would resemble his first term more than anything else. The biggest reason to not vote for him was that his actions/inactions on 06 Jan 2021 were deeply impeachable. Everyone predicting he would "govern" in his second term the way he actually has so far in his second term seems to have wrongly predicted the same outcome in his first term.

I'm sure you live in a different dimension to the rest of us sometimes. I'm British and I saw this coming. Remember his handling of COVID? The fact he was a convicted fellow, the Heritage Foundation/Project 2025 stuff. "They're eating the pets". 6th January? Need I go on?

[Lorizael]

It wasn't militaristic. I'm not even sure it's militaristic now. Militarism is bad surely, but MAGA isn't necessarily all things bad. I would call it Trumpistic which is a form of idiocy.

So your model for the Trump administration is (1) meaninglessly tautological and (2) by your own admission not able to predict the Trump administration's behavior, whereas my model is (1) very clearly laid out:

The MAGA movement is absolutely militaristic. The parades, the obsession with strength and guns, "2A solutions" and violence more generally. I didn't say imperialistic; I said militaristic.

If you want to argue that there are strong fascist elements within MAGA, I won't dispute you.

I have made this argument repeatedly for years.

He likes people praising him. He likes giving noogies to people who were mean to him. He doesn't like rules getting in his way. That's it.

This one, too.

And together, these strike me as very bad, because they reinforce each other. Trump says, "Things aren't going exactly my way. That's unfair!" And his fascist henchmen say, "You're right, Mr. President. And here's a very stupid legal argument for why things should go your way!" And Trump responds, "Wow, that's great! I'm going to put you in charge of stuff and then repeat what you said on air in the most mangled fashion possible!" And his fascist henchmen say, "Cool, very cool. Now I'm gonna go do the fascist things, and when you say the fascist things I'm gonna do in a really stupid way, people will quibble over whether you really mean it because you're completely incoherent." And Trump says, "Bigly! MAGA!! Thank you for your attention to this matter."

...and (2) predictive of what did, in fact, happen:

Fascist henchman: alcoholic Fox News host
Stuff he was put in charge of: DOD
Fascist things the henchman is gonna do: blow up brown people because of his obsession with strength, guns, and violence more generally

Might I suggest you consider some epistemic humility, Geronimo?

[Geronimo]

So your model for the Trump administration is (1) meaninglessly tautological and (2) by your own admission not able to predict the Trump administration's behavior, whereas my model is (1) very clearly laid out:





...and (2) predictive of what did, in fact, happen:

Fascist henchman: alcoholic Fox News host
Stuff he was put in charge of: DOD
Fascist things the henchman is gonna do: blow up brown people because of his obsession with strength, guns, and violence more generally

Might I suggest you consider some epistemic humility, Geronimo?

jeez. even when he blows up Iranians that's "brown people" now too? I suppose if he bombed Ukraine, they'd become brown people by definition?

I will say that I would never have predicted he would open this war on Iran, not even after the first one. Whatever though. You're now saying that his campaign against Iran proves your fascism model of how his administration works. Fine. what does your model predict will happen next?