It's real, and it's here.

[Nevilledog]

[Pantagruel]

1. It's GOP senators

putting politics above the rule of law.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Yes, like politicians in 1933 Germany said they could control Hitler. . . . nt

[NNadir]

23. Who, exactly is Von Papen here?

These Nazi parallels are getting sillier by the moment.

[jaxexpat]

34. Short version: he was an aristocrat/military commander/politician and, full time megalomaniac......

who inadvertently gave a jump start to Hitler's budding career in the 1930's. Historians may well discuss a parallel between him and our Sen. McConnell at some future time. If people will even care about such things in a future time. Then, who will know Von Papen then?

[NNadir]

38. I know who von Papen was.

In 1933, Hitler was 41 years old, and not a senile old man with obvious intellectual decline. Moreover his life had been devoted to politics. He lived in a defeated country under severe economic distress and could point to the fact that he had not caused this distress and could thus blame ethereal others.

I have read a tremendous amount of history in my long life and the notion of historical determinism by parallelism is defeatist, and in my opinion, lazy.

Overall trends may be repeated, but the appeal here endlessly to Godwin's law is silly and depressing. The United States in 2020 is not Weimar Germany in 1933.

[jaxexpat]

39. You forgot tiresome and officious. If not a tad paranoiac as well.

"not a senile old man with obvious intellectual decline", would do well to lighten up some. I'm sure we all agree.

[Newest Reality]

2. Smell the coffee.

Wake up. It is important to call it before you can fight it.

[czarjak]

3. Vlad's glad, though!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Putin's rootin' . . . nt

[czarjak]

15. Darned tootin'!

[Initech]

4. This is some seriously scary shit we're seeing right now.

[sarcasmo]

5. When the evictions start next month, this chaos will seem tame.

[appalachiablue]

30. +1

[CrispyQ]

45. It's time for Wall Street to bail out Main Street. -nt

[sure why not]

6. So very True

My heart sunk when * was declared the winner. I had an enormous sense of grave danger.
With what has come to pass, even I could never have imagined the depths of where we are now.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. x 1000

[Red Pest]

10. When will the bloated orange failed human have his version of the Reichstag fire?

After the phony provocation, he will attempt his version of the Reichstag fire decree. It won't work, but it will distract his base from all the obvious failures and allow him to gaslight them. I suspect that he will try to delay or stop the election. That won't work, but again it will cause confusion and turmoil. All of this will delight Putin et al.

[Evolve Dammit]

11. Get ready. Be prepared. Whatever that looks like in your current world. It could change in Nov.

Tell me I am ____ whatever. This feels tenuous.

[2naSalit]

12. K&R

[Curtis]

13. And,

I get it that we're all Democrats. I get it this is the DEMOCRATICunderground. I get it that we're all voting for Joe Biden. I get all that.

But, where are our party leaders? Why hasn't Trump been impeached again and again and again? Make a historical statement that this will NOT stand. I swear to whomever or whatever that if the Democrats decline to indict or investigate anyone from this administration IF we have a free election and Biden actually wins and we let these criminals walk that I, for one, will end my 40 year association with the Democratic Party. Our party leaders need to stand up to this corruption and lock the mother fuckers up once and for all.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. I know how you feel, but that's a risky move.

We are already on the edge of a civil war. If we try to imprison all of the people who deserve it from the Trump administration and other parts of our government, those people will do all they can to cause insurrection. I'm not saying we shouldn't prosecute them, especially if Biden and the Democrats win with a solid majority, but remember there will be serious consequences. That's why Obama's administration decided against prosecuting Bush et al. Those people certainly deserve it, but it's hard to say if it's worth the price.

[intheflow]

21. You got this backwards.

Obama's failure to act decisively then enabled us to get where we are now. That line of thinking is so old it's how we ended up with Confederate generals in the US Congress after Reconstruction, who then became statues, which brings us right up to the present again.

It is time to stop this bullshit and build a new paradigm. Neurenburg trials for them all.

[SlogginThroughIt]

25. FOESAD!

[dchill]

32. JSYK: I know what that means.

[Curtis]

26. Exactly!!!

You have put it so well my compatriot

[dchill]

31. Exactly!

[Eyeball_Kid]

42. It was both Obama and Pelosi. Both wanted to just move forward

and leave the war criminals and Bush-era fascists to fester and then plan for THIS moment.

No more.

[Laelth]

20. I favor a second impeachment.

Trump’s hawking beans on the resolute desk was clearly illegal. We don’t need lengthy hearings. Just impeach him again and give the Republicans in the Senate another opportunity to do the right thing. I don’t see what we have to lose.

-Laelth

[FakeNoose]

35. Chump just needs to be tried in a real court with a real judge and jury

Trying him in the Senate - I mean the "Senate" we have right now - is just a soul-sucking waste of time. That's why we're not impeaching him again and again. Sure he deserves it, but our time can be better served in other ways.

Let Chump answer crimes in federal court and in New York State court, NOT the insane political arena.

[Laelth]

46. Silence is complicity.

It would not take more than a day to impeach Trump again. It’s illegal to use your position as a Federal employee to promote a private enterprise. I have a picture of Trump hawking beans from the resolute desk. That’s a blatant violation of the law. No hearings needed—just vote on it. Impeach him again, and then it’s Moscow Mitch’s problem. Let the Senate worry about it. Who knows? They might actually decide to do the right thing. If they don’t, we hang it around their necks in the Senate races this year.

I see no downside to a second impeachment.

-Laelth

[kimbutgar]

14. MF45's Gestapo needs to be stopped immediately

I never thought we would devolve into a Hitler rule in this country because I believed in our constitution. Now seeing Portland and the hint of future attacks on American citizens exercising their first amendment rights is outrageous and needs to be pushed back decisively.

[Loge23]

16. and soon, it'll be in a town near you.

They're already talking about moving the storm troopers around to various cities in the country - all, of course, blue cities.
This is a show of force designed to keep us off the streets, no matter what happens between now and election day.
Meanwhile, the complicit GOP stands by and watched the whole country fall apart.

[durablend]

40. You can bet

If they're not stopped, the jackboot thugs will be patrolling polling places to "secure the election" (translated: make sure the "wrong people" don't vote)

[live love laugh]

18. Meanwhile the fascists knowing they have been pegged

are desperately trying to relabel Democrats as “Marxist” in response.

“Socialism” apparently wasn’t derogatory enough.

[Laelth]

19. Sigh.

I can not deny the basic gist of this OP.

-Laelth

[warmfeet]

22. It's been creeping in for a long time.

It's very real, and it is no conspiracy. The big money, want all the money. That is how pure capitalism works. Fascism is an expected consequence.

[NNadir]

24. Oh, should we all surrender then?

We are a long way from going fascist, and I personally wish that the cowards among us would grow up.

[Mr. Ected]

27. Are our institutions strong enough to withstand the blunt force trauma of Putin inflicted upon them

Because Trump has disabled and neutered many of them, rendering them mere remnants of their former selves, replaced stalwarts with cronies, all aided and abetted by a GOP Congress that has either shared the dirty money, been made privy to the dirty money, or been threatened with kompromat.

To be sure, the job is still incomplete, but they've worked feverishly as Trump tweets his distractions.

So what's November looking like? And the months between November and January? Are our leaders and institutions prepared to fight fire with fire? Does the Constitution afford us the tools and remedies and resources to stave off a full-throated coup by those who have been secretly scheming it for years?

[colsohlibgal]

28. No Doubt

That scene in Portland paralleled scenes in early-mid 30s Germany.

[orangecrush]

29. Yup.

[Jeff_was_here]

33. We have had better days

I am not surprised that people can be attracted to power, greed and self-interest of all types. Fear and unreasonable hatred of other races, religions, ethnicity's and social status are common throughout the world.

In my younger years I believed that people of honor would speak out in opposition to people of ill will. I knew religious leaders would direct their congregations to be humble, love their fellow man, accept that we are all flawed, forgive each other’s failings and try to become better people.

A great deal of the current inhumane treatment in this country is being forced on the American people by the wealthy, Republicans and Christians of all social status. Is whatever they hope to gain by their ungodly behavior worth the humanity they so easily discard? Do you think they will ever embrace charity, acceptance, empathy, compromise, equal treatment and love of all people? I must say I am skeptical. What say you?

[Beringia]

44. A Christian should be Christ-like

many atheists are probably more Christ-like than self-described Christians

[dalton99a]

36. Kick

[love_katz]

37. Kick for visibility.

[Eyeball_Kid]

41. Amen. n/t

[Scruffy1]

43. It" been here all the time.

They just quit putting a smily face on it. I refuse to call these radical extremists "conservatives" like the MSM.It's really a strange belief that you can solve social problems with force.