Neil deGrasse Tyson on the popularity of dictatorships

[Lonestarblue]

18. Dictators are attractive to extremists who think their beliefs are being ignored.

And the US has more than its fair share of extremists now: white supremacists, anti-government militias, Christian Nationalists, burn-the-government-down radicals, forced birthers, anti-LGBTQ rights (and existence), anti-immigration zealots, and on and on. The difference today as compared with attitudes pre-Trump is that they now embrace violence and breaking the law to get what they want. They do not see criminal behavior as being wrong. That is truly astonishing.

Rand Paul’s response to Trump’s crimes regarding stealing classified documents was simply to get rid of the Espionage Act Trump is accused of violating. As we’ve seen with most of the primaries this year, Republican voters are not interested in democratic principles or even keeping our democracy going. They are interested in one thing only, and that is the power to force the rest of the country to bend to their will. Their identity as a political party has morphed into a focus not on governing to address major issues the country faces but on cultural tribalism that is fueling the worst political decisions for the country.

Republicans like DeSantis have started excluding mainstream media from state and political events. Republicans across the country have banned books and passed “gag” laws to make teachers so afraid of running afoul of the laws that they’re not teaching actual history anymore. Some states are passing anti-trans bills to hurt kids. If Abbot wins this Fall, I expect Texas to codify their policy of threatening parents of trans kids with investigations by child services and possible removal from the home for physical and mental torture of conversion therapy. The new Republican platform clearly states an anti-LGBTQ agenda.

So, yes, we are heading for dictatorship unless the radicals are voted out. I know it’s been said of other elections, but this Fall’s election seems to be the most consequential I can remember. The 2016 election was hugely consequential, but we didn’t know then that Trump would invite fascism to the party.