General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: *******The mother of all tweet storms. He's lost it !! ******* [View all]Amimnoch
(4,558 posts)I have been asserting, and will continue to assert that this beast that leads our country is a complete and bona fide fascist, and if he isn't checked he will end up becoming the first American dictator, and do so with conservative/Republican blessings.
Ref: The fourteen defining characteristics of a Fascist
Tweet 1: "James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Fascist Characteristic: "12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations. "
Elaboration: There's actually a couple of characteristics this one could fall under, but this is a textbook example of a fascist leader removing non-sympathetic law enforcement leadership for the purpose of obfuscation of his own crimes, and to instill his own, more supportive law enforcement leadership. It's not even a veiled move. It's also now to threaten punishment and silence the ex-official.
Tweet 2: "Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy??? "
Fascist Characteristic: "6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. "
Elaboration: Does this one really need any? One of many.. many.. MANY attacks on the media to discredit it and divert from his own actions, words, and deeds.
Tweet 3: "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!"
Fascist Characteristic: "13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders."
Elaboration: Rather and accept and own his own words, and the words of his surrogates, he continuously rephrases, and changes outright what he says. He has installed completely unqualified cronies and now speaks to defend their complete lack of qualification by trying to say 'we're not perfect'. If they were qualified, honest, transparent, and honorable, there would be no need to defend. It's also a backhanded attack on the media (another of the characteristics) for having the audacity to accurately report their words as spoken.
Tweet 4: "Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election. "
Fascist Characteristic: "14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections." AND "6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. "
Elaboration: Attacking the media, hiding corruption, and doing everything they can to ensure a thorough investigation is blocked, or at the very least controlled by him with regards to the first US election where direct foreign manipulation is widely suspected.
This president is a fascist. He displays all 14 of 14 of the characteristics.