All:
WOW!
Richard
On 1/2/2017 6:41 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House
Published on
Monday, January 02, 2017
by
Informed Comment
Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House
by
Juan Cole
A carnival float mocking U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump
stands on display near city hall on Feb. 8, 2016 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
(Photo: Getty Images)
It is 2017, and shortly the White House will be inhabited by an
unscrupulous, corrupt narcissist who has shamelessly mobilized the Neo-Nazi
fringe of the Republican Party to get into power.
Despite all the cries of 'no' to normalization on the left, Trump will be
normalized by the same corporate media that virtually boycotted Bernie
Sanders. He will be respectfully called "the president" and his wishes and
goals will be praised on cable news, and not just on Rupert Murdoch's Fox
Fake News. He'll flash a smile and be friendly and anchors will treat him
like a buddy (despite his having threatened their colleagues with bodily
harm at his rallies and despite his having pledged to weaken the first
amendment and sue reporters for libel). Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal
is already pledging never to call Trump out when he is obviously lying.
Since Trump is, like Dick Nixon, a pathological liar, this is like pledging
not to cover his presidency.
Americans cultivate a myth about themselves that they are rugged
individualists, but in fact they are for the most part timid sheep who
worship power and are glad to defer to it if it mouths a few white
nationalist keywords. French workers, for whom Americans have such contempt,
would never allow themselves to be walked all over the way American workers
have been. Americans who don't go along to get along are branded traitors by
fresh-faced young Neo-Nazis who have infiltrated our supposedly democratic
institutions and engage in blackballing and smearing.
Just in the past week we have been treated to a number of classic fascist
themes by the PEOTUS and his team.
Trump's monstrous New Year's message, delighting in having defeated his
enemies and in their despair, displayed his typical feigned machismo (is he
Frank Sinatra, that he has ever been in a fistfight?) Vindictiveness and
trash talking are part of his contempt for the weak and determination to
victimize them.
Another typical fascist theme is suspicion of modernity, science and the
Enlightenment. Trump's low regard for modern technology was made abundantly
clear when he said last Wednesday, according to Reuters, "I think that
computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has
made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on." He maintains that it is
impossible to trace hackers (not true, though it can be very difficult).
He has now gone on to suggest that important memos be written out on paper
and delivered by courier. His climate denialism goes along with this
irrationality. And of course the very medium in which these irrational
statements are delivered, a tortured English with impossible syntax making
sweeping assertions that the truth can never be arrived at, is Newspeak of
the fascist variety.
With his typical narcissism, Trump maintained that he "knows things about
hacking" that others do not and will reveal them in a few days. The
narcissism feeds into the fascism, since he is the great leader who should
be trusted above other sources of information, even when it is obvious, as
it usually is, that he does not have the slightest idea what he is talking
about.
Then Mother Jones reported that Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Labor
thinks workers are over-protected and that they should not get breaks.
Contempt for the weak is a major theme of Trump and his team. Such huuje
losers. Don't deserve a doctor visit or a coffee break. Bah humbug.
What do you want to bet that the secretary of labor's position never even
gets discussed on a national news channel?
Trump will be normalized. All the rest of us can do is simply keep in mind
that he is a fascist, and to continue to point to his record on fascism,
from hatred of Mexicans and African-Americans and Muslim Americans to his
contempt for women to his pledge to carpet bomb Iraq and Syria to his threat
to imprison his chief political opponent. We can continue to remember his
determination to deprive workers of their basic rights. We can remember that
Steve Bannon, the editor of the Neo-Nazi rag Breitbart, is among his closest
advisers.
All we can do is resist normalization, first of all in our own minds and
then in our social circles and on social media. And when Trump begins
victimizing innocent people, we have to remain prepared to mobilize. Fascism
gets tossed around lightly as an insult on the internet. This is the real
thing, folks. We are Italy, 31 October, 1922. Bad things are about to
happen.
C 2016 Juan Cole
Juan Cole
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Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House
Published on
Monday, January 02, 2017
by
Informed Comment
Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House
by
Juan Cole
. 18 Comments
.
. A carnival float mocking U.S. Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump stands on display near city hall on Feb. 8, 2016 in
Duesseldorf, Germany. (Photo: Getty Images)
. It is 2017, and shortly the White House will be inhabited by an
unscrupulous, corrupt narcissist who has shamelessly mobilized the Neo-Nazi
fringe of the Republican Party to get into power.
. Despite all the cries of 'no' to normalization on the left, Trump
will be normalized by the same corporate media that virtually boycotted
Bernie Sanders. He will be respectfully called "the president" and his
wishes and goals will be praised on cable news, and not just on Rupert
Murdoch's Fox Fake News. He'll flash a smile and be friendly and anchors
will treat him like a buddy (despite his having threatened their colleagues
with bodily harm at his rallies and despite his having pledged to weaken the
first amendment and sue reporters for libel). Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street
Journal is already pledging never to call Trump out when he is obviously
lying. Since Trump is, like Dick Nixon, a pathological liar, this is like
pledging not to cover his presidency.
. Americans cultivate a myth about themselves that they are rugged
individualists, but in fact they are for the most part timid sheep who
worship power and are glad to defer to it if it mouths a few white
nationalist keywords. French workers, for whom Americans have such contempt,
would never allow themselves to be walked all over the way American workers
have been. Americans who don't go along to get along are branded traitors by
fresh-faced young Neo-Nazis who have infiltrated our supposedly democratic
institutions and engage in blackballing and smearing.
. Just in the past week we have been treated to a number of classic
fascist themes by the PEOTUS and his team.
Trump's monstrous New Year's message, delighting in having defeated his
enemies and in their despair, displayed his typical feigned machismo (is he
Frank Sinatra, that he has ever been in a fistfight?) Vindictiveness and
trash talking are part of his contempt for the weak and determination to
victimize them.
Another typical fascist theme is suspicion of modernity, science and the
Enlightenment. Trump's low regard for modern technology was made abundantly
clear when he said last Wednesday, according to Reuters, "I think that
computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has
made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on." He maintains that it is
impossible to trace hackers (not true, though it can be very difficult).
He has now gone on to suggest that important memos be written out on paper
and delivered by courier. His climate denialism goes along with this
irrationality. And of course the very medium in which these irrational
statements are delivered, a tortured English with impossible syntax making
sweeping assertions that the truth can never be arrived at, is Newspeak of
the fascist variety.
With his typical narcissism, Trump maintained that he "knows things about
hacking" that others do not and will reveal them in a few days. The
narcissism feeds into the fascism, since he is the great leader who should
be trusted above other sources of information, even when it is obvious, as
it usually is, that he does not have the slightest idea what he is talking
about.
Then Mother Jones reported that Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Labor
thinks workers are over-protected and that they should not get breaks.
Contempt for the weak is a major theme of Trump and his team. Such huuje
losers. Don't deserve a doctor visit or a coffee break. Bah humbug.
What do you want to bet that the secretary of labor's position never even
gets discussed on a national news channel?
Trump will be normalized. All the rest of us can do is simply keep in mind
that he is a fascist, and to continue to point to his record on fascism,
from hatred of Mexicans and African-Americans and Muslim Americans to his
contempt for women to his pledge to carpet bomb Iraq and Syria to his threat
to imprison his chief political opponent. We can continue to remember his
determination to deprive workers of their basic rights. We can remember that
Steve Bannon, the editor of the Neo-Nazi rag Breitbart, is among his closest
advisers.
All we can do is resist normalization, first of all in our own minds and
then in our social circles and on social media. And when Trump begins
victimizing innocent people, we have to remain prepared to mobilize. Fascism
gets tossed around lightly as an insult on the internet. This is the real
thing, folks. We are Italy, 31 October, 1922. Bad things are about to
happen.
C 2016 Juan Cole
