It scares me, how close they came and how organized, the coup was. After my grandfather's combat tour in ww2 or Korea, he told my dad, that the evil, my grandfather witnessed could never be allowed to happen again. 60 someodd years later, "shooter" O'Neil is pimping for trump on fox, and Twitter. The polar opposite of that hallowed generation. I'm naive, but it seems the soviet propaganda machine did its job over those interceding decades. Thank you all for the work you do for our freedoms.
I listened to you while knitting my new grandson a hat to match the sweater I finished earlier. But even that simple task interfered somewhat with my ability to comprehend the nuances of the law. Glad I’m not being graded by the Academy. Thank you for being as clear as possible given the current situation.
So, Asha' it seems from what I can see, you really know your stuff' so to speak' when it comes to the information ecosystems ie: the damage mis/disinformation can have on the psychology of a targeted country'
I will say this' you have to be tuned in to even begin to understand information warfare...
If you haven't spoken with my colleague David Lingelbach yet, I strongly recommend him. He was a BoA banker in St. Petersburg as Putin was starting his political career, & has recently co-authored 'The Oligarchs Grip: Fusing Wealth & Power' [ https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-oligarchs-grip ].
Yes, all they ways that Trump tried to abuse his power were related. They come from the same instinct: to demand unquestioned personal loyalty. Great analysis!
The thing that is underlying all this immediacy about the Trump cabal neofascism is that it’s been in the works for decades. The Dulles’ (airport named after them) were ardent anti-communists in a vulgar nazi sort of way because in order to oppose the (not really communism) of Khrushchev’s and Stalin’s USSR, they decided the ultra right nazi style fascist dictators of many undeveloped countries they wished to exploit or ‘colonize’ to stop the ‘domino’ effect, thus just maintaining the autocracies in another style of suppression of the population living in those nations. In the US this meant that from Ike on (followed by Nixon, Reagan, Bush daddy and Bush-Cheney, sonny boy) then Trump, the march to reconstructing the vulgarity of the ‘confederacy’ (as in , “the South shall rhaaazze’ (rise)), was a vital strategy for the GOP. Who were the Confederates? Traitors, seditionists and slavers. Of course these folks switch parties from the Dixiecrats (Jackson’s, founder of the Democratic Party in the South to reject growing republicanism and abolitionist objectives in the south). Now the Southern Dixiecrats become rapid, racist, old line confederate evangelicals who hate ‘color’ and many Northern once Lincoln loving Republicans join Northern Democrats who support civil rights, (Johnson signs the voting rights law and civil rights law into national law in the mid 1960’s following the brutal assassination of JFK, a Catholic hated by evangelical former Dixiecrats).
From this point forward, the “new” GOP agress to abandoned democracy, union labor, civil rights and voting rights and looks to unite the white working classes in the former rageful confederacy, and the mid and western farm states. Also possess of large white christian populations all of whom are taught that Jeee Zus would resolve their sins so long as ‘they came to him’! It is also at this point that we see a rise in the false theology of ‘prosperity’ preachers who get on TV and start billing their minions. Is it any wonder that Trump, appealing to the rage, hatred and egocentric beliefs of white supremacy, and long held racist tropes and secretly or objectively fanning antisemitism, has been able to milk his followers? I don’t think touting his live for fast food has hurt him, either. Because, unlike the trim, (actually) healthy Biden (only three years older than the fat guy who has a ludicrous comb-over and fake tan) looks well put together in his blue suits and crisp tailored shirts or wearing the blue Presidential blazer. While, the chubby dude with the toilet paper on his shoe and tripping down a red carpet walkway,
And who has a vocabulary of a physically abused nine year old boy. Why that appeals or plays to his minions is quite simple if not sad and dangerous. They, mostly poorly educated and many sans higher education (with the exception of his close ‘ neonazi buddies)
Like the delusion that they are like him and he them, (that he’s not an elite snob). His disorderly thinking, his chaotic speaking, his slovenly, cruelty toward the disabled or those who actually DO know what he doesn’t) reverberates with the way these (large proportion of MAGA followers) people act day to day. You know? The ones out there screaming “Jews shall not replace us” or consciously driving a car into a crowd and killing people of color, that he happily revered to “as good people”.
This attempt, well organized and defining a hatred for the Ruke of Law, is not new. It’s been funded by the same folks, the right wing pro Hitler uberriche families/folks, who are unwilling to pay their fair share (which under Eisenhower, helped fund the national highway system and complete the TVA with that 91% rate on the top $$$$$$).
This march to obvious neofascism, obvious disdain for the US Constitution, obvious anti-scientific agenda to keep the great wealth of fossil fuel with disdain for the realities of human cause global warming, has been afoot for a long time. Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, the Olin family, Mellons, Koch’s, etc, didn’t just show up in 2015, they’ve been attempting to undermine civil liberties and an expanding democracy way prior to the appearance of an emperor without clothes. A vulgar, charicateur of himself, but all to real to those who choose a common good and a commitment to justice and equal protection under the law. The Suoreme Courts illegitimate judges who lied about Rie v Wade, and some supporting the tich man’s lie that Corporations are “individuals” and have “human rights”, to our billions into campaigns supporting violators of voting rights and civil rights (while their CEO’s and stockholders make sure their workers have none) isn’t really new, is it? Reagan adored breaking the Air Traffic Controllers strike and union, thereby making our skies less safe , all the better to watch as the Saudi’s (good personal friends of the Bush’s) fund 17 of their nationals to plow into the WTC, Pentagon and we don’t know what other DC national building was at the planned end od the downed in Shanksville plane.
And, then falsifying data and lying to us. Bush baby(who actually did steal an election) decided to go to war with airway for his family’s wealth and not the planners, finders, the culprits of 911!
Trump is really the more visual arc of the disdain for democracy that the GOP has been nursing for quite some time and is supported by their successful effort to fuel the still searching rage of the conferderate defeat 170 years earlier?
Insane? YES. Vulgar? YES, Real, YES, Terrifying, YES. an assault on democrat and its civil rights foundations, YES. Sometimes, in my own delusions about myself, I think I should write, yet another book, outlining how dangerously close our US is to becoming the Roman Empure!
It scares me, how close they came and how organized, the coup was. After my grandfather's combat tour in ww2 or Korea, he told my dad, that the evil, my grandfather witnessed could never be allowed to happen again. 60 someodd years later, "shooter" O'Neil is pimping for trump on fox, and Twitter. The polar opposite of that hallowed generation. I'm naive, but it seems the soviet propaganda machine did its job over those interceding decades. Thank you all for the work you do for our freedoms.
I listened to you while knitting my new grandson a hat to match the sweater I finished earlier. But even that simple task interfered somewhat with my ability to comprehend the nuances of the law. Glad I’m not being graded by the Academy. Thank you for being as clear as possible given the current situation.
So, Asha' it seems from what I can see, you really know your stuff' so to speak' when it comes to the information ecosystems ie: the damage mis/disinformation can have on the psychology of a targeted country'
I will say this' you have to be tuned in to even begin to understand information warfare...
You were looking all 🔥 in your Walmart dress. 😂. I don't have anything useful to add this time 😂😂😂
Thank you for sharing your insights.
If you haven't spoken with my colleague David Lingelbach yet, I strongly recommend him. He was a BoA banker in St. Petersburg as Putin was starting his political career, & has recently co-authored 'The Oligarchs Grip: Fusing Wealth & Power' [ https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-oligarchs-grip ].
Meet David Lingelbach http://www.ubalt.edu/news/features/charles-street-chats/david-lingelbach.cfm
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/david-lingelbach-b23196172_the-oligarchs-grip-fusing-wealth-and-power-activity-7079893668257566720-E5Qu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
Yes, all they ways that Trump tried to abuse his power were related. They come from the same instinct: to demand unquestioned personal loyalty. Great analysis!
The thing that is underlying all this immediacy about the Trump cabal neofascism is that it’s been in the works for decades. The Dulles’ (airport named after them) were ardent anti-communists in a vulgar nazi sort of way because in order to oppose the (not really communism) of Khrushchev’s and Stalin’s USSR, they decided the ultra right nazi style fascist dictators of many undeveloped countries they wished to exploit or ‘colonize’ to stop the ‘domino’ effect, thus just maintaining the autocracies in another style of suppression of the population living in those nations. In the US this meant that from Ike on (followed by Nixon, Reagan, Bush daddy and Bush-Cheney, sonny boy) then Trump, the march to reconstructing the vulgarity of the ‘confederacy’ (as in , “the South shall rhaaazze’ (rise)), was a vital strategy for the GOP. Who were the Confederates? Traitors, seditionists and slavers. Of course these folks switch parties from the Dixiecrats (Jackson’s, founder of the Democratic Party in the South to reject growing republicanism and abolitionist objectives in the south). Now the Southern Dixiecrats become rapid, racist, old line confederate evangelicals who hate ‘color’ and many Northern once Lincoln loving Republicans join Northern Democrats who support civil rights, (Johnson signs the voting rights law and civil rights law into national law in the mid 1960’s following the brutal assassination of JFK, a Catholic hated by evangelical former Dixiecrats).
From this point forward, the “new” GOP agress to abandoned democracy, union labor, civil rights and voting rights and looks to unite the white working classes in the former rageful confederacy, and the mid and western farm states. Also possess of large white christian populations all of whom are taught that Jeee Zus would resolve their sins so long as ‘they came to him’! It is also at this point that we see a rise in the false theology of ‘prosperity’ preachers who get on TV and start billing their minions. Is it any wonder that Trump, appealing to the rage, hatred and egocentric beliefs of white supremacy, and long held racist tropes and secretly or objectively fanning antisemitism, has been able to milk his followers? I don’t think touting his live for fast food has hurt him, either. Because, unlike the trim, (actually) healthy Biden (only three years older than the fat guy who has a ludicrous comb-over and fake tan) looks well put together in his blue suits and crisp tailored shirts or wearing the blue Presidential blazer. While, the chubby dude with the toilet paper on his shoe and tripping down a red carpet walkway,
And who has a vocabulary of a physically abused nine year old boy. Why that appeals or plays to his minions is quite simple if not sad and dangerous. They, mostly poorly educated and many sans higher education (with the exception of his close ‘ neonazi buddies)
Like the delusion that they are like him and he them, (that he’s not an elite snob). His disorderly thinking, his chaotic speaking, his slovenly, cruelty toward the disabled or those who actually DO know what he doesn’t) reverberates with the way these (large proportion of MAGA followers) people act day to day. You know? The ones out there screaming “Jews shall not replace us” or consciously driving a car into a crowd and killing people of color, that he happily revered to “as good people”.
This attempt, well organized and defining a hatred for the Ruke of Law, is not new. It’s been funded by the same folks, the right wing pro Hitler uberriche families/folks, who are unwilling to pay their fair share (which under Eisenhower, helped fund the national highway system and complete the TVA with that 91% rate on the top $$$$$$).
This march to obvious neofascism, obvious disdain for the US Constitution, obvious anti-scientific agenda to keep the great wealth of fossil fuel with disdain for the realities of human cause global warming, has been afoot for a long time. Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, the Olin family, Mellons, Koch’s, etc, didn’t just show up in 2015, they’ve been attempting to undermine civil liberties and an expanding democracy way prior to the appearance of an emperor without clothes. A vulgar, charicateur of himself, but all to real to those who choose a common good and a commitment to justice and equal protection under the law. The Suoreme Courts illegitimate judges who lied about Rie v Wade, and some supporting the tich man’s lie that Corporations are “individuals” and have “human rights”, to our billions into campaigns supporting violators of voting rights and civil rights (while their CEO’s and stockholders make sure their workers have none) isn’t really new, is it? Reagan adored breaking the Air Traffic Controllers strike and union, thereby making our skies less safe , all the better to watch as the Saudi’s (good personal friends of the Bush’s) fund 17 of their nationals to plow into the WTC, Pentagon and we don’t know what other DC national building was at the planned end od the downed in Shanksville plane.
And, then falsifying data and lying to us. Bush baby(who actually did steal an election) decided to go to war with airway for his family’s wealth and not the planners, finders, the culprits of 911!
Trump is really the more visual arc of the disdain for democracy that the GOP has been nursing for quite some time and is supported by their successful effort to fuel the still searching rage of the conferderate defeat 170 years earlier?
Insane? YES. Vulgar? YES, Real, YES, Terrifying, YES. an assault on democrat and its civil rights foundations, YES. Sometimes, in my own delusions about myself, I think I should write, yet another book, outlining how dangerously close our US is to becoming the Roman Empure!
Interesting information.
AEI often puts out good stuff, particularly in the realm of foreign policy.
But politicizing the military? Let's get real.
Trump's a bully. The best way to deal with a bully is to knock his teeth out.
If you don't know that, you won't survive long in places like the Middle East or an infantry barracks.