OP is Mamba I think.

comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 43 seconds ago
OP is Mamba I think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Whoever OP is, they're welcome to filter me, as long as I can address this topic somewhere.

Well that SC decision could bite them on the bum if Sleepy Joe decides Trump is a "Clear and Present Danger" to the republic and has him offed.
Doing it as part of his "duty" as president like they've already ruled as within his powers.

comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 2 minutes ago
OP is Mamba I think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What the Trump 2024 maga dude😆

Great read and a strong, well-reasoned take (with which I overwhelmingly agree, at least until the last para).

Just on the point about how Trump, “actively proposes to rebalance the US economy away from renewable energy and sustainable technology, back towards extractive models, fossil fuels and scrapping bans on pollution…”

I’d use a stronger verb than “propose”. He’s already done all of the above once before (and much else to the detriment of the global climate, the health of US internal and external ecosystems, and the health of US citizens); and there’s no doubt whatsoever that he’d do the same again.

His administration was unquestionably from both executive and legislative perspectives the most environmentally regressive in US political history, and there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that a second term would be any different.

comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 28 seconds ago
comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 2 minutes ago
OP is Mamba I think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What the Trump 2024 maga dude😆
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I sense some name change devilry at work

Never been so worried about another country's election before. Genuinely think he might just do it again.

Pranks, are you able to admit who you would prefer to win yet? Everyone else is able to, apart from yourself. Has that changed yet?

comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 28 seconds ago
comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 2 minutes ago
OP is Mamba I think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What the Trump 2024 maga dude😆
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I sense some name change devilry at work

Never been so worried about another country's election before. Genuinely think he might just do it again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I got him last night after some LFC draft team action 🤣

comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 28 seconds ago
comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 2 minutes ago
OP is Mamba I think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What the Trump 2024 maga dude😆
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I sense some name change devilry at work

Never been so worried about another country's election before. Genuinely think he might just do it again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I got him last night after some LFC draft team action 🤣
----------------------------------------------------------------------

comment by Keiran Keane (U1734)
posted 6 minutes ago
Pranks, are you able to admit who you would prefer to win yet? Everyone else is able to, apart from yourself. Has that changed yet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My word you’re boring, I told you multiple times I think both candidates are shiiiiit.

comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 45 seconds ago
comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 28 seconds ago
comment by Pun (U21588)
posted 2 minutes ago
OP is Mamba I think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What the Trump 2024 maga dude😆
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I sense some name change devilry at work

Never been so worried about another country's election before. Genuinely think he might just do it again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I got him last night after some LFC draft team action 🤣
----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
He knew what was coming, surprised he took the bet tbf given the timeline 🤣

comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 44 seconds ago
comment by Keiran Keane (U1734)
posted 6 minutes ago
Pranks, are you able to admit who you would prefer to win yet? Everyone else is able to, apart from yourself. Has that changed yet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My word you’re boring, I told you multiple times I think both candidates are shiiiiit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

That's a sufficient answer. Fascism has never taken hold without a core of the electorate who are indifferent to the choice between a fascist and someone who isn't a lying authoritarian.

It's really plain as day that what we're seeing now with our own eyes is how ppl in Germany accepted fascism and allowed it to take power.

I've stolen this from Michael Rosen but it's bang on.

I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.
Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will promise to restore your honour,
make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, promise to clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you…

It doesn’t walk in saying,
“Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."

Unfortunately the solution is often quite dark and destructive. It usually plays out through persecution, violence, conflict, death, resistance, and finally a purge and rebalance. At which point everyone looks round and wonders how the fook it was ever allowed to happen.

It's the usual cycle of fascism to liberal democracy to fascism and so on. My only fear is that in that unlike the past, in the modern world with social media and the level of disinformation once fascism succeeds this time it will never be beaten ideologically and liberal democracy may never regain a footing.

comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Keiran Keane (U1734)
posted 6 minutes ago
Pranks, are you able to admit who you would prefer to win yet? Everyone else is able to, apart from yourself. Has that changed yet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My word you’re boring, I told you multiple times I think both candidates are shiiiiit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So you think Harris would be equally as bad as Trump for America and the world, what are your reasons for thinking this?

Surely 1860 had higher stakes? At least a bigger impact, anyway

comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Keiran Keane (U1734)
posted 6 minutes ago
Pranks, are you able to admit who you would prefer to win yet? Everyone else is able to, apart from yourself. Has that changed yet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My word you’re boring, I told you multiple times I think both candidates are shiiiiit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Must be hard on your ass sitting on that fence.

Definitely need a Democratic win. Anything else would be a catastrophe. Trumps sort of nasty divisive politics would soon engulf Europe, and the last time Europe had three dictators in the Trump mould, Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, the 2nd World War ensued.

Not only is Trump seriously deranged, but he is highly dangerous to any world order. Shoukd have already been locked up for all his misdemeanors. Astonishing he is even being allowed to stand for President.

comment by son of quebec (U8127)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Pranky 23/24 LFC Draft Champ (U22336)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Keiran Keane (U1734)
posted 6 minutes ago
Pranks, are you able to admit who you would prefer to win yet? Everyone else is able to, apart from yourself. Has that changed yet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My word you’re boring, I told you multiple times I think both candidates are shiiiiit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Must be hard on your ass sitting on that fence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The stake is particularly higher for Pranks

comment by sandy, golden boot winner fa cup 1901 (U20567)
posted 2 minutes ago
Definitely need a Democratic win. Anything else would be a catastrophe. Trumps sort of nasty divisive politics would soon engulf Europe, and the last time Europe had three dictators in the Trump mould, Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, the 2nd World War ensued.

Not only is Trump seriously deranged, but he is highly dangerous to any world order. Shoukd have already been locked up for all his misdemeanors. Astonishing he is even being allowed to stand for President.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's not just Trump the individual. It's a whole popular movement (as were European fascist movements in the mid-20th century) and it has the backing of seriously moneyed interests that calculate their interests are no longer served better by a democratic and egalitarian system.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 0 seconds ago
comment by sandy, golden boot winner fa cup 1901 (U20567)
posted 2 minutes ago
Definitely need a Democratic win. Anything else would be a catastrophe. Trumps sort of nasty divisive politics would soon engulf Europe, and the last time Europe had three dictators in the Trump mould, Franco, Mussolini and Hitler, the 2nd World War ensued.

Not only is Trump seriously deranged, but he is highly dangerous to any world order. Shoukd have already been locked up for all his misdemeanors. Astonishing he is even being allowed to stand for President.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's not just Trump the individual. It's a whole popular movement (as were European fascist movements in the mid-20th century) and it has the backing of seriously moneyed interests that calculate their interests are no longer served better by a democratic and egalitarian system.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
...from that point of view, Trump would have been laughed at and got nowhere had he run a few years earlier (although prototypical forces have been a significant element in American right-wing politics for a long time).

My only hope, if he gets in again, is that he will be too busy lining his pockets to care much about the whole facism thing. He doesn't care about anything other than enrichment and keeping himself out of jail... He'd flip on abortion, flop on climate etc if the right people talk to him at the right time. Once he is in and safe, he's back to his malleable self.

That that is my "hope" is quite an amazing situation.

For me the bigger picture is that while Trump may not be successful, it will only be by a small margin and therefore there is a pretty large minority who actually want him in power.

While you can point at social media and campaigns full of untruths as contributing to people being effectively conned by politicians seeking power, that still means there is a huge swell of people either willing or just stupid enough to be conned.

Whoever is in power my kids will be growing up in a world where a large part of the population are what i consider to be idiotic, who share the views of people like Trump or have the sort of attitudes that underpinned Brexit.

While i find Trump to be a despicable human being, it's those who put him in power that i worry about more.

comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 34 seconds ago
For me the bigger picture is that while Trump may not be successful, it will only be by a small margin and therefore there is a pretty large minority who actually want him in power.

While you can point at social media and campaigns full of untruths as contributing to people being effectively conned by politicians seeking power, that still means there is a huge swell of people either willing or just stupid enough to be conned.

Whoever is in power my kids will be growing up in a world where a large part of the population are what i consider to be idiotic, who share the views of people like Trump or have the sort of attitudes that underpinned Brexit.

While i find Trump to be a despicable human being, it's those who put him in power that i worry about more.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately this is the real issue, the world is basically run by unelected supervillains (Musk/Murdoch etc) who control the narrative to manipulate the masses through hate and division - so that they can profit and have even more power.

comment by Playmaker (U22780)
posted 10 minutes ago
It's really plain as day that what we're seeing now with our own eyes is how ppl in Germany accepted fascism and allowed it to take power.

I've stolen this from Michael Rosen but it's bang on.

I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.
Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will promise to restore your honour,
make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, promise to clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you…

It doesn’t walk in saying,
“Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."

Unfortunately the solution is often quite dark and destructive. It usually plays out through persecution, violence, conflict, death, resistance, and finally a purge and rebalance. At which point everyone looks round and wonders how the fook it was ever allowed to happen.

It's the usual cycle of fascism to liberal democracy to fascism and so on. My only fear is that in that unlike the past, in the modern world with social media and the level of disinformation once fascism succeeds this time it will never be beaten ideologically and liberal democracy may never regain a footing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well put, playmaker. Only thing I'd caveat is that we didn't have lots of cycles of liberal democracy before fascism in the first half of the twentieth century. Liberal democracy was pretty new and limited before WWII. Looking back, it was easy to be complacent, think of fascism as an aberration, and a lesson we had collectively learned, as history marched in a straight and progressive line toward enlightenment. Now it seems to me more convincing to see authoritarian government as a default state that we regress to whenever we sufficiently let our guard down.

comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin (U2958)
posted 2 minutes ago
My only hope, if he gets in again, is that he will be too busy lining his pockets to care much about the whole facism thing. He doesn't care about anything other than enrichment and keeping himself out of jail... He'd flip on abortion, flop on climate etc if the right people talk to him at the right time. Once he is in and safe, he's back to his malleable self.

That that is my "hope" is quite an amazing situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

What's more dangerous this time is that he's surrounded by zealots and crooks, and the whole Republican party is gone MAGA. In 2016 he inherited a government of Republican insiders, who to a large extent tried to manage him, flatter him, distract him into not making catastrophic decisions at every turn.