I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Adder

tl;dr. He's got narcissism of a dictator, but is too stupid and lazy to be a fascist.

He's too narcissistic to be a fascist. Fascists stood for something.

[Adder]

I'll ask here: what is it that our military will be able to do that it can't currently do once Trump ups the funding by 10%? Aside from continually saying we need to spend more, the GOP (and Trump) hasn't really made a case for why.

[Not Bob]

Originally Posted by Adder

I'll ask here: what is it that our military will be able to do that it can't currently do once Trump ups the funding by 10%? Aside from continually saying we need to spend more, the GOP (and Trump) hasn't really made a case for why.

Sharks with lasers. Pretty fricken cool, amirite?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Adder

I'll ask here: what is it that our military will be able to do that it can't currently do once Trump ups the funding by 10%? Aside from continually saying we need to spend more, the GOP (and Trump) hasn't really made a case for why.

Really big, cool parades down Pennsylvania Avenue like the one for the inauguration that got nixed because the tanks would destroy the road.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

He's too narcissistic to be a fascist. Fascists stood for something.

Meh. I'm not seeing a lot of meaningful differences here.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Adder

I'll ask here: what is it that our military will be able to do that it can't currently do once Trump ups the funding by 10%? Aside from continually saying we need to spend more, the GOP (and Trump) hasn't really made a case for why.

Win.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Meh. I'm not seeing a lot of meaningful differences here.

My objection to the use of the term is less that it's not accurate -- while I don't think he's a fascism, I think his narcissism leads him to very similar places -- and more that it is not effective, since it's preaching to the converted. Better to call him a Republican, to tie them to him.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

My objection to the use of the term is less that it's not accurate -- while I don't think he's a fascism, I think his narcissism leads him to very similar places -- and more that it is not effective, since it's preaching to the converted. Better to call him a Republican, to tie them to him.

Understood, but I wanted to be sure others did as well.

The strains that make up fascism (e.g., police state, militarism, nationalism, xenophobia, melding of state and corporate structures, aggrandizement of a central leader and their personality) are all there with Trump; he's a direct descendant of and even uses the slogans of past American fascists. He doesn't exit in a vacuum, and these strains of fascism have long roots on the fringe of the Republican party that have now moved to its core.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Understood, but I wanted to be sure others did as well.

The strains that make up fascism (e.g., police state, militarism, nationalism, xenophobia, melding of state and corporate structures, aggrandizement of a central leader and their personality) are all there with Trump; he's a direct descendant of and even uses the slogans of past American fascists. He doesn't exit in a vacuum, and these strains of fascism have long roots on the fringe of the Republican party that have now moved to its core.

Is there a reason why you prefer "fascism" to "authoritarianism"?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

"Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos." I don't think Trump has many beliefs, or an ideology. I think he has impulses, but hasn't done the intellectual work to turn them into a system of beliefs. Also, he is essentially a narcissist, and that his narcissism, when put in the top government job, drives him and others around him to a sort of crude authoritarianism, but it doesn't have the ambition to be totalitarianism. One of Trump's problems is that there are very few people he can or will trust, and he has a whole government to staff, which obviously isn't working well. Other Republicans (and especially those who were previously part of government) are mostly not into his cult of personality, which is why he doesn't trust them and also why it's important to tie them to him. If Trump believed in something larger than himself, he could leverage those beliefs to win the support and loyalty of those around him, but he doesn't and so struggles with that.

Translation: I'll never be in the room where it happens

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

He doesn't exit in a vacuum,

Since I'm now adder's biggest supporter I'll say this: adder owns the make grammar and spelling mistakes franchise here. Off his corner, ho!

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Since I'm now adder's biggest supporter I'll say this: adder owns the make grammar and spelling mistakes franchise here. Off his corner, ho!

I like the way he had it. It makes it seem almost like an existential physics problem. When I start an ambient electronica group, I'm going to call it "No Exit in a Vacuum."

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Since I'm now adder's biggest supporter I'll say this: adder owns the make grammar and spelling mistakes franchise here. Off his corner, ho!

Question: does calling someone a grammar nazi invoke Godwin's law? Or has that law been suspended for the duration?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Is there a reason why you prefer "fascism" to "authoritarianism"?

It's more exact. Do you think Trump shows more of Franco or Mao?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

It's more exact. Do you think Trump shows more of Franco or Mao?

It's less exact. Fascism was an actual thing in other countries. There were people and political parties who identified as fascists, and the people you are calling fascist here do not. Also: Mao was not a fascist.