I have no disagreement with anything that you’ve said here, and it honestly reads to me that you have actually come around to agreeing with what I’m saying.
My point is not, and never ever will be, that there is nothing to be concerned about. Trump is a fascist, and he is doing everything he can to turn the US into a dictatorship.
I push back on the oft repeated assertion that (heavily paraphrasing the many different versions of this that I’ve seen) “Trump can do whatever he wants because of his magic crime powers” because it’s defeatist thinking. If you assume that everything and anything is completely within his power and ignore the actual realities at play then you’re just conceding ground that is still in contention. It’s not actually helpful or useful. You can’t fight a war if you’re always in retreat. You have to know where the battle lines actually are. That doesn’t mean that those lines aren’t under attack. But recognizing where those lines are means you can actually fight to defend them.
Yes, it is part of the plan to let people believe the regime is more powerful than it is, especially in authoritarian regimes like the US has became already. That said, Authoritarianism is a spectrum and even in countries fairly down he road, like Hungary, the regime can fall, astonishingly even voted out of power if the people start to see through the charade. In other cases however the regime is powerful enough to stay in power by spilling enough blood. The US is still in transition, there are still parts of the system that work and fight back with the executive not being able to ignore it, yet. In my view many people are not aware how far down the road the US already is, at the point where free and fair elections are starting to be critically endangered (building upon the previous erosion by gerry mandering, desinfrachisment, Super PACs …). However you are right that also the contrary misleading view is dangerous, that the fight is already over and the authoritarians are already all powerful.
I have no disagreement with anything that you’ve said here, and it honestly reads to me that you have actually come around to agreeing with what I’m saying.
My point is not, and never ever will be, that there is nothing to be concerned about. Trump is a fascist, and he is doing everything he can to turn the US into a dictatorship.
I push back on the oft repeated assertion that (heavily paraphrasing the many different versions of this that I’ve seen) “Trump can do whatever he wants because of his magic crime powers” because it’s defeatist thinking. If you assume that everything and anything is completely within his power and ignore the actual realities at play then you’re just conceding ground that is still in contention. It’s not actually helpful or useful. You can’t fight a war if you’re always in retreat. You have to know where the battle lines actually are. That doesn’t mean that those lines aren’t under attack. But recognizing where those lines are means you can actually fight to defend them.
I can see your point.
Yes, it is part of the plan to let people believe the regime is more powerful than it is, especially in authoritarian regimes like the US has became already. That said, Authoritarianism is a spectrum and even in countries fairly down he road, like Hungary, the regime can fall, astonishingly even voted out of power if the people start to see through the charade. In other cases however the regime is powerful enough to stay in power by spilling enough blood. The US is still in transition, there are still parts of the system that work and fight back with the executive not being able to ignore it, yet. In my view many people are not aware how far down the road the US already is, at the point where free and fair elections are starting to be critically endangered (building upon the previous erosion by gerry mandering, desinfrachisment, Super PACs …). However you are right that also the contrary misleading view is dangerous, that the fight is already over and the authoritarians are already all powerful.