Thursday, November 30, 2023

Amanpour & Company: 'Tom Nichols On Donald Trump’s Recent Rhetoric: 'An Actual Fascist Has Shown Up'

Source:Amanpour & Company talking to the editor of The Atlantic Magazine editor Tom Nichols.

"In a new article for The Atlantic, staff writer Tom Nichols sounds the alarm on former President Trump’s fascist rhetoric. In his article “Trump Crosses a Crucial Line," Nichols lays out his increasing concern about the language showing up in Trump's speeches -- language which Nichols argues is aligning more and more with the history and methods of fascism. He joins Michel Martin to discuss the threat this poses to American democracy." 


"Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/ FASH-iz-əm) is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement,[1][2][3] characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy." 

From Wikipedia

The guess the only thing I would add the Wikipedia definition of fascism, is that Communists, or at least Communists leaders at least practice fascism as well. They go by the policy that you either agree with the Communist State on everything, or they'll lock you up, or perhaps just murder you before they lock you up. The People's Republic of China, the Communist Republic of Korea, are excellent examples of that. The Communist Republic of Cuba, still has a lot of political prisoners as well. 

I disagree with Tom Nichols, at least a little bit on this. I agree with him that political labels like liberal, which is now used by the mainstream media, at least, to describe every radical movement on the Left, when actual Liberals believe in liberal democracy, which is a center-right form of government, fascist gets thrown around too much as well. Tom Nichols, who was a longtime Republican, is basically a Liberal or Classical Liberal Republican, at least ideologically.

But I'm not sure there's any real political ideology that defines Mr. Trump individually. He governed as a right-wing, alt-right, Northern European, Nationalist in America, who wanted to return America to the people that this movement believes are the real Americans, which are Northern European-Americans, especially Anglo-Saxons and other Northern-European Protestants. But that's how he got elected in 2016 and the philosophy that he stuck with as President. 

But Donald Trump is so narcissistic, that he only cares about himself and sees himself as a king or some other type of dictator, who shouldn't be held accountable to anyone but himself. Which is the only reason why he's running for President again, which is to stay out of prison and keep his allies out of prison. So with his background as both a businesses (and soon to be bankrupt businessman) and now political activist/politician, I think again if there's any real political philosophy that could be used to define Donald Trump's political philosophy, Oligarch might be the best: 

"Oligarchy (from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía) 'rule by few'; from ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few', and ἄρχω (árkhō) 'to rule, command')[1][2][3] is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control.

Throughout history, power structures considered to be oligarchies have often been viewed as coercive, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, contrasting it with aristocracy, arguing that oligarchy was the perverted form of aristocracy."

From Wikipedia 

Or corporatocracy: 

"Corporatocracy (/ˌkɔːrpərəˈtɒkrəsi/, from corporate and Greek: -κρατία, romanized: -kratía, lit. 'domination by'; short form corpocracy[1]) is an economic, political and judicial system controlled by business corporations or corporate interests.[2]

The concept has been used in explanations of bank bailouts, excessive pay for CEOs, as well as complaints such as the exploitation of national treasuries, people, and natural resources.[3] It has been used by critics of globalization,[4] sometimes in conjunction with criticism of the World Bank[5] or unfair lending practices,[3] as well as criticism of free trade agreements.[4] Corporate rule is also a common theme in dystopian science-fiction media."

From Wikipedia 

But again, I'm not sure there's any real political ideology that I believe could be used to define Donald Trump's politics. If he thought socialism was the best way to give him absolute power as an individual, he would be a Socialist. Or the same thing with liberalism, or conservatism in its real forms, not how liberalism and conservatism are misdefined today. 

Donald Trump believes in Donald Trump and no one, or anything else. As long as you are on Team Trump, he's loyal to you. But when you do or say anything that goes against him, regardless of whatever your previous relationship was with him, he throws you out like a bag of garbage. 

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  1. You can also see this post on WordPress:https://thenewdemocrat1975.com/2023/11/30/amanpour-company-tom-nichols-on-donald-trumps-recent-rhetoric-an-actual-fascist-has-shown-up/

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John F. Kennedy Liberal Democrat

John F. Kennedy Liberal Democrat
Source: U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960