Where is/can Donald Trump take US (sic)?

[rederob]

If he tried those things there would be Civil War 2.0.

There are many overseas precedents for rulers to override election results and succeed.
An option I did not include above was Trump's ability to declare a state of emergency prior to elections being held. The thing is, providing Trump retains GOP support, all these options are "legal."

 

[bellenuit]

If he tried those things there would be Civil War 2.0.

That wouldn't bother him in the least if it meant he could cling to power. His MO has always been to divide not unite.

 

[dutchie]

His MO has always been to divide not unite.

Unlike Hillary, The Democrats, Antifa, BLM Inc, MSM and Soros.

 

[bellenuit]

Unlike Hillary, The Democrats, Antifa, BLM Inc, MSM and Soros.

Yes, correct.

 

[wayneL]

Ah, I see it's comedy hour.

 

[IFocus]

I thought this was a good summary on how it all got so messy.



Even if Trump loses in November and is ushered off the national stage, his gestures in the direction of fascist politics – made-for-TV or not – will not be easy to erase, because Trump’s politics are merely a current expression of a 30-year Republican arc, said Stanley.

“There has been a long buildup before Trump,” Stanley said. “A core to authoritarianism – whether fascism or communism – is the one-party state. And Republicans for years before Trump, all the way back to [former House speaker] Newt Gingrich, who I blame all of this on, have been acting like their political opponents are traitors and not legitimate opponents.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/25/trump-federal-agents-portland-ploy-election

 

[bellenuit]

Even if Trump loses in November and is ushered off the national stage, his gestures in the direction of fascist politics – made-for-TV or not – will not be easy to erase, because Trump’s politics are merely a current expression of a 30-year Republican arc, said Stanley.

American Catastrophe Through German Eyes
By Roger Cohen
Opinion Columnist NY Times

Trump says he wants to protect law-abiding citizens. In 1933, Hitler issued his ‘Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State.’

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/opinion/trump-germany.html?searchResultPosition=1

PARIS — No people has found the American lurch toward authoritarianism under President Trump more alarming than the Germans. For postwar Germany, the United States was savior, protector and liberal democratic model. Now, Germans, in shock, speak of the “American catastrophe.”

A recent cover of the weekly magazine Der Spiegel portrays Trump in the Oval Office holding a lighted match, with a country ablaze visible through his window. The headline: “Der Feuerteufel,” or, literally, “the Fire Devil.”

Germans have a particular relationship to fire. The Reichstag fire of 1933 enabled Hitler and the Nazis to scrap the fragile Weimar democracy that had brought them to power. Hitler’s murderous fantasies could now become reality. War, Auschwitz and the German catastrophe followed.

where protesters have been demanding racial justice and police accountability, it’s not a huge leap to the use of paramilitaries (like the German Freikorps in the 1920s) to buttress a “Law and Order” campaign. The Freikorps battled communists. Today, Trump claims to battle “anarchists,” “terrorists” and violent leftists. It’s the leitmotif of his quest for a second term.

confirmed this week that it has deployed officers from three paramilitary-style units to join the federal crackdown in Portland. The Trump administration, facing lawsuits, has cited post-9/11 legislation establishing the department to justify its action. Chicago is now among several cities being targeted as Trump seeks to foment confrontation.

As Tom Ridge, a Republican who was the first head of the Department of Homeland Security, noted in an interview with the Sirius XM host Michael Smerconish, the department was “not established to be the president’s personal militia.”

In wartime, the Third Geneva Convention, to which the United States is a party, requires even irregular forces to wear “a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance.” This is critical not only to protecting civilians but also to ensuring accountability for misconduct.

When paramilitary-style units have no identifying insignia, there is no transparency, no accountability — and that means impunity. Democracy dies. Think of all this as setting the scene for Trump’s own “state of emergency” if he does not like the November election result. Social media is combustible enough for a physical fire to be unnecessary.

The president says he wants to protect law-abiding citizens. In 1933, after the Reichstag burned, Hitler issued the “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State” as his means to seize power.

German horror at Trump has many components. He’s the fear-mongering showman wielding nationalism, racism and violence as if the 20th century held no lessons. He’s the would-be destroyer of the multilateral institutions that brought European peace and made it possible for Germans to raise their bowed heads again. He is a fascist in the making.

Ian Beacock argued recently in The New Republic, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, got it right on the virus. Not for her the imagery of war — all that talk of the silent, invisible enemy to be vanquished. No, for her the challenge of the virus has been a lesson in the power of democracy.

“We are not condemned to accept the spread of this virus as an inevitable fact of life,” she said. “We thrive not because we are forced to do something, but because we share knowledge and encourage active participation.” She went on to say that success largely depends “on each and every one of us.”

It worked. Merkel was addressing all democratic citizens, Americans included. No wonder Trump cannot stand her, a woman trained as a scientist whose life lesson has been the sacred value of freedom.

 

[basilio]

Ian Beacock argued recently in The New Republic, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, got it right on the virus. Not for her the imagery of war — all that talk of the silent, invisible enemy to be vanquished. No, for her the challenge of the virus has been a lesson in the power of democracy.

“We are not condemned to accept the spread of this virus as an inevitable fact of life,” she said. “We thrive not because we are forced to do something, but because we share knowledge and encourage active participation.” She went on to say that success largely depends “on each and every one of us.”

It worked. Merkel was addressing all democratic citizens, Americans included. No wonder Trump cannot stand her, a woman trained as a scientist whose life lesson has been the sacred value of freedom.

Had to re quote that analysis. So appropriate and effective.

The historical reference to how Hitler used legislation to justify his political takeover of Germany is well worth registering.

 

[SirRumpole]

Had to re quote that analysis. So appropriate and effective.

The historical reference to how Hitler used legislation to justify his political takeover of Germany is well worth registering.

Merkel has been the most impressive Western world leader for a long time imo.

She's kept out of the limelight but has quietly got on with the job. She would be a good choice for Sec Gen of the U.N.

 

[dutchie]

Merkel has been the most impressive Western world leader for a long time imo.

She's kept out of the limelight but has quietly got on with the job. She would be a good choice for Sec Gen of the U.N.

Good choice there SirRumpole, but I think Xi Jinping would do a better job. It's definitely a toss up.

 

[orr]

Had to re quote that analysis. So appropriate and effective.

The historical reference to how Hitler used legislation to justify his political takeover of Germany is well worth registering.

All Trump needs now is a 'Mad Dutchman' to burn down the Riech-Stag, oops I mean Capital hill. Should we lend him Andrea's Bolt?

More seriously I ask myself are the Colonel's of the US military asking slyly those under their command to read the US constitution?

 

[Knobby22]

Merkel has been the most impressive Western world leader for a long time imo.

She's kept out of the limelight but has quietly got on with the job. She would be a good choice for Sec Gen of the U.N.

Unfortunately she has health problems. So no, she won't be involved in politics once her term ends.

Regarding Trump, he is no dictator like Putin, Mugabe or Julius Ceaser.

He is not after power, he just likes being in the limelight. He really is an unusual person who is doing his best but is unfortunately completely out of his depth.

 

[Knobby22]

"Divide and rule, a sound motto.
Unite and lead, a better one"
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

[SirRumpole]

Some of Trump's supporters.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-28/us-election-donald-trump-deep-divisions/12477786

 

[Knobby22]

Some of Trump's supporters.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-28/us-election-donald-trump-deep-divisions/12477786

Only 100 turned up to the rally.
The poor girl they feature grew up poor and works 3 jobs. She is worried for her kids, has a Harley and is ready to fight in the militias against liberals. She can't see a decent way for her kids to have a good life. She will one day get sick and won't have insurance and so will die young. Says it all really. She is just a pawn.

There was a great posting on another thread about this being the new gilded age for the USA. I think that is very true. It took 30 years for it to end last time. At least another twenty left in my view. And before it does we are likely to see some really poor Presidents that will put Trump in the shade. Biden will be a 4 year Claudian interlude.

 

[SirRumpole]

Only 100 turned up to the rally.
The poor girl they feature grew up poor and works 3 jobs. She is worried for her kids, has a Harley and is ready to fight in the militias against liberals. She can't see a decent way for her kids to have a good life. She will one day get sick and won't have insurance and so will die young. Says it all really. She is just a pawn.

There was a great posting on another thread about this being the new gilded age for the USA. I think that is very true. It took 30 years for it to end last time. At least another twenty left in my view. And before it does we are likely to see some really poor Presidents that will put Trump in the shade. Biden will be a 4 year Claudian interlude.

She's not going to get free health care under the Republicans, that's for sure.

 

[basilio]

Trump has built up Border Patrol as his own police force. They own him big time for the billions he has poured into their budgets.
They support him unflinchingly.
They have no accountability for their actions.
Check out this insight into the culture and processes of this organisation .


'These are his people': inside the elite border patrol unit Trump sent to Portland
Federal officers use chemical irritants and projectiles to disperse Black Lives Matter protesters on 24 July 2020, in Portland. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
Bortac, a quasi-militarised outfit equivalent to the Navy Seals, has been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan

In January 2011, James Tomsheck, then a top internal affairs investigator inside US Customs and Border Protection, attended a meeting of about 100 senior CBP leaders in a hotel in Irvington, Virginia.

Amid the sanitized splendor of the hotel ballroom, he vividly recalls hearing the nation’s then highest-ranking border patrol agent, David Aguilar, laying out his vision for the future. Border patrol, the former CBP deputy commissioner said, was to become the “marine corps of the US federal law enforcement community”.

Another leading CBP figure remarked that border agents were not required to adhere to the same constitutional restraints on the use of force as other law enforcers. “We are not cops,” he said.

Trump is using federal agents as his 'goon squad', says Ice's ex-acting head
Read more
Fast forward to this month, when Tomsheck absorbed with mounting foreboding the images of federal officers – led by border patrol agents – wielding teargas and flash bangs against protesters in Portland, Oregon.

As news circulated of demonstrators being shot in the face with “less lethal” munitions, and of unidentified masked agents in camouflage strong-arming civilians into unmarked vans, the nightmare scenario Tomsheck had heard expressed by his bosses almost a decade ago – of border patrol becoming a nationwide militarized force operating outside constitutional constraints – was becoming real.

“Border patrol has always seen itself as a militarized force, and that aspiration is now being enabled by the current administration,” Tomsheck told the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/27/trump-border-patrol-troops-portland-bortac

 

[orr]

Trump has built up Border Patrol as his own police force. They own him big time for the billions he has poured into their budgets.
They support him unflinchingly.
They have no accountability for their actions.
Check out this insight into the culture and processes of this organisation .


'These are his people': inside the elite border patrol unit Trump sent to Portland
Federal officers use chemical irritants and projectiles to disperse Black Lives Matter protesters on 24 July 2020, in Portland. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
Bortac, a quasi-militarised outfit equivalent to the Navy Seals, has been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan

In January 2011, James Tomsheck, then a top internal affairs investigator inside US Customs and Border Protection, attended a meeting of about 100 senior CBP leaders in a hotel in Irvington, Virginia.

Amid the sanitized splendor of the hotel ballroom, he vividly recalls hearing the nation’s then highest-ranking border patrol agent, David Aguilar, laying out his vision for the future. Border patrol, the former CBP deputy commissioner said, was to become the “marine corps of the US federal law enforcement community”.

Another leading CBP figure remarked that border agents were not required to adhere to the same constitutional restraints on the use of force as other law enforcers. “We are not cops,” he said.

Trump is using federal agents as his 'goon squad', says Ice's ex-acting head
Read more
Fast forward to this month, when Tomsheck absorbed with mounting foreboding the images of federal officers – led by border patrol agents – wielding teargas and flash bangs against protesters in Portland, Oregon.

As news circulated of demonstrators being shot in the face with “less lethal” munitions, and of unidentified masked agents in camouflage strong-arming civilians into unmarked vans, the nightmare scenario Tomsheck had heard expressed by his bosses almost a decade ago – of border patrol becoming a nationwide militarized force operating outside constitutional constraints – was becoming real.

“Border patrol has always seen itself as a militarized force, and that aspiration is now being enabled by the current administration,” Tomsheck told the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/27/trump-border-patrol-troops-portland-bortac

The ghost of Ernst Rohm walks with them?
Who pulls the CBP's strings post election till inaugeration? if The Orange Fasist goes down.

 

[basilio]

Only in the USA

'Spectacular': Trump praises doctor who dismissed face masks after viral video
Clip claiming benefits of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus was removed by social media companies over false information

Donald Trump has praised as “spectacular” a doctor who wrongly dismissed the use of face masks to combat the coronavirus as well as reportedly claiming that alien DNA is used in medical treatments and some gynecological problems are caused by people dreaming about having sex with demons.

A group of lab coat-wearing doctors posted an online video on Monday to make a string of inaccurate assertions about the coronavirus that contradicted official government guidelines. Among them was a woman who identified herself as Dr Stella Immanuel and said: “You don’t need masks. There is a cure.”

The US president tweeted a version of the video, which rapidly gained tens of thousands of views on Facebook and YouTube before both companies took it down for containing false public health information. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr had his Twitter account restricted by the company for 12 hours after calling the video a “must watch”.

At a White House press conference on Tuesday, Trump expressed puzzlement over why the so-called “America’s Frontline Doctors” video had been removed, noting that Immanuel claimed to be treating hundreds of Covid-19 patients with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which he has long championed despite federal public health advice that it is ineffective against coronavirus.

“I don’t know why,” he told reporters. “I think they’re very respected doctors. There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it and she’s had tremendous success with it.”

But Kaitlan Collins, White House correspondent for CNN, challenged the president. “The woman that you said was a ‘great doctor’ in that video that you retweeted last night said that masks don’t work and there is a cure for Covid-19, both of which health experts say is not true,” she said.

“She’s also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.”

Looking increasingly agitated, Trump replied: “Maybe it’s the same [person], maybe it’s not, but I can tell you this. She was on air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that, from where she came – I don’t know which country she comes from – but she said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients.

“And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.”

 

[basilio]

Summary of Trump dealing with COVID 19