Well, that's about as clear a description of authoritarianism as I've read in the more than 60 years I've been reading. Let's get to sharing, shall we?
It’s all a show. Ronald Regan , Dick Cheney & Bush, and now Tempertantrump & Co.
The production company is G.O.P. (Greedy Oligarch Pyromaniacs) and the media company is currently Project 2025 ( imported from South Africa).
If garbage collectors to presidents are contracted to foreign governments, who and what is really American? This proves it doesn’t take intelligence to conquer a county - just money.
Limit working net income to pay taxes, which are given to foreign invaders. The loop continues.
The loop is fraying because workers can barely pay necessities- no discretionary ( excess). Billionaires are not paying workers enough to continue the cycle. Millionaires will become the Trillionaire slaves. Right, Elon? Why buy politicians when you can have them give you star wars controlling the world! Game over.
Let's all share this far and wide. Trump says the nation can't afford ACA subsidies, but it can afford $1 trillion in tax cuts for the rich. It can't afford to fund schools and public broadcasting, but it has reportedly paid Elon Musk $8 million PER DAY on Space X and Tesla contracts. (Among others.) It can't afford mental health counseling but it has paid more than $84 million on Trump's golf vacations and $20 million on his Super Bowl attendance. It can't afford important foreign aid, but it can afford to $1 Billion to retrofit the Qatar flying palace so that Trump can travel in gilded glory. As James Talarico (TX( says, people are blaming their problems on the wrong 1%.
Absolutely--and, lately... this country can't afford basic necessities for millions--BUT The Treasury Secretary can buy 20 billion of Argentina's junk bonds to support one of Trump's fascist buddies... Is this another way the Executive branch is gobbling up the entire government? Does the Congress have to authorize such purchases?
Wonderful essay-- a perfect description of now-and-forever monster of authoritarianism.
"Don't pay any attention to the little man behind the curtain!" Don't believe your own eyes and your own ears; turn your brain off and absorb the relentless slow-drip of entertainment and fake rage we've cooked up for you. You'll soon die of intellectual and moral malnutrition but does that matter anymore? You'll go out with a satisfied smile...
Once this authoritarian beast didn't have all its modern sneaky-sparkly technological refinements, but whatever form it took, it was always designed to fit the contours of the population's basic fears and urges; and it was shaped and reshaped by experts to guarantee that there was always some specific villain to blame for EVERYTHING...
Invade an apartment building in a city with tanks, attack helicopters, automatic weapons and body armor; zip-tie a bunch of terrified children, drag people out of their apartments in the dark of night, hold them/charge them-- It doesn't really matter which; certainly the value of human life doesn't matter. All that really matters is show you put on. People watching on the news--especially Fox News-- will no longer be able to tell the difference between the last "action" movie they watched on Netflix and the actual, real trashing of people's lives and houses...
The power-mad and the relentlessly greedy feed on the primitive fears of the same amorphous blob of citizens--now consistently referred to by politicians of both parties as "The American People." "The American people know the truth." The American people know they are being lied to and stolen from." etc. etc. etc. Who are these "American People"? Where do they live--What do they actually "know" and how can they possibly tell anymore the difference between real and unreal, good and bad?
In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter Thompson went looking--out on a desert highway-for "The American Dream"-- a cafe, he said, that once existed--somewhere. But nobody could tell him what happened to "The American Dream." It just disappeared-- Maybe it was never there in the first place...
The only solution to this state hypnotic fantasy we live in is to WAKE UP and STOP DREAMING!!--The latest iteration of Greed-heads and Power-monsters is eating our Democracy--and once it's gone we'll NEVER get it back.
Both come to mind. Exposing the conmen and the illusions they create, simply by calling them out, and laughing at them, mocking them. Exposure weakens them, rendering them powerless.
I’ve been calling him a variety of names but instead of orange buffoon, I think I’m going to change that to ‘orange tool’ since he’s just the face of the devious people behind him, you know, those from the Heritage Foundation, Steven Miller who is as ugly inside as outside, Russel Vought & all the other members of his unqualified regime.
Agree. Trump is a tool, albeit a very willing one, because he loves being center stage and reveling in all the “power”.
Trump’s administration has to be the most unqualified and corrupted the US has ever had. They’re like the Keystone Cops! Except they are extremely dangerous.
This is BRILLIANT!! and hopeful for so many reasons I’ll have to come back to it. It reads like a speech. My 2nd favorite part? The part about “not gloating” over the vulnerability of people who were scammed into believing the pre-election manipulation. Somewhere I read that the Project 25 plan to bring down the United States has been framed and refined for nearly 40 years. To expect the previously un-scammed average American to see through that slick process in a quick couple of months? Nah. Conversely, saying “I told you so” TO EVERYBODY who fell for it, suggested in an article today in my local Oct 17 paper, (republished from LA Times) seems like more slick manipulation fearfully well-placed to upset the newly coalesced balance of U.S. residents the day before No Kings Day. Do you think so? What’s the harm in “not gloating”?
Well, that's about as clear a description of authoritarianism as I've read in the more than 60 years I've been reading. Let's get to sharing, shall we?
Is Tempertantrump imagining himself a boxer in this photo? He’s just a sucker puncher who runs away.
Nah, that's the two blowjobs look...he does that a lot.
It’s all a show. Ronald Regan , Dick Cheney & Bush, and now Tempertantrump & Co.
The production company is G.O.P. (Greedy Oligarch Pyromaniacs) and the media company is currently Project 2025 ( imported from South Africa).
If garbage collectors to presidents are contracted to foreign governments, who and what is really American? This proves it doesn’t take intelligence to conquer a county - just money.
Limit working net income to pay taxes, which are given to foreign invaders. The loop continues.
The loop is fraying because workers can barely pay necessities- no discretionary ( excess). Billionaires are not paying workers enough to continue the cycle. Millionaires will become the Trillionaire slaves. Right, Elon? Why buy politicians when you can have them give you star wars controlling the world! Game over.
Let's all share this far and wide. Trump says the nation can't afford ACA subsidies, but it can afford $1 trillion in tax cuts for the rich. It can't afford to fund schools and public broadcasting, but it has reportedly paid Elon Musk $8 million PER DAY on Space X and Tesla contracts. (Among others.) It can't afford mental health counseling but it has paid more than $84 million on Trump's golf vacations and $20 million on his Super Bowl attendance. It can't afford important foreign aid, but it can afford to $1 Billion to retrofit the Qatar flying palace so that Trump can travel in gilded glory. As James Talarico (TX( says, people are blaming their problems on the wrong 1%.
Absolutely--and, lately... this country can't afford basic necessities for millions--BUT The Treasury Secretary can buy 20 billion of Argentina's junk bonds to support one of Trump's fascist buddies... Is this another way the Executive branch is gobbling up the entire government? Does the Congress have to authorize such purchases?
Wonderful essay-- a perfect description of now-and-forever monster of authoritarianism.
"Don't pay any attention to the little man behind the curtain!" Don't believe your own eyes and your own ears; turn your brain off and absorb the relentless slow-drip of entertainment and fake rage we've cooked up for you. You'll soon die of intellectual and moral malnutrition but does that matter anymore? You'll go out with a satisfied smile...
Once this authoritarian beast didn't have all its modern sneaky-sparkly technological refinements, but whatever form it took, it was always designed to fit the contours of the population's basic fears and urges; and it was shaped and reshaped by experts to guarantee that there was always some specific villain to blame for EVERYTHING...
Invade an apartment building in a city with tanks, attack helicopters, automatic weapons and body armor; zip-tie a bunch of terrified children, drag people out of their apartments in the dark of night, hold them/charge them-- It doesn't really matter which; certainly the value of human life doesn't matter. All that really matters is show you put on. People watching on the news--especially Fox News-- will no longer be able to tell the difference between the last "action" movie they watched on Netflix and the actual, real trashing of people's lives and houses...
The power-mad and the relentlessly greedy feed on the primitive fears of the same amorphous blob of citizens--now consistently referred to by politicians of both parties as "The American People." "The American people know the truth." The American people know they are being lied to and stolen from." etc. etc. etc. Who are these "American People"? Where do they live--What do they actually "know" and how can they possibly tell anymore the difference between real and unreal, good and bad?
In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter Thompson went looking--out on a desert highway-for "The American Dream"-- a cafe, he said, that once existed--somewhere. But nobody could tell him what happened to "The American Dream." It just disappeared-- Maybe it was never there in the first place...
The only solution to this state hypnotic fantasy we live in is to WAKE UP and STOP DREAMING!!--The latest iteration of Greed-heads and Power-monsters is eating our Democracy--and once it's gone we'll NEVER get it back.
Excellent commentary!
“The emperor has no clothes!”
And
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Both come to mind. Exposing the conmen and the illusions they create, simply by calling them out, and laughing at them, mocking them. Exposure weakens them, rendering them powerless.
I’ve been calling him a variety of names but instead of orange buffoon, I think I’m going to change that to ‘orange tool’ since he’s just the face of the devious people behind him, you know, those from the Heritage Foundation, Steven Miller who is as ugly inside as outside, Russel Vought & all the other members of his unqualified regime.
Agree. Trump is a tool, albeit a very willing one, because he loves being center stage and reveling in all the “power”.
Trump’s administration has to be the most unqualified and corrupted the US has ever had. They’re like the Keystone Cops! Except they are extremely dangerous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwUUUqgfu-E
This is BRILLIANT!! and hopeful for so many reasons I’ll have to come back to it. It reads like a speech. My 2nd favorite part? The part about “not gloating” over the vulnerability of people who were scammed into believing the pre-election manipulation. Somewhere I read that the Project 25 plan to bring down the United States has been framed and refined for nearly 40 years. To expect the previously un-scammed average American to see through that slick process in a quick couple of months? Nah. Conversely, saying “I told you so” TO EVERYBODY who fell for it, suggested in an article today in my local Oct 17 paper, (republished from LA Times) seems like more slick manipulation fearfully well-placed to upset the newly coalesced balance of U.S. residents the day before No Kings Day. Do you think so? What’s the harm in “not gloating”?
More of this! Help the confused see what’s going on behind the scenes. It seems so obvious, but clearly not to all.