Bond slashed to 175 million while Trump appeals

[Dill]

(03-25-2024, 08:44 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: They've both been so bastardized that there is no point in trying to get into an argument over semantics. 

Socialism paves the way for Communism, just like Authoritarian does for Totalitarian. No need to go Dill on us. .

In fact, what I'd really like to know is how Trump will turn our democratic Republic into a Totalitarian state. If you have the inside scoop on that, please share.

Well, gosh. Someone needs to weigh in on this. 

Trump is a right wing authoritarian populist, for sure. But it takes rather more to get from there to totalitarian.

There have been hundreds of authoritarian regimes in the world since the 17th century, but rather few genuinely totalitarian. 
Maybe a dozen if you don't count puppet states. Leading effective fascist or communist revolution takes serious dedication, sacrifice, and
a  long-term commitment to reshaping the values of private individuals and civic organizations into a specific national order
from the top down. "Gleichschaltung" the Nazis called it. Erasing the distinction between state and civil society, as I said on another thread.

I've seen nothing like that in the chaotic and unfocused Trump, who has attained authoritarian control of his party and will seek to
expand that if he gets into power. But it will be a personal, narcissistic* and idiosyncratic sort of power, lurching from this anti-woke campaign
to that. He has a strong desire to personally operate outside the law, and to self-aggrandize as a super-celebrity. He is interested in
buildings with his name on them and lots of adulation from supporters. If the movement to re-structure school curricula at the 
secondary and tertiary level in accordance with "conservative' values continues, he will avidly support it, but does not himself have
an interest in or ideas about how the curricula should be formed and to what end. "What DeSantis said," will be his mantra, only
without mentioning DeSantis.  If Hitler had condemned TicToc on ideological grounds, he'd not have back-tracked on that for a campaign contribution.
Trump's nationalism, like his Christianity, is de fault, not serious. 

This is why I always contest calling Trump a "fascist." It's not just another term for any old authoritarian, and suggests easily refutable
analogies and connotations.  There are people who will serve as his brown shirts, but they are relatively few and bringing organization 
and ideology with them, projecting their vision onto Trump. For all the rally frenzy, MAGA hats are not brown shirts. 

*E.g., breaking foreign policy commitments because they were a rival's achievements would be an example of narcissistic motivation, as would
seeking historic "firsts" like a fruitless summit with Kim Jong Un. Such moves do not evolve from an ideological vision for where US foreign
policy should be going.