1/ Okay, while the Trump verdict has been very riveting, I'd like to talk about failure states in democracies for a bit.
Any stable democracy needs peaceful transfers of power. If a ruling government loses in an election and thus loses power, they are free to moan about it - but in the end, they should leave office without violence because (unless they screwed up bigly) they realize that they will likely return to power one day. They are invested in the system, and do not want to overthrow the basic democratic order of their country - because it works for them.
Thus, a country needs multiple parties with an investment in democracy, who are willing to form a government - but who are also willing to leave peacefully. If this is not the case, then the democracy in question is in a failure state.
An good (or rather, very very bad) example of a "proportional representation" democracy in a failure state was the late Weimar Republic. Starting in 1932, the NSDAP (Nazis) and the KDP (Communists) received a majority of the vote and thus representatives. Both wanted to overthrow the Republic and its democracy in its own way, and thus it became impossible to form a democratic government - let alone switch between different ones. But the Weimar Republic had problems in this regard even earlier, since there were numerous miniscule parties with only a very small number of candidates. They only cared about a small number of issues, had no motivation to compromise, and thus were not willing to join a working government.
4/ We are seeing what this means in the #USA (I don't follow #UK politics as closely, but my impression is that it's not quite that bad yet). The #Republicans have fully committed to #fascism . The #Democrats are the only viable non-fascist voting option, and thus must not lose power if whatever democracy the USA has left is to survive. In a healthy democracy, voters could voice their dissatisfaction with the ruling party by voting for another party - but that's no longer possible in the USA, because if they do that in sufficiently large numbers, the USA will no longer have a democracy.
Thus, the only hopes the USA have of surviving this is for the Democrats to hold out until either (a) the Republicans reform themselves and purge their fascists (which seems exceedingly unlikely), or (b) collapse and are replaced by a party that is committed to democracy and the peaceful transform of power. Which also seems exceedingly unlikely.
The whole situation in the USA is horrible, and I feel for all Americans who suffer under it - although if the USA becomes a fully fascist nation, no person on Earth will ultimately be safe. But I feel that this whole mess is also a searing condemnation of the "First Past the Post" voting system, since it makes reaching such a failure state fairly easy.
A Deep Dive into Corruption. MOL oil money comes from Putin, Russia fbs criminals to finance disinformation and propaganda operations in Europe to target freedom and the rule of law. 🚨
What a bastard….article 7 time! Orbáns' Scandalous Propaganda Empire Exposed.
Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), the right-wing aka fascist Hungarian educational institution funded by Viktor Orbán’s rightwing government, has been expanding internationally. It opened a centre in #Brussels, bought a university in #Vienna and has plans for new branches in other western European cities, including London.
Its' views are closely aligned with fascist Orbán, and it funds academics who disseminate Orbán’s positions to extend his influence across Europe and beyond.
MCC has tremendous financial backing, receiving more than £1.3bn in Hungarian state funding in 2020. MCC offers can be hard to turn down. It provides funding, scholarships, housing, invitations to lavish dinners, open-bar parties, trips abroad & more $$
🚨Fascist leaders: Putin, Orbàn... say TFG is the victim of pol' persecution.
Rs in Congress used the opp. to echo Putin & Orbàn.
US: used to be an expert at #IrregularWarfare -use of propaganda, proxies, or ppl willing to betray their own country. #Putin supervised spying & propaganda ops in E Germany. He turned the tables on us -successfully used IW to help get #TFG into the WH & before 2020 election scaring Americans re Antifa... & now for the 2024 election.
Pure, uncut #fascism is totally mainstream in today’s #GOP.
“The Colorado Republican Party marked the start of Pride Month with a mass email attacking “godless groomers” and a social media post calling for the burning of all Pride flags.”
#Fascism is not an event; not some sort of moment that arises when a tyrant decides. It is a latent ideology that is ever present in society, in all of us in the form of microfascisms that gets harnessed - usually by those seeking to enshrine capitalist accumulation against the revolutionary forces of redistribution - to wield power.
Antifascism starts at home, in the streets. By the time you're trying to vote it out, you're too late.
Dying of Whiteness (Boston Review)
Jonathan M. Metzl, 2019
"Trevor voiced a literal willingness to die for his place in this hierarchy, rather than participate in a system that might put him on the same plane as immigrants or racial minorities."
"a dominant strain of the electorate voted in politicians whose platforms of American greatness were built on embodied forms of demise."
"Then there is this audaciously #undemocratic provision: To be elected to #state office, a candidate must win not only a majority of votes, but also more than half of Texas’s 254 counties...
Christian Nationalism is a giant threat to our country. A danger to women, to minorities, to the marginalized and to democracy itself. While these white, Christian nationalists believe they’re saving the country from heathenism, what they’re really offering is a theocracy of top down control with themselves at the top. We must see this threat for what it is, and that starts with understanding. Tim Whitaker is the founder of the New Evangelicals, an inclusive, Jesus-centered community that holds space for those marginalized by the evangelical church and advocates for systemic change. Raised deep in the evangelical world – Tim had a crisis of faith watching his church leaders embrace a man who was so antithetical to what he had been taught to believe. He now holds the toxic churches and their leaders accountable, while still offering a home of faith to his fellow Christians. Please join us for this incredibly engaging conversation. As always, if you find worth in what we do, please consider SUBSCRIBING to PoliticsGirl Premium. You’ll get this podcast ad free, along with a bunch of other perks, like the rants directly to your inbox and the knowledge that you’re making this kind of highly researched, factual information possible. If that interests you, please go to https://www.politicsgirl.com/premium and subscribe today!! Thank you so much! xoPG Guest social: https://www.thenewevangelicals.com/ Twitter: @newvangelicals Facebook:The New Evangelicals Instagram: @thenewevangelicals YouTube: @TheNewEvangelicals As always, please RATE and SUBSCRIBE so we can grow the show, open the dialogue, and inspire change moving forward! All show links here!: https://linktr.ee/politicsgirl This episode is sponsored by… https://marleyspoon.com/offer/politicsgirl code: politicsgirl https://moshlife.com/politicsgirlhttps://rhone.com/politicsgirl code: PoliticsGirl https://sundaysfordogs/politicsgirl
False equivalence and demoralization are fascist gold.
The MAGA set badly want you to give up any sense of idealistic striving. They need you to believe that the system is rotten and degraded. Once the full promise of democracy has been undercut, nobody objects to its being discarded. That’s their plan: to sully everything in the political imagination until the majority relinquish any claim to something better than their violence and sadism.
News: Per the NPR report, republican liars destroyed a man and his family's life by falsely accusing him of illegally voting in Georgia. D'Souza publisher was forced to admit the 2000 Mules is based on LIES.
Republican disinformation trolls Dinesh D’Souza, True the Vote — are defendants that falsely accused a citizen of “ballot fraud” in their propaganda film and book “2000 Mules.” The plaintiff alleges that “2000 Mules,” which espouses disinformation and lies. Republican liars, spewing LIES attacked innocent Americans. D'Souza tried to steal our election. These fascist lying liars never stop lying.
"...#NigelFarage has announced he will run as Reform UK's candidate in Clacton, after previously saying he would not stand in July’s #GeneralElection...
"...Mr Farage also revealed he was taking over from #RichardTice as Reform's leader for the next five years..."
Have to call this out.
This bill has already passed the house.
A trojan horse of a bill that will undermine the first Amendment and the people's rights.
What's in this bill that fascist Republicans are thrilled about?
Everyone lucid in the West is freaking out about the rise of fascist thinking, well, everywhere.
Why? Didn't we defeat this obscenity 80 years ago after much suffering? Why is it resurging?
The problem is not that people don't learn from history (they don't but it's another issue), the problem is that fascism is always with us. Since the dawn of time, and forever more.
All fascism requires is:
ignorance
indecency
a demagogue to yoke these walnut brains and ride them to power
made by the US War Department at the end of WWII, a discussion between a regular Joe who almost gets seduced by a fascist street preacher, and a Hungarian immigrant who tells him this is how Hitler started, in detail
at a moment of historical clarity, an inspired piece of propaganda
how #fascism rises: divide and conquer with hate, while regular folks go "just crazy talk"