Mastodawn

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

"Trump & his allies made clear that if he wins reelection, he plans to gut the existing #US government & “install a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists”...

It’s been under a week since he announced in an interview... that he’d cheerfully “weaponize” the power of the Justice Department to indict his rivals for no other reason than that they were “beating me very badly.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

#Trump #Fascism #Authoritarianism #GOP #Politics #USPolitics #USA #News #NoPaywall

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

"All of this is to be achieved by installing armies of lawyers, judges, & functionaries who... don’t believe in the rule of law as we understand it.

As #Trump openly described his rationale for his plans last week in the most spine-chilling language yet, undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” And yes, the week is only half done."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

#GOP #MAGA #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Hitler #NaziRhetoric #Politics #USPol #USA #News

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

"We further learned, just a week ago, that #Ohio #Republicans plan to try to block a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive #freedom by stripping state judges of the power to decide such cases.

And we have learned in recent days of plans by allies of the new Republican House #speaker to reinstate the brutally repressive #Comstock Act so as to further limit sexual autonomy."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

[The Comstock Act]

"Making #BirthControl a Federal Crime

In 1872 Comstock set off for Washington with an anti-obscenity bill, including a ban on #contraceptives, that he had drafted himself. On March 3, 1873, Congress passed the new law, later known as the #Comstock Act. The statute defined contraceptives as #obscene and illicit, making it a federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines."
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-anthony-comstocks-chastity-laws/

#Women #WomensHealth #Health #Law #USA

Anthony Comstock's "Chastity" Laws | American Experience | PBS

The driving force behind the original anti-birth control statutes was a New Yorker named Anthony Comstock.

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

"The piece suggesting that all of the above represents an objective, verifiable, and historically predictive set of preconditions for #authoritarianism, or #fascism... has been said or written, succinctly and brilliantly, in recent days by...

all of them echoing the call of New York University professor @jayrosen_nyu , who continues to demand that the #media cover the 2024 campaign by emphasizing “not the odds but the stakes.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

#Journalism #Politics #USPol #USA #News

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Zhi Zhu 🕸️

From Jamelle Bouie:

"Trump would purge the federal government of as many civil servants as possible. In their place, he would install an army of political and ideological loyalists whose fealty to Trump’s interests would stand far and above their commitment to either the rule of law or the Constitution.

With the help of these unscrupulous allies, Trump plans to... turn the power of the federal government against his perceived enemies."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/opinion/trump-stephen-miller-immigration.html

#Trump #GOP #Politics #USA #News

Opinion | Trump Wants Us to Know He Will Stop at Nothing in 2025

Checks and balances are for losers.

The New York Times

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

From Joyce Vance:

"deeply troubled by the openness with which #DonaldTrump expresses an anti-democratic vision for his hoped-for future presidency and the reporting about just how far along the planning is.

...details that include vetting people for inclusion in the #ShockTroops he’ll use to take over the federal bureaucracy as well as plans for #ConcentrationCamps to corral and deport immigrants and foreigners #Trump views as undesirable."
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/trump-drops-the-pretense-of-democracy

#Politics #USA #NoPaywall

Trump Drops the Pretense of Democracy

I flew home tonight from a lovely long weekend in Boston with my husband and daughter but wanted to take a few minutes to write to you tonight, nonetheless. Forgive me if my thoughts are less formal than usual. I continue to be deeply troubled by the openness with which Donald Trump expresses an anti-democratic vision for his hoped-for future presidency and the reporting about just how far along the planning is. Over the last few days we’ve read details that include

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

From Ruth Ben-Ghiat:

“they tell us who they are and what they’re going to do. And people don’t want to listen... they don’t want to take them seriously...

...he [Trump] was telling us he was sympathetic to violence, was capable of violence personally, and he would be loved for all of this. And he is loved for this. And he’s been trying to reeducate Americans since 2016 to feel that violence is patriotic and justified.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ruth-ben-ghiat-donald-trump-warning_n_655481a0e4b0998d699e117a

#Trump #Violence #Fascist #Politics #USA #News

Authoritarianism Expert Has Worrying Response To Chris Hayes' Quandary Over Trump

Ruth Ben-Ghiat pointed to a 2016 boast from the former president that showed his true opinion on violence.

HuffPost

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

From Rachel Maddow:

[Watch video (Sorry, I hate trying to transcribe video.)]
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-no-accident-trump-s-courtroom-chaos-makes-a-mockery-of-the-legal-system-197266501583

Maddow: No accident Trump's courtroom chaos makes a mockery of the legal system

Rachel Maddow looks at Donald Trump's larger project beyond his defense strategy in individual cases against him, to delegitimize the independent judiciary and the court system, effectively giving permission to himself and his followers to ignore the rule in law in favor of whatever Trump declares.

MSNBC

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 16, 2023

From John Cassidy:

"If the phrase “live like #vermin within the confines of our country” sounds vaguely familiar, it should. In February, 1933, days after Adolf #Hitler was appointed as Chancellor of Germany, Wilhelm Kube, a #Nazi politician, wrote... “The Jews, like vermin, form a line from Potsdamerplatz until Anhalter Banhof. . . . The only way to smoke out the vermin is to expel them.” ... Hitler himself used similar language"
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trumps-fascistic-rhetoric-only-emphasizes-the-stakes-in-2024

#Trump #Violence #Politics #USA #News

Trump’s Fascistic Rhetoric Only Emphasizes the Stakes in 2024

John Cassidy on former President Donald Trump’s Veterans Day speech, in which he compared his political opponents to vermin and pledged to root them out.

The New Yorker

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Seth Meyers:

"“The #GOP frontrunner is facing four #criminal cases and a civil #fraud trial, but that has not stopped him from laying out his plan for a second term,” said Seth Meyers... “complete his #authoritarian takeover of government and install an #autocracy of cronies and loyalists if he’s elected next year...

and it’s clear he’s got the support of the #Republican party, which has become a movement fundamentally opposed to #democracy "
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/nov/14/late-night-seth-meyers-trump-rallies-fascist-rhetoric

#Trump #USPol #News

Seth Meyers on Trump’s campaign rallies: ‘Openly fascist rhetoric’

Late-night hosts discuss Trump’s “vermin” comments, his plans for a second term in office and Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s reunion in Argentina.

The Guardian

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Jason Stanley:

"Fascism expert Jason Stanley on Sunday said former President Donald #Trump ’s Veterans Day vow to purge the “vermin”-like “radical left” more than just echoed #Nazi Germany dictator Adolf #Hitler...

“It doesn’t echo ‘Mein Kampf’ ― this is textbook ‘Mein Kampf.’”

...Hitler details his political ideology in his 1925 autobiographical manifesto “Mein Kampf,” which translates to “My Struggle.”"
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fascism-expert-donald-trump-nazis_n_6551cc32e4b0373d70b2ca1e

#Trump #Vermin #Fascism #GOP #Politics #USPol #USA #News

Fascism Expert Offers Truly Chilling Take On Donald Trump’s ‘Vermin’ Rant

Jason Stanley explained the former president's vow to purge the "radical left."

HuffPost

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Zack Beauchamp

"This incendiary language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda. #Trump & his team have a series of proposals... remaking the #DOJ into a tool for jailing his enemies & sending troops to suppress protests... to launch mass anti-immigrant raids & detain the people he rounds up in camps. They have extensive plans to... [put] people ready & willing to undermine the #RuleOfLaw in key positions to act on Trump’s dubious orders."
https://www.vox.com/2023/11/14/23958866/trump-vermin-authoritarian-democracy

#USPol #Politics #News

Trump’s “vermin” comments are a reminder he’s an authoritarian

He’s talking like a fascist. He’s planning fascist policies. He’s staffing up with fascists.

Vox

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Chris Lehmann

"chronic impulse to distance & euphemize what’s happening in our battered field of vision is what’s permitted the #MAGA movement to continue adopting plainly #fascist rhetoric & positions...

#Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung replied to the critics & historians pointing out the obvious truth that Trump’s #vermin rhetoric is clearly fascist: “... [the critics] entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/donald-trump-fascist-vermin/

The “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” Debate Has Been Ended—by Donald Trump

The former president’s rhetoric in a recent speech and on social media veered into openly eliminationist threats.

The Nation

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Michael Tomasky

"We are sleepwalking towards authoritarianism," says scholar who studies #democracy

The New Republic's Michael Tomasky and Professor Brian Klaas discuss former President Trump's recent remarks at a campaign stop where he pledges to root out #vermin if given a second term. Tomasky and Klaas discuss the historical parallels for Trump's language.

Watch #Video :
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/-we-are-sleepwalking-towards-authoritarianism-says-scholar-who-studies-democracy-197738565792

#Trump #Fascism #Authoritarianism #History #Politics #USPol #USA #News

"We are sleepwalking towards authoritarianism," says scholar who studies democracy

The New Republic's Michael Tomasky and Professor Brian Klaas discuss former President Trump's recent remarks at a campaign stop where he pledges to root out 'vermin' if given a second term. Tomasky and Klaas discuss the historical parallels for Trump's language.

MSNBC

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Scot Lehigh

"If an autocrat from another nation... recommended that the #US president use the power of the state to punish his perceived enemies & root out the supposed... #vermin , we’d consider him a ridiculous figure who doesn’t understand our country — and marvel at his #antidemocratic buffoonery.

... #Trump has crossed a red line into championing what we’d recognize as full-flung #fascism if it came from the mouth of a foreign leader."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/11/14/opinion/trump-2024-election-fascism/

#Politics #USPol #News

Donald Trump has now crossed the line into championing fascism

Watergate whistleblower John Dean: The media must call out the former president.

The Boston Globe

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Margaret Sullivan

" #Trump, if elected, will use the federal government to go after his political rivals & critics, even deploying the #military toward that end... plans to invoke the #Insurrection Act on day one.

...Almost as troubling, two #NYTimes stories outlined Trump’s autocratic plans to put loyal lawyers in key posts & limit the independence of federal agencies.

The #press generally is not doing an adequate job of communicating those realities."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/09/trump-president-democracy-threat-media-journalism

The public doesn’t understand the risks of a Trump victory. That’s the media’s fault

With democracy in the balance, the press must relay the crucial importance of this election and the dangers of a Trump win

The Guardian

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Brian Stelter

"MELBER: When you wrote for The New York Times, do you ever remember calling any American politician #fascist?

STELTER: No, because none of them were at the time...

fact checking is not enough at this point, Ari. We need reality checking, we need narrative checking, most of all, we need #history checking. We need a whole lot more historians on television right now... people desperately need to learn the lessons from the past."
https://www.mediamatters.org/msnbc/brian-stelter-calls-out-mainstream-media-giving-little-scrutiny-donald-trumps-fascism

#Video #News #USPol

Brian Stelter calls out mainstream media for giving little scrutiny to Donald Trump’s fascism

Media Matters for America

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From Dan Froomkin

"None of our newsroom leaders could possibly have imagined 10 yrs ago that #fascist appeals to #violence & racial hatred would be so common & effective, that the political discourse would be so awash in #misinformation & #disinformation, that #homophobia & #misogyny would make such a dramatic comeback, or that a con man who engineered a failed #coup could be a front-runner for the presidency, posing a dire threat to the country’s future as a democracy."
https://presswatchers.org/2023/08/a-desperate-appeal-to-newsroom-leaders-on-the-eve-of-a-chaos-election/

A desperate appeal to newsroom leaders on the eve of a chaos election | Press Watch

Experts share their urgent suggestions for improving election coverage by focusing on what's at stake rather than the horse race.

Press Watch

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

From @jayrosen_nyu

“Not the odds, but the stakes.

That's my shorthand for the organizing principle we most need among journalists covering the 2024 campaign.

Not who has what chances of winning, but the consequences for Americans and their democracy. What is likely to happen if... Again and again.

Not the odds, but the stakes.”
https://mastodon.social/@jayrosen_nyu/110006646858711303

#NotTheOddsButTheStakes
#Politics #USPol #USPolitics #Election #Elections
#Journalism #Journalists #Press #Media #News #USA

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

Back to Dahlia Lithwick

"Indeed, it almost seems as if #NotTheOddsButTheStakes no longer captures a #media failure alone; it actually also encapsulates the scope of a bitter #political failure. We may actually have moved into the realm of #journalism adequately covering the stakes, with the sad reality emerging that nobody seems to care much about the stakes at the present moment."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

#Press #Politics #USPol #USPolitics #USA #News

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

"It’s now just #fascism vs. #democracy. These “stakes” we are, all of us, fretting about, this question of whether democracy survives the next 12 months, is the very thing everyone is watching like it’s the NCAA playoffs. I’m no longer completely convinced that voters don’t fully understand the stakes; not when you’re hearing #Trump talking of executing his former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley..."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

#GOP #MAGA #Republicans #Politics #USPol #USPolitics #USA #News

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Nov 17, 2023

"What if the problem isn’t that consumers of media fail to understand the actual stakes of losing democracy?...

“...Donald #Trump is telling us, loud and clear, that he wants to end American #democracy as we know it.”

There is going to come a moment—and for many of the #writers cited above, that moment has already arrived—in which the #media appropriately reports on the enormity of the stakes and nobody flinches."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html

#Journalism #Press #GOP #Politics #USPol #USA #News

Suppose They Threw a Cage Match Between Fascism and Democracy and Nobody Cared

Yes, the week is only half done.

Slate

Grumble Nov 17, 2023

@ZhiZhu This isn't a story about Trump - this is a story about 1/3 of the voters in the USA.

Havyhh2 Nov 17, 2023

@ZhiZhu ....yes....and just imagine someone as gut-wrenchingly stupid as trump as our dictator for life.....

Martha Lemert Nov 17, 2023

And Tuberville is leaving hundreds of military posts open for Trump to install his henchmen in the military.

Lizmc Nov 17, 2023

@ZhiZhu Miss Jason Stanley from Twitter. Is he on any other social media sites?