The warning bell keeps clanging. Many of us are bored at hearing the repeated clangs.

This underscores a central revelation of this election: given the chance to choose fascism, eyes wide open, a significant proportion of Americans say, "Bring it on."

So he talks about Hitler with admiration? So what? What's a little infatuation with Hitler, after all?

We Americans are having to face some ugly truth about ourselves as this election nears.

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/1

As Dan Rather notes, "a who’s who of Republican officials from the Trump administration and many of the Pentagon’s top brass" have now warned us that the man is "unfit to serve."

Rather asks,

"if Trump should win, what would that say about our country?"

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/2

https://steady.substack.com/p/unfit-to-serve

Unfit to Serve

Period.

Steady

Count New Hampshire governor Sununu among the Americans who want to shrug at Trump's infatuation with Hitler: asked about this yesterday on CNN, Sununu shrugged and said extremism is just "baked into" Trump.

But so what?

Heather Cox Richardson highlights this statement by Sununu:

“If we can get a Republican mindset out of Washington, we need that culture change.”

Trump loves Hitler? Trump's a fascist? So what?

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/3

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-23-2024

October 23, 2024

The struggle over whether the U.S.

Letters from an American

"On Wednesday, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu dismissed Trump's praise for Hitler’s generals as a fact that is 'baked in' to the election results. ...

If Donald Trump wins, it will be in large part because wealthy business leaders (like Soon-Shiong) and spineless politicians like Chris Sununu put their political and monetary fortunes ahead of the democracy that allowed them to succeed. Shame, shame, shame!"

~ Robert B. Hubbell

#Trump #Republicans #fascism
/4

https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/we-have-been-warned-8aa

We have been warned.

October 24, 2024

Today's Edition Newsletter

"This is the time for political courage.

Instead, America’s highest-profile business leaders — Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft; and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway — are displaying political cowardice."

~ Robert Reich

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #EconomicElites #CorporateLeaders #JamieDimon #WarrenBuffett #BillGates #Hitler
/5

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/political-cowardice-in-the-c-suites

Political cowardice in the C-suites

Jamie Dimon, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett have spoken out on everything else but are afraid to come out against Trump. They are relinquishing whatever claims they had to leadership in America.

Robert Reich

"I hope that many of the people now supporting Trump will have an attack of conscience on their way to their polling station. But as Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, once wrote for The Atlantic, Trump is 'cultural heroin,' and the hard choice of civic virtue will never match the rush of racism, hatred, and revenge that Trump offers in its place."

~ Tom Nichols

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/6

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/10/trumps-depravity-will-not-cost-him-this-election/680352/

Trump’s Depravity Will Not Cost Him This Election

Many Americans know exactly who Trump is, and they like it.

The Atlantic

"Trump's embrace & praise of Hitler should have been the breaking point for the GOP, but instead they've decided to go all in."

~ Wajahat Ali

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/7

https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/never-go-full-hitler

Never Go Full Hitler

Trump's embrace & praise of Hitler should have been the breaking point for the GOP, but instead they've decided to go all in. We've officially reached the bottom, and none of it should be normalized.

The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali

"It needs to be emphasized at every opportunity that the Republican currently running to be president of the United States is on the side of the Nazis whom we sacrificed so much blood and treasure to defeat in World War II. It’s devastating that this tragic truth is not enough to render Donald unacceptable to every single American—or, indeed, no elected Republcans."

~ Mary Trump

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/8

https://www.marytrump.org/p/we-cant-pull-punches-hes-a-fascist

We Can't Pull Punches--He's a Fascist

Evening dispatch

The Good in Us by Mary L. Trump

"Trump’s admiration for Adolf Hitler may be the clearest expression of how profoundly unsuited he is to ever come near our White House again."

~ Steven Beschloss

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/9

https://www.americaamerica.news/p/admiring-hitler-is-disqualifying

Admiring Hitler Is Disqualifying. Period.

Sixteen million Americans fought against fascism and the Nazi regime to secure freedom and democracy. We have a duty to defeat this candidate for president who rejects our basic values.

America, America

"A fat, lazy, incurious fascist is still a fascist."

~ Daniel Drezner

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/10

https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-evidence-for-trumps-fascism-is

The Evidence for Trump's Fascism Is Overwhelming

A fat, lazy, incurious fascist is still a fascist.

Drezner’s World

Jeff Sharlet looks at the term "sanewashing," which Parker Molloy has popularized to characterize how the corporate media treat Trump, and says,

"I think Parker would agree with this; It’s fascist-washing."

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #media #sanewashing
/11

https://lithub.com/jeff-sharlet-on-sanewashing-and-fascism/

Jeff Sharlet on ‘Sanewashing’ and Fascism

Nonfiction writer Jeff Sharlet joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how mainstream media outlets sanitize Donald Trump’s rhetoric in their reporting rather than straigh…

Literary Hub

"No one else in modern politics has been given more leeway for aberrant behavior than Trump."

~ Renée Graham

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #media #sanewashing
/12

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/10/22/opinion/trump-mcdonalds-media/

Opinion | When will media stop coddling Trump?

Call it normalizing or "sanewashing," but covering the former president as if he’s an ordinary nominee is journalistic malpractice.

The Boston Globe

"Mariel Garza, the Los Angeles Times' editorials editor, resigned yesterday after Patrick Soon-Shiong, the newspaper's billionaire owner, blocked the outlet’s decision to endorse Harris. This has further strained Soon-Shiong's already tense relationship with Times staff during a year marked by newsroom cuts and turmoil."

~ Brian Stelter

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #media #sanewashing #LosAngelesTimes #PatrickSoonShiong
/13

https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/172977481957609e2fe3e48e1/raw

"In a statement, the L.A. Times Guild said it is especially concerned 'that he is now unfairly assigning blame to Editorial Board members for his decision not to endorse.'"

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #media #sanewashing
/14

And an important piece of information we may need to assess why Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris: as Sewell Chan, previously an editor at Los Angeles Times, reminds us:

"Elon Musk … is friendly with Soon-Shiong — they are both South African-born billionaire entrepreneurs."

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #media #sanewashing #LosAngelesTimes #PatrickSoonShiong #ElonMusk
/15

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/los-angeles-times-editorials-editor-resigns-after-owner-blocks-presidential-endorsement.php

Los Angeles Times editorials editor resigns after owner blocks presidential endorsement

Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned on Wednesday, after the newspaper’s owner had blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president. “I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told me in a […]

Columbia Journalism Review

Endorsing Kamala Harris, The Guardian states that Harris Harris represents a hopeful future, while Trump will drag Americans back into a reactionary past.

Trump’s authoritarianism may be the end of US democracy, The Guardian concludes.

#KamalaHarris #Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #media #TheGuardian
/16

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2024/oct/23/the-guardian-view-on-the-us-presidential-election-2024-a-democratic-government-is-the-one-we-need

The Guardian view on the US presidential election 2024: a Democratic government is the one we need

Editorial: This election presents a critical choice. Do we embrace a hopeful future or retreat to a reactionary past? We’re backing Kamala Harris. She will unlock democracy’s potential, not give in to its flaws

The Guardian

"the reality is Trump could be a wannabe fascist all day. But without followers, he is just a guy screaming out anti-American garbage.

That is why to me it’s far more alarming that millions of Americans see Trump for who he is and love it. They want 'America’s Hitler'—as JD Vance warned in 2016 Trump could become. MAGA is what a modern day fascist movement looks like."

~ Dean Obeidallah

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/17

https://deanobeidallah.substack.com/p/vp-harris-is-100-correct-that-trump

VP Harris is 100% correct that Trump is a Fascist—but that’s only half the alarming story.

MAGA is a full blown fascist movement!

The Dean's Report by Dean Obeidallah

"We have been studying democratic crisis and authoritarianism for 30 years. Between the two of us, we have written five books on those subjects. We can think of few major national candidates for office in any democracy since World War II who have been this openly authoritarian….

The U.S. establishment is sleepwalking toward a crisis."

~ Steven Levitskiy and Daniel Ziblatt

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/18

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/opinion/democracy-defense-us-authoritarian.html

Opinion | There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.

Why have so many of our democracy’s defenses seemingly broken down, and which, if any, remain?

The New York Times

"The U.S. Naval Academy’s history department invited NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat to give a guest lecture this month about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule, then the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing figures launched a pressure campaign and the academy disinvited her."

~ David Kurtz

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #RuthBenGhiat
/19

https://morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com/p/kamala-harris-plans-to-close-with

Kamala Harris Plans To Close With A Strong Anti-Fascism Message

INSIDE: Ruth Ben-Ghiat ... Patrick Soon-Shiong ... Mike Flynn

Morning Memo

Dan Froomkin reminds us that the US did once have news commentators fiercely committed to the truth, courageous, and intent to serve democracy by remaining true to their vocation – in a word:

Walter Cronkite.

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/20

https://criticalread.substack.com/p/time-for-a-cronkite-moment

Time for a 'Cronkite moment'

Network anchors must speak the unvarnished truth about Trump’s mental state

Press Watch

“Do you think somebody possibly has video of Trump mocking the handicapped, demeaning US prisoners of war, boasting about sexually assaulting women, praising Vladimir Putin, or urging a violent attack on the US Capitol? That would be huge.”

~ David Frum as quoted by Andrew Egger

Irony alert here.

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/21

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-soft-bigotry-of-our-trump-expectations

The Soft Bigotry of Our Trump Expectations

One candidate gets graded like a normal candidate would. The other gets excused for talking about Arnold Palmer’s junk.

The Bulwark

@wdlindsy Most of America watched the network newscasts then. And read their papers. These people were respected as a source of information.

Yes, we need such folks now, but news sources are now so diverse and divided that it can longer be the way it was.

@wdlindsy That was before the fat cats realized how much more money there is in platforming rather than reporting. It costs nothing to stick a mic in front of "the man on the street," and ad sales go up when you do it.

What we need is a society that values something other than shareholder return.

@wdlindsy Sam Donaldson. I miss him every day.

@wdlindsy go back even further when a single reporter, Ed Murrow, had the faith and trust of an entire nation and could expose McCarthy to the country.

In re-watching this, the horrible realization that McCarthy was nowhere near as bad a slimeball as #trump

https://youtu.be/dMgoi9pBRwg?si=NFu5wHvaZhlWyFfd

Edward R. Murrow - A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy

YouTube
@wdlindsy I grew up watching Walter Cronkite! I don’t think we ever missed an evening of news.
@wdlindsy I grew up hearing "and that's the way it is" when he finished each night.

@wdlindsy I had thought people were being compliant and following the leader like so many people are conditioned to do...
Are we dealing with obedient sheep or are people actually wanting to exterminate people they dont like.

Scary thoughts.

@GreenRoc I honestly don't see a distinction between people being obedient sheep and also wanting to exterminate people they don't like. I think fascism thrives on convincing many of us that if we obey, toe the line, be "good," we won't get the punishments we'd like to see the fascist leader dish out to those other "bad" people we despise.

@wdlindsy

Patrick Soon-Shiong is the asshole of the month... Biycott this punk's LA Times

#LATimes

@wdlindsy Up in Heaven,the Chandler family that once owned the Times and whitewashed coverage and politics for generations is cheering.
@IveyJanette I know so little about the history of the LA Times, that I'm not sure I'm really understanding what you mean. You mean they're cheering Garza?
@wdlindsy No, they're cheering Soon-Shiong. He too is right-wing conservative.
@IveyJanette I see. Because I don't know the history of the publication, I wasn't sure. Soon-Shiong is closely connected to Elon Musk. That tells us something very imporant about him, I think.

@wdlindsy "Media" has only one value: Shareholder return. As long as he's good for ratings, and thus ad revenue, Trump will be a media darling. "You're fired!"

#DiaperDon

@wdlindsy Yes, but remember that Americans who died fighting Nazis were, in Trump's words, losers and suckers. So, emulating Hitler is just fine to Trump and the GOP. So, the GOP is now formally a Nazi party.
@wdlindsy Pussy-grabbing should have been the breaking point for the GOP.
@phaedral Indeed. I'll never forget my shock and disgust at seeing a Trump sign go up in the yard of a neighbor the very day after that story broke. I totally lost any respect for the people living in that house at that point.
@wdlindsy look, if they couldn't stay off the train after January 6th why should we expect a little Hitler envy to get them off the Trump train?
@davidmiller I don't read any of the commentators in the thread to be imagining that those cultists will jump from the Trump train. That's not why they're sounding the alarm. They're sounding it because it's the right thing to do.
@wdlindsy it's right to sound the alarm, we just need to temper our expectations based on the evidence we've already seen.
@davidmiller I don't read any of the commentators in the thread to be denying that we need to temper our expectations based on evidence. I also suspect they'd agree with Timothy Snyder that obeying in advance and allowing those who want to make us feel hopeless are not options, either.
@wdlindsy In MAGAt eyes, his depravity is not a bug but a feature
@wdlindsy He says "baked into the election results" but he means "if he wins, Trump gets a mandate." And buyer beware.

@wdlindsy Trump scares me.

Hitler led people to allow and perform the murder of millions.

Trump in charge with his plans, would leave me to die, homeless and starving to death.

@GreenRoc I think we have every right to be scared.
@wdlindsy It would tell the world that the USA is now officially a fascist nation. No surprise there.
@mikewaghorne I don't hear anyone who is issuing these warnings expressing surprise that fascist strands are woven into the culture of the US — as they are woven into the culture of many nations around the world, something we're having to face all over again as fascism emerges in one culture after another. People commenting from afar who imagine many Americans are naive about this aspect of our history and culture aren't listening carefully to many of us — who deserve support.
@wdlindsy Those who keep saying undecided need a brain exam. They will vote for Trump and what others say about him does not make a difference. KH = America. Trump = Hate. He was right when he said that he could kill someone and people will still vote for him..
@HolgerFiallo I've long thought that many of those who claim to be undecided are really Republican voters too ashamed to say so openly.
@wdlindsy In the CNN hall town one of them was democrat. She was more worry about the poor Palestinian people than those in the US. Do not give me wrong I feel for them but they elected hamas in 2007 knowing what they plan for Israel. We need to focus on us before helping others. Long live the Constitution.
@HolgerFiallo I do not see Hamas and the Palestinian people as synonymous with each other, and do not think that the atrocious violence being visited on the Palestinians is in any way justified by their political history or choices. I also see the violence Hamas perpetrated against Israelis a year ago as atrocious — but don't think a response of even more horrific violence in any way moves toward a just, humane solution to the problems of the region.