If Trump ever locked his political opponents up in the soccer stadiums, he'd be bored by the next morning and let them out so he'd have somebody to spar with.
Nope. Communists simply called anyone they didn't like a fascist. So Social Democrats were called Social-Fascists, for example.
Apart from that, all Fascists liked the make-up of the Bismarkian German state - industrial, education and social welfare policies, as it leapfrogged Britain during the 100 years from after the Napoleonic wars. Without the opposition - who needs the opposition if one knows how to make a successful state? In addition, antisemitism was a biggie for British, French and Croatians, but not for Italians or Austrians.
From a literal sense you are correct that Trump is more like George Steinbrenner than Walter O'Malley. The problem is that liberals have redefined fascist into meaning "a politician that does something I don't like". Liberals proved in 2020 that they have no problems with following orders from politicians they do like, but it was obvious even before then if you were paying attention.
Liberals are like women in that if you have any hope of ever understanding them, you should pay attention to their actions, not their words.
For most people their chosen political identity is like a superhero costume. They just know the guy wearing it is the good guy. Doesn't matter what they do. Doesn't matter if they swap out the policies that drew you to that political party in the first place. Superman is the good guy because he has the big S on his chest. There was a recent Superman storyline in which he becomes a Fascist for the good of the planet. I haven't read it but from the highlights I think it works out like in the real world. Some people are like "WTF" but most assume Superman knows best
They are even if they don't say it. There are many photos of Lenin and Mussolini meeting. They - the communists - just have the additional impulse to expropriate all private means of production and nationalize it. Central planning and all. That's why Mussolini broke with them.
Nonsense. Mussolini met lots of people, proving nothing.
Communists are not Fascists. Or Nazis. Or Catholics, back when THEY were totalitarian because they could be. Things which are different are not the same just because they share properties..
Nah- he just needs to be put on Spider's "pay no mind list". This response, and a few others, have demonstrated that he is an angry child, possibly with an interesting alternative point of view, but not worth engaging.
I think the reality is that they don't actually believe it. The thought leaders that is; their audience might. Hitler/Fascist/Bigot and all the other epithets they love to use are just a shortcut to label someone very bad. It's just an electoral strategy. Politics.
If one starts with the precept that leftists are mentally ill and self-absorbed but also condescending, then it makes sense that they throw insults about when they are frustrated. Fascist. Racist. Authoritarianist. Patriarch. Dictator. The left is neurotic and they can't help having their ridiculous spasms.
The term “fascist”, much like the term “racist”, has lost all connection with the original, discrete concept. Arguing over whether X or Y is in fact ‘fascist’ or whether there are historical parallels or whatever is a complete waste of time. The only appropriate response is the same one given to streetcorner lunatics ranting about the end of the world: smile and nod and continue on with your day. Trump, to his credit, intuits this truth.
I know you already know this and this column was just having a bit of fun, but we simply must stop discussing the world in the left’s absurd framing.
Thanks! I followed the link. Your essay on Biosing Singularity assumes that IQ is an absolute measure of intelligence, but IQ's are standardized on the population tested. Hence, the average is always about 100. Hence, you need a different term.
"When I was young, baseball owner Walter O’Malley’s Los Angeles Dodgers had a front office that shut the press out from reporting on almost all controversy within the team in order to present a cohesive front to the world. The Dodgers appeared to the outside world like a Fascist utopia was supposed to work in theory."
The irony is that prior to being in LA, the BRK Dodgers cultivated a more neighborhood, mom and pop ethnic identity that was also brash and loud (e.g. with some more openness to the press etc) than their 40s thru early60's US Steel Corporate America, Buttoned Down, Top Down NY counterparts, the Yankees.
The point: With their move to LA, which at the time was majority white, home of suburbia, symmetry, don't rock the boat--the Dodgers slowly but surely starting in the 60's became the very thing that their original BRK fanbase would've despised--conformity imposed from the top.
The 60's Dodgers became the US Steel of the West Coast; welcome to the world of Sandy, Don, Maury, Willie, and....Ron Fairly.
"In contrast, owner George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees maintained a non-stop brawl waged on the back page of the tabloids, with Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, and Thurman Munson trading rhetorical haymakers in the headlines."
Steinbrenner bought NY in late 72. Armed with the knowledge that he could be himself, having observed his counterpart out in OAK, Charles Finley, Steinbrenner first convinced NY to remodel Yankee Stadium. When it opened in 76, with manager Billy Martin at the helm, he had his team as well as the personality to go forward in MLB.
So basically the 70's Yankees were what late 40's/50's BRK Dodgers once were: boisterous, combative, in your face, and ethnically diverse. The 70's Dodgers became what the late 40's thru early 60's Yankees were: White Bread Corporate America, with heavy accent on conformity.
The State does not occupy the same psychic space in quintessentially American Donald Trump's head as it does in the head of an early 20th c. Continental European trying to figure out a post-monarchical world. Trump couldn't be a fascist if he wanted to be; few if any Americans could.
The two groups of people I've met with the most reverence for the State have been elderly Syrian Ba'athists and liberal Canadians.
If Trump ever locked his political opponents up in the soccer stadiums, he'd be bored by the next morning and let them out so he'd have somebody to spar with.
Fascism is simply opposition to Communism.
No.
Nope. Communists simply called anyone they didn't like a fascist. So Social Democrats were called Social-Fascists, for example.
Apart from that, all Fascists liked the make-up of the Bismarkian German state - industrial, education and social welfare policies, as it leapfrogged Britain during the 100 years from after the Napoleonic wars. Without the opposition - who needs the opposition if one knows how to make a successful state? In addition, antisemitism was a biggie for British, French and Croatians, but not for Italians or Austrians.
Donnie is the straw that stirs the drink!
Win or lose, he will still be the center of our media universe until maybe a month after his funeral, at earliest.
Like Teddy Roosevelt was the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every wake, Trump will make sure to be the corpse at his own wake.
And the bride at this own funeral!
ha!
From a literal sense you are correct that Trump is more like George Steinbrenner than Walter O'Malley. The problem is that liberals have redefined fascist into meaning "a politician that does something I don't like". Liberals proved in 2020 that they have no problems with following orders from politicians they do like, but it was obvious even before then if you were paying attention.
Liberals are like women in that if you have any hope of ever understanding them, you should pay attention to their actions, not their words.
George Orwell came up with that line in one of his essays in Tribune.
Fascism has definitely redefined as you describe. You see the accusation constantly on left wing comment boards.
No. A false and rejected "redefinition" does not in fact redefine a word.
For most people their chosen political identity is like a superhero costume. They just know the guy wearing it is the good guy. Doesn't matter what they do. Doesn't matter if they swap out the policies that drew you to that political party in the first place. Superman is the good guy because he has the big S on his chest. There was a recent Superman storyline in which he becomes a Fascist for the good of the planet. I haven't read it but from the highlights I think it works out like in the real world. Some people are like "WTF" but most assume Superman knows best
Pretty much.
The Democrats are far more fascist that the Republicans. They worship the state and tolerate no dissent.
“All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
Benito Mussolini
That's not a definition, merely a property. Communists are not Fascists.
They are even if they don't say it. There are many photos of Lenin and Mussolini meeting. They - the communists - just have the additional impulse to expropriate all private means of production and nationalize it. Central planning and all. That's why Mussolini broke with them.
Nonsense. Mussolini met lots of people, proving nothing.
Communists are not Fascists. Or Nazis. Or Catholics, back when THEY were totalitarian because they could be. Things which are different are not the same just because they share properties..
Trump clearly enjoys political combat but is suspicious of and averse to actual combat. That's pretty much the opposite of a fascist.
He is not in fact unusually averse to actual combat being conducted by the state.
No- take a look at the wikipedia page on US military interventions and tell us if you notice anything unusual about the years Trump was prez.
Not a chance. Don't assign me homework or ask me dumbass supposed "questions", I will ignore you. If you have something to say come out and say it.
Oh dear, Andrew seems like the kind of guy who needs to get body slammed.
Nah- he just needs to be put on Spider's "pay no mind list". This response, and a few others, have demonstrated that he is an angry child, possibly with an interesting alternative point of view, but not worth engaging.
I just published a Substack on how Trump is not going to ruin democracy, but Kamala will. https://ericrasmusen.substack.com/p/scott-alexanders-four-arguments-for
Trump couldn't even dictate to a secretary, if she had civil service protection.
I think the reality is that they don't actually believe it. The thought leaders that is; their audience might. Hitler/Fascist/Bigot and all the other epithets they love to use are just a shortcut to label someone very bad. It's just an electoral strategy. Politics.
If one starts with the precept that leftists are mentally ill and self-absorbed but also condescending, then it makes sense that they throw insults about when they are frustrated. Fascist. Racist. Authoritarianist. Patriarch. Dictator. The left is neurotic and they can't help having their ridiculous spasms.
Trump may falsely call his fascism the best and most beautiful ever, but at least he won't claim he's saving our democracy and freedom.
You are correct as usual, Steve. But also as usual, the people who need your critique don't care.
The term “fascist”, much like the term “racist”, has lost all connection with the original, discrete concept. Arguing over whether X or Y is in fact ‘fascist’ or whether there are historical parallels or whatever is a complete waste of time. The only appropriate response is the same one given to streetcorner lunatics ranting about the end of the world: smile and nod and continue on with your day. Trump, to his credit, intuits this truth.
I know you already know this and this column was just having a bit of fun, but we simply must stop discussing the world in the left’s absurd framing.
https://open.substack.com/pub/akarlin/p/trumpism-cant-get-fooled-again?r=b5zww&utm_medium=ios
Thanks! I followed the link. Your essay on Biosing Singularity assumes that IQ is an absolute measure of intelligence, but IQ's are standardized on the population tested. Hence, the average is always about 100. Hence, you need a different term.
"When I was young, baseball owner Walter O’Malley’s Los Angeles Dodgers had a front office that shut the press out from reporting on almost all controversy within the team in order to present a cohesive front to the world. The Dodgers appeared to the outside world like a Fascist utopia was supposed to work in theory."
The irony is that prior to being in LA, the BRK Dodgers cultivated a more neighborhood, mom and pop ethnic identity that was also brash and loud (e.g. with some more openness to the press etc) than their 40s thru early60's US Steel Corporate America, Buttoned Down, Top Down NY counterparts, the Yankees.
The point: With their move to LA, which at the time was majority white, home of suburbia, symmetry, don't rock the boat--the Dodgers slowly but surely starting in the 60's became the very thing that their original BRK fanbase would've despised--conformity imposed from the top.
The 60's Dodgers became the US Steel of the West Coast; welcome to the world of Sandy, Don, Maury, Willie, and....Ron Fairly.
"In contrast, owner George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees maintained a non-stop brawl waged on the back page of the tabloids, with Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, and Thurman Munson trading rhetorical haymakers in the headlines."
Steinbrenner bought NY in late 72. Armed with the knowledge that he could be himself, having observed his counterpart out in OAK, Charles Finley, Steinbrenner first convinced NY to remodel Yankee Stadium. When it opened in 76, with manager Billy Martin at the helm, he had his team as well as the personality to go forward in MLB.
So basically the 70's Yankees were what late 40's/50's BRK Dodgers once were: boisterous, combative, in your face, and ethnically diverse. The 70's Dodgers became what the late 40's thru early 60's Yankees were: White Bread Corporate America, with heavy accent on conformity.
The State does not occupy the same psychic space in quintessentially American Donald Trump's head as it does in the head of an early 20th c. Continental European trying to figure out a post-monarchical world. Trump couldn't be a fascist if he wanted to be; few if any Americans could.
The two groups of people I've met with the most reverence for the State have been elderly Syrian Ba'athists and liberal Canadians.