What dictators do
<< Thread Modifed June 13 at 2:56AM >>
This, excerpted from an article in today's New Yorker:
Call it Donald Trump’s Strongman Week. Over the course of just a few days, the President has ordered the military into the streets of Los Angeles—over the objections of California’s Democratic governor—to curb protests against his immigration crackdown, appeared with cheering uniformed troops at what amounted to a political rally, and planned to hold a military parade featuring the rare spectacle of tanks rolling through the streets of Washington. Trump’s martial rhetoric accompanying these militarized photo ops has portrayed a nation that is all but on the brink of war—with itself.
That any of this is even happening amounts to the most striking contrast possible with his first term, when Trump craved similar displays of military might but found himself stymied by his own senior officials, who balked, stalled, and, at times, outright disagreed with his demands. In 2017, the President returned from an impressively bellicose Bastille Day celebration in France determined to host his own version of a military parade. It never took place, largely because the Pentagon’s leadership and Trump’s White House chief of staff, a retired four-star marine general, were adamantly opposed to such a display. In a passionate outburst that I learned about several years later, the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Paul Selva, confronted Trump about it directly in the Oval Office. Such a parade, he warned Trump, would be profoundly un-American, "what dictators do." But Trump, of course, wanted to do it anyway.
If you get the chance, read the whole article, it's worth it.
RE: What dictators do
I just wrote on your fascist thread and the comment would fit here, but but I can't copy and paste on my phone from the forum. I might do it later on the laptop, but it's on the other thread if you want to peruse.
RE: What dictators do
Emma, how dare you call my thread a "fascist thread"? It's open to everyone, even foreigners!
Anyhooo....
Can you believe it? They played CCR's "Fortunate Son" at Trump's birthday parade. Someone in the Army is taking the piss big time. Here's the lyrics, for those who don't know them:
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Hoo, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no furtunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no
Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?"
Hoo, they only answer, "More, more, more, more"
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no military son, son, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, one
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate son, no, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me...
Perhaps they should have had Barbara Streisand singing "Don't Let It Rain On My Parade" instead.
RE: What dictators do
Then there's this:
![](https://i.ibb.co/4g4dKVkY/NRA.jpg")
RE: What dictators do
A real question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’
THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:
That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought "Fine." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../trump-university.../502387002/)
That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, "Okay." (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-paid-millions...)
That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, "No problem." (https://abcnews.go.com/.../list-trumps-accusers.../story...)
That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, "Not an issue." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../donald-trumps.../)
That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn't care, you exclaimed, "He sure knows me." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../president-donald.../4073405002/)
That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, "That's cool!" (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story)
That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. (https://www.nbcnews.com/.../donald-trump-criticized-after...)
That when you heard him brag that he doesn't read books, you said, "Well, who has time?" (https://www.theatlantic.com/.../americas-first.../549794/)
That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn't commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, "That makes sense." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../what-trump-has.../1501321001/)
That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, "Yes!" (https://www.latimes.com/.../la-na-trump-campaign-protests...)
That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man's coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, "What a great guy!" (https://www.independent.co.uk/.../donald-trump-orders...)
That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, "Thumbs up!" (https://www.theatlantic.com/.../why-cant-trump.../567320/)
That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, "That's the way I want my President to be." (https://www.huffpost.com/.../trump-insult-foreign...)
That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they're supposed to be regulating and you have said, "What a genius!" (https://www.politico.com/.../138-trump-policy-changes...)
That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, "That's smart!" (https://www.usnews.com/.../how-is-donald-trump-profiting...)
That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, "That makes sense." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../the-very-big-ocean.../)
That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, "falling in love" with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, "That's statesmanship!" (https://www.cnn.com/.../donald-trump-dictators.../index.html)
That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas - he explains that they’re just “animals” - and you say, “Well, OK then.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/.../more-5-400-children-split...)
That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. (https://www.americanprogress.org/.../confronting-cost.../)
What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also... hear me... charitable.
Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.
- Adam-Troy Castro
2021 Script Writer of the Year
lancellot
RE: What dictators do
Trump can maintain control of thousands of California national guardsmen, appeals court rules
Story by Devan Cole, CNN
A federal appeals court is allowing President Donald Trump to maintain control over thousands of members of California’s National Guard.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Trump to lift, for now, a lower-court ruling that had required the president to relinquish control of roughly 4,000 guardsman from the Golden State that he had federalized to beef up security in Los Angeles amid unrest over immigration enforcement.
The court said in an unsigned ruling "that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority" under the federal law he invoked to federalize the guardsmen earlier this month, rejecting arguments pushed by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom that Trump had violated federal law when he seized control of part of his state’s militia.
Well, and that's from the most Liberal appeals court in the country.
RE: What dictators do
Turns out protestors blocked an interstate highway, a federal courthouse and federal immigration resources.
Also, the appeals decision was unanimous. Showing once again that Steve and Craig misunderstand the basic scope of state vs. federal government in the United States, and also do not understand how modern computer programming works.
2021 Script Writer of the Year
lancellot
RE: What dictators do
No, they don't misunderstand. They simply don't care to know. They don't live here, so they have no need to learn more than what their confirmation bias demands.
If they're wrong, So what? They don't have to live under their demands or bad ideas, pay taxes, deal with the crime, or government mismanagement. It's all academic to them. That Biden let millions flow through the border, means nothing to them. A riot or fire in LA or Chicago, or Seattle. What do they care? They won't be inconvenienced or in danger. They're only food store didn't burn to the ground. Their police didn't get defunded.
We're just a show they watch on TV or the internet.
Remember, hating on Trump and Republicans is simply their hobby.
RE: What dictators do
Ho, hum! Everybody's entitled to a hobby.
perhaps the two gentlemen applauding the Appeal Court's decision should take a closer look at it.
The decision is temporary. and open to review, which the Administration's lawyers had disputed. The Court also refuted the Administration's claim that the protests in LA constituted a rebellion.
One swallow does not make a summer and one temporary loss in a court case doesn't do much to offset the hundreds of legal defeats piling up on Trump since his inauguration.
BTW can either of you justify federal agents, masked and bare of identifying insignia, snatching people off the streets and taking them away in unmarked vehicles?
RE: What dictators do
IDK about calling it a "rebellion". It's fundamentally about so-called "protestors" blocking access to or assaulting federal resources, and the right of the Feds to protect and restore access to those resources.
Regarding identification laws, it's complicated. ICE agents are being doxed. What's the worse that can happen? People show up on their lawn with signs?
Well, remember that some of the guys being arrested are in dangerous cartels. Imagine you are an arresting agent, required to identify yourself to Pablo Jr. with your real name as you arrest him. The second he gets his free phone call, who do you think he's gonna call? And what's the person on the other end gonna do?
1) find the identities of exactly who you work for and with
2) look up your personal address on White Pages
3) get you and your coworkers to help him escape immediately to prevent your entire families being raped and murdered and their naked, dismembered bodies dropped somewhere in public.
This is how the worst cartels operate, my friend. And it can ALWAYS get worse.
On the other hand, what if you're impersonating a federal officer? So that's a problem too.
So here's an initial resource for discussion.
RE: What dictators do
Message edited:
Have to say, it's absolutely hilarious seeing Harambe and Lancellot's reactions when cases to a district, state or federal court ruling that Steve or I have applauded has been overturned by a higher court. They claim it's because we are ignorant of the US, and we, being foreigners, couldn't possibly understand the nuances.
Coincidentally, it's the same argument they use to tell us we can't understand why every American citizen needs to be armed to the teeth. One stunningly obvious flaw in their clever logic obviously eludes them: If it is our ignorance of the US law, the US courts, and US life in general that means we couldn't possibly be right if we challenge their vastly superior knowledge, then what excuse do the district, state and federal courts (the ones that make decisions we like) that get overruled by a higher court have?
Do your local, state and federal court judges not understand US law and the US way of life? If that's the case, you have extremely serious problems, far more serious than a couple of ignorant bums from some insignificant, far-away backwaters.
And Lancellot, because clearly, the first thousand times I've said it means nothing to you... what interests me or doesn't interest me is of no concern to you. Nor do I need to justify to you why I choose to discuss any topic I set my little heart on. This is not Trump's America, and I won't be told what I am or am not permitted to think or say.
Now, push this further if you so desire, and I'll respond with the part of this post I just deleted.
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