• You will need to login or register before you can post a message. If you already have an Agriville account login by clicking the login icon on the top right corner of the page. If you are a new user you will need to Register.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Don’t kid yourself – the threat of a Trump dictatorship is real

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Don’t kid yourself – the threat of a Trump dictatorship is real

    Don’t kid yourself – the threat of a Trump dictatorship is real

    Andrew Coyne


    ?[url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trumps-true-intentions-for-his-second-term-are-all-too-clear/[/url]

    Has Godwin’s law been repealed?

    In normal times, the famous maxim – that the longer any argument online progresses, the greater the odds that someone will compare someone or something to Hitler – should be taken not only as a description but a prescription. As in: Don’t do this. People will not take you seriously if you do. Your point is made much better without such obviously extreme, even obscene comparisons. Nobody is like Hitler.

    But what do you do with someone who positively seems to invite the drawing of such parallels – who parrots the same phrases, invokes the same threats, advances the same arguments, and seems hell-bent on installing himself as dictator? It’s probably still best to avoid the H word. But as a description of what a second Donald Trump administration would look like, the F word – fascist – seems increasingly apt.

    The former president has always seemed to teeter on the verge of madness, but in recent weeks his rhetoric has noticeably worsened. He appears to be on an escalatory spiral, unable to extract the same thrill out of the merely shocking or unhinged and needing to ratchet it further into the violent and depraved.

    The historical undertones are unmistakable, and almost certainly intended: promising to root out the “vermin” that threaten the United States “from within,” attacking immigrants for “poisoning the blood” of America, vowing to use the FBI and the justice system to “go after” his rivals, asserting that a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, should be “executed” for “treason,” praising foreign dictators like Xi Jinping of China for their “strength.”

    As always with Mr. Trump, the sheer volume of his assaults on decency overwhelms and numbs the senses. Statements that would bring American politics to a dead stop in any previous era pass all but unmarked, overtaken within hours by the next outrage, and the next.

    Rather than grow more alarmed, the instinct remains to minimize, to dismiss, to normalize. It’s all just shock talk, say his apologists. He doesn’t mean it. Or at any rate, he can’t actually do it. The system will stop him. The “guardrails” will hold.

    Mr. Trump’s critics comfort themselves with similar assurances. He’s going to jail. He can’t win a general election. He’s disqualified from office under the 14th amendment, as the Supreme Court will surely rule.

    All of these are possible. Some may even be probable. But they are far from certainties. Indeed, with every incendiary statement and every criminal indictment, Mr. Trump’s popularity seems only to have grown. Not only is he running away with the Republican nomination, but he now leads Joe Biden in the polls.

    We do ourselves no favours, then, if we do not take seriously the possibility that Mr. Trump means it, and what is more, that he can get away with it. Because this is not only about Mr. Trump. There is a larger context to his rise, and others who share his aims – or indeed have much broader ambitions.

    There are first the ideological underpinnings. Do a search some time for “red Caesarism.” A significant section of Republican thought leaders have persuaded themselves that the republic, or at least their own place in it, is under such threat – from Marxists, or Black activists, or immigrants, or what have you – that it can only be saved by something resembling dictatorship, even if they do not call it that.

    There is, second, the coming purge of the bureaucracy. A second Trump administration, his supporters have not been shy about revealing ([url]https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trumps-second-term-agenda.html[/url]), would begin by replacing thousands of career civil servants with Trump loyalists. Particular attention is being paid to staffing the Justice Department with lawyers willing to give a veneer of legality to Mr. Trump’s lawless agenda.

    At the moment that agenda might be limited to revenging himself on his enemies and shutting down all criminal proceedings against him. But beyond that lurk far worse prospects – again, by his followers’ own admission: interring undocumented immigrants in massive camps; jailing journalists and other critics; calling up the military to suppress protests, and so on.

    The steadier hands that attempted to rein in Mr. Trump in his first term would not be back for a second. Only his most fervent admirers and fanatical lieutenants would remain. And at the centre would be Mr. Trump himself: emboldened by success, more dominant than ever, and unbound altogether by any constraint, whether of law, morals, shame or even rational self-interest.

    This is ultimately Mr. Trump’s greatest strength: his refusal to respect any limit. Guardrails only work against those who ultimately agree to be bound by them. When the Supreme Court told Richard Nixon to hand over the Watergate tapes, he handed them over. One supposes Mr. Trump’s response would be something along the lines of “how many divisions does the Supreme Court have?”
    ?

    #2
    Looks like another week of mostly above zero temperatures forecast for my area. We are all getting a lot done this way. The ground is barely even frozen. The cattlemen aren't complaining about how much feet they are saving. Some are still out grazing even.
    I could be disking some freshly cleared land, except it's too complicated to get the tractor out of the Quonset now.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by AlbertaFarmer5 View Post
      Looks like another week of mostly above zero temperatures forecast for my area. We are all getting a lot done this way. The ground is barely even frozen. The cattlemen aren't complaining about how much feet they are saving. Some are still out grazing even.
      I could be disking some freshly cleared land, except it's too complicated to get the tractor out of the Quonset now.
      I was talking to a neighbour last night that does custom fencing. He said there was too much frost now, posts were starting to explode. He has a vibrating post pounder, works very well but the low areas just have too much frost.

      Comment


        #4
        ground froze real hard here after that inch of rain
        46 down $30, phos up $70 rom 3 weeks ago , what are others seeing?

        Comment


          #5
          Haven't checked lately.
          N bought in August. P in October.
          So far so good I think.

          I never did build a heated shop. Something always came up. No wonder my hands hurt the way they do haha.
          But am enjoying catching up on minor repairs in this weather.
          Be wary of Amazon parts lol.
          Don't miss cattle though.
          Last edited by blackpowder; Dec 20, 2023, 11:21.

          Comment


            #6
            Ours all safely in the soil and in bin.

            Comment


              #7
              Everybody look that up on youtube , great vid

              Comment


                #8
                My wife and I were driving to a local Christmas concert last night. Happened to have the Calgary Global news on the radio. The news anchor was talking about Stephen Guilbeault’s new electric car mandate. My wife doesn’t usually get too involved in politics but what she said was fantastic and very accurate. “When do we get a say.” Chucky is worried about Trump being a dictator. What the hell is Trudeau? We have a Prime Minister voted for by 32% of the 64% that voted, so just over 20% of Canadians. Mandating what kind of cars can be sold. Ignoring Supreme Court decisions on his plastic ban, on bill C-69. Banning thousands of legally acquired guns. Why the f##k is Andrew Coyne worried about Trump, look at our own damn prime minister!!!!

                Comment


                  #9
                  i recently read that is all planned by the failing fiberals , talk about Trump as much as possible and compare PP to him , and the paid media and usefull idiots jump on board

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Hamloc View Post
                    My wife and I were driving to a local Christmas concert last night. Happened to have the Calgary Global news on the radio. The news anchor was talking about Stephen Guilbeault’s new electric car mandate. My wife doesn’t usually get too involved in politics but what she said was fantastic and very accurate. “When do we get a say.” Chucky is worried about Trump being a dictator. What the hell is Trudeau? We have a Prime Minister voted for by 32% of the 64% that voted, so just over 20% of Canadians. Mandating what kind of cars can be sold. Ignoring Supreme Court decisions on his plastic ban, on bill C-69. Banning thousands of legally acquired guns. Why the f##k is Andrew Coyne worried about Trump, look at our own damn prime minister!!!!
                    Well said , but Trump bad

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Hamloc View Post
                      My wife and I were driving to a local Christmas concert last night. Happened to have the Calgary Global news on the radio. The news anchor was talking about Stephen Guilbeault’s new electric car mandate. My wife doesn’t usually get too involved in politics but what she said was fantastic and very accurate. “When do we get a say.” Chucky is worried about Trump being a dictator. What the hell is Trudeau? We have a Prime Minister voted for by 32% of the 64% that voted, so just over 20% of Canadians. Mandating what kind of cars can be sold. Ignoring Supreme Court decisions on his plastic ban, on bill C-69. Banning thousands of legally acquired guns. Why the f##k is Andrew Coyne worried about Trump, look at our own damn prime minister!!!!
                      I've been thinking the same thing! And not on this issue alone!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by furrowtickler View Post

                        Well said , but Trump bad
                        Given Trudeau's polling numbers, one would think that Chuck's time would be better spent campaigning against Pollievre rather than Trump, considering this is a Canadian website.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I can just imagine what N.America would look like if we hadn’t seen the likes of the Democrats or Trudeau. I blame Harper in Canada because he had the reigns but he lost them. Period. He could have turned the bus around. When he saw the polls on Canadians applauding Marijuana legalization, he dug in his heels and was a prude. So we got killed. The Republicans will likely lose the American election on the abortion issue. Are there no strategists that sense the sentiments of the people? I am not pro-abortion, but leave the issue alone. Evidently my sentiments are not the sentiments of the majority.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Hamloc View Post
                            My wife and I were driving to a local Christmas concert last night. Happened to have the Calgary Global news on the radio. The news anchor was talking about Stephen Guilbeault’s new electric car mandate. My wife doesn’t usually get too involved in politics but what she said was fantastic and very accurate. “When do we get a say.” Chucky is worried about Trump being a dictator. What the hell is Trudeau? We have a Prime Minister voted for by 32% of the 64% that voted, so just over 20% of Canadians. Mandating what kind of cars can be sold. Ignoring Supreme Court decisions on his plastic ban, on bill C-69. Banning thousands of legally acquired guns. Why the f##k is Andrew Coyne worried about Trump, look at our own damn prime minister!!!!
                            awesome , just awesome !!!!

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Favourite quote I read today, by Tristin Hopper, National Post. “If you have been wondering why it’s been a few weeks since the federal government banned something, then wonder no more. Just a few days after Parliament broke for Christmas holidays, Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault released the official quotas regarding sales of zero emission vehicles. By 2035, new cares powered by gas or diesel will be banned altogether.” Ban, ban, ban that is all the would be dictator does!!!

                              Comment

                              • Reply to this Thread
                              • Return to Topic List
                              Working...