A sobering realization

[democrank]

My decades-old question regarding Hitler’s ability to gather the backing of so many true believers is no longer a mystery. The conclusion is frightening. Here we are, years later, with the dangerous Donald Trump surrounded by a sea of red hats. Any ideas I once had about Trump cultists eventually coming to their senses once they learned the truth have vanished. I’ve sobered up.

Trump, in all his boisterous, bullying glory, gives 24/7 permission for any and all abhorrent behavior. Racists can now be loud and proud. Men (and many women) can publicly nod and cheer when women are degraded. Trump gives permission to bully and laugh at immigrants, people with disabilities ,homeless folks, war prisoners, wounded veterans, members of the LGBTQ community. Trump cultists are encouraged to hate, assault, lie, cheat, stalk. They’re encouraged to ignore laws, the Constitution, social standards, history, even common decency. They’re encouraged to practice violence and win at all costs.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a change of heart. These are hard-core haters who have finally found Their God. They applauded Mr. Pelosi getting beaten in the head with a hammer, they like the idea of keeping “others” out of their country by using machines fitted with razor wires, they applaud when Trump mocks a person who stutters.

These very dangerous times require dead-serious opposition. We must strengthen and clarify our messages, contribute and volunteer where we can, watch them like a hawk and get out the vote.

[Irish_Dem]

1. We now know that a large segment of our population loves ruthless deadly sociopaths.

They love a president who steals classified documents and sells them to our enemies.
Endangering our national security and lives.

And one who tries to overthrow the US government and stay in power indefinitely.
And commits so many crimes it is hard to list them all.

Any any kind of violence is not only acceptable to them, it is preferable.

A large segment of our population with no moral compass, no sense of right or wrong.
Where hatred, cruelty, death, torture is enjoyable to them.

We have to accept this group of people will vote out democracy in a heartbeat.
And vote in fascism without blinking an eye.

[Aviation Pro]

5. We've always known

We just didn’t do anything about it until now.

[Irish_Dem]

7. They have never had as much power and gone so public.

Yes the ruthless oligarchs who bribe our politicians are sociopaths.
And we know there are racists filled with hatred in this country.

But for them to align so perfectly, so strongly, and in public is a sight to behold.

[shrike3]

13. My husband calls it the John Dillinger syndrome.

A certain percentage of the population loves its bad guys. It was probably inevitable that they'd prefer one in the White House.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Yes Americans love an attractive, charismatic bad guy.

But until now they haven't wanted one in the White House to lead them over a cliff.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. It's been said that the biggest disappointment isn't what Rump is,

it's what many of our friends and neighbors turned out to be.

[democrank]

3. A truthful, chilling statement

Let’s hope our dead-serious unity saves this country.

[yardwork]

10. Yes.

Trump is not the cause, he's a deadly symptom of our country's failures.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. Great post.

[2naSalit]

6. Indeed...

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a change of heart. These are hard-core haters who have finally found Their God.

[sop]

8. Fear and hate are the demagogue's most effective tools.

"The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety." - H. L. Mencken

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” - H. L. Mencken

[et tu]

9. very concerning

also concerned about the safety of poll workers
and correctly counting the votes~
`

[usonian]

12. It's a cult. Playing to fears (and amplifying them)

I have read about cults, and I'll shorten the description.

Cults give people permission to hate "others" and do evil in exchange for membership. Cults are ultimately self-destructive to individuals in it. Only the "leader" gains.

Being in opposition to all others sets up its downfall.

[Wounded Bear]

15. Sad, but true...nt

[elocs]

16. There are tens of millions of loyal and stupid Trump maga cult followers among us.

They've always been here but Trump gave them permission to come out into the open and be proud of who they are. After Trump is gone, they will remain among us, brimming with their hate. And unlike our Civil War, the War of Rebellion, there is no Mason-Dixon line, no line of demarcation because the maga cult haters are among us from one degree or another. Defeating Trump is the first step and battle to be won in what will be a longer war.
And I thought I'd have a nice, quiet retirement.

[redqueen]

17. Kick & rec

[Mr.Bee]

18. It's not the man,

it's 'who' he brings with him.
In that regard, it's not his supporters that have a couple dollars in their bank accounts, it's the supporters that give him free advertising and promotion, manipulate gas prices that affect the cost of everything down to eggs shipped to market!

[Upthevibe]

19. democrank..............

On numerous occasions I've recommended to DU'ers and to my friends to read a book that truly enlightened me: Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. It's written by John Dean. I think it came out in August, 2020.

[KT2000]

20. This is why

I woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. TFG can be whoever he wants but to be emboldened by a following that emulates him is truly sobering. I am trying to figure out if I have been living a myth about my fellow citizens or is there an evil streak in humans that just needs to be unleashed by the right key. If that is the case, democracy will always fail.

I truly think that unregulated capitalism and democracy cannot coexist. One has to go. The driving factor in a capitalist society is fear, not security. That fear invites the cruelty that garners so many of TFG's followers. TFG gives them power and false security with his lies and cruelty.

A capitalist society is constructed of winners and losers. Politicians need to face that reality and tell the truth because the resentment of people who are afraid they are the losers in the society can determine elections. They may even be among the winners but con men like TFG will convince them the are abused losers.

[Poiuyt]

21. Very well stated

I wish it would fit on a bumper sticker

[Initech]

22. I've never been more scared of the direction that this country is going in than I am now.

Especially when the choices for the GOP front runner were either authoritarian light (Desantis) or full ok dictator for life (another term of Poopstain Fuckface). It's as if the billionaires and oligarchs, who I like to call "the fuckheads that be" (as opposed to powers that be), never want the United States to function as a country ever again.

Citizens United was where I really started to sense that things were going horribly, horribly wrong. And now we're at shit hitting the fan category. Dictators and fascist authoritarianism are nothing to fuck with. A second term of Trump would be absolutely disastrous. He'd be able to enact his wildest revenge fantasies, and there'd be no one to stop him. And the scary thing is his idiotic brainwashed cultist fanbase will not only go along with it, they'll be cheering him on.

And like I keep saying, every abuser has enablers. Trump is an abusive jerk. Hell he may be the biggest abusive jerk of them all. His enablers are Fox News, the NRA, and Christian megachurches. If we want to stop Trump and future Trumps, we have to hold his enablers accountable for their actions.

[Ilsa]

23. PBS has run a short series on Hitler, Himmler, and

Goebbels focusing on the propaganda, keeping the public fooled and on Hitler's side, and just trying to keep their government together when it became apparent the Germans were not going to take Stalingrad.
Check your local listings.

[CarolinaNC]

24. I wonder how many billionaires were backing Hitler and telling all people not to worry. Its happening now.

[JudyM]

25. "Strengthen and clarify our message"

That right there. Facts are so clearly on our side but most folks don’t follow policy, etc like DUers do.

[tulipsandroses]

26. It's time people stop saying" this is not who we are"

It damn well is! People need to be honest about that. Many of our neighbors and family members are despicable hateful people.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

27. Our responsibility is to keep it...

It was once asked of Benjamin Franklin, do we have, a republic or a monarchy? Franklin replied:
“A republic, if you can keep it...our responsibility is to keep it.”

Yes, Our responsibility is to keep it.

[no_hypocrisy]

28. And these activated bigots/racists/MAGAts are empowered, partially b/c

law enforcement either can't or won't put them into the criminal justice system, to check them.

Sure, we have trials and convictions for January 6th, but what about the ones who fly under the radar? They're in line to become future Trump Brownshirts. Will there be too many to stop their progress?