# Formerly-fictional totalitarian regime, here we come! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 10, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322 "2016-11-10T04:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/21 "2016-11-18T23:59:50Z")
Like I said before, it’s not actually Trump I’m worried about. He’s a symptom. It’s the millions of people who voted for him who will carry out the policies he espoused. Those are the people I’m worried about. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/22 "2016-11-19T00:15:11Z")
I understand Trump and Abe had a closed door meeting today (Ivanka was present) but neither side reported anything to the press after. Trump is really shutting out the press. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/23 "2016-11-19T00:39:51Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > As much as I dislike Trump, I seriously doubt that he will change anything significant with respect to the US military presence overseas. Once he gets schooled in why the US has those bases, he will quietly ignore all those campaign promises, just like he is already walking back the Mexico wall. And yet another “oh don’t worry, Trump won’t actually do anything he said he was going to do”. Jesus. Pinning your hopes on the illusion that every single thing Trump said will never come true. I’ve heard this about pretty much every single thing Trump said in the run-up to the election. Well guess what? Look at who his “transition team” is putting into the top rolls. The promises are going to be kept. You people are screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/24 "2016-11-19T00:42:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The fact that racist groups like Trump does not mean that Trump is a racist or that all Trump voters are racists. Right. Trump’s not a racist. He merely surrounds himself with racists and says racist things to get racists to vote for him, and will put in place racist policies to mollify those voters… So he’s not a racist - he will merely say and do racist things. Is there really much room between those two things? Or maybe we should just shut up and HOPE that he does not do what his racist advisors tell him to do? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/25 "2016-11-19T01:08:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I understand Trump and Abe had a closed door meeting today (Ivanka was present) but neither side reported anything to the press after. Trump is really shutting out the press. Where the hell have you been during the last eight years? > **[Obama Shuts Out White House Press Again](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obama-press-pac-reporters-president-white-house_n_5618220)** > > Obama Shuts Out White House Press Again [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/barack-obama-locks-out-the-press-again-109316](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/barack-obama-locks-out-the-press-again-109316) > **[The media freaked out after Trump ditched his press pool — but they didn’t do...](https://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/16/the-media-freaked-out-after-trump-ditched-his-press-pool-but-they-didnt-do-that-for-obama)** > > The mainstream media was in full-scale freak out mode Tuesday evening after President-elect Donald Trump went to a Manhattan steakhouse without the usual press pool in tow. > The Huffington Post declared: > President-elect Donald Trump left reporters in... And lets not even start about the demise of the press conference. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/26 "2016-11-19T01:09:34Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > He doesn’t have to “declare” open season, all he has to do is what he’s done; give tacit approval of the behavior. He’ll benefit from it in two ways: by letting those who hate do what they’ve been aching to do, and then using the violence as an excuse to curtail more freedoms and rights as well as directly attack, implicate, or imprison opponents and critics. > > If you think I’m being hysterical, you haven’t read much history, and have lived a very sheltered life. Like I pointed out in the thread about fictional dystopias, I’ve met people who lived under and escaped from brutal regimes. These tactics are very familiar. He came to power as a demagogue and has no reason to change when it is working so well. I’m not disagreeing with your alarmism, which is indeed well-founded. I don’t necessarily think Nazi Germany or another authoritarian regime is necessarily the best predictor of where the current regime is likely to head. If you want an idea of where we’re headed, all you’d need to do is look at American history itself, which is full of parallels to what’s happening now. Periods of progress and openness, followed by regression, racism, and the erosion of labor and civil rights. I don’t think the United States is going to become Stalinist anytime soon – there are fundamental differences in our country’s character which make that unlikely. But that doesn’t have to be Stalinesque or National Socialist to be that bad. America has its own dark history, with its own awful precedents, some of which we seemed destined to repeat. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/27 "2016-11-19T01:12:17Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Right. > > Trump’s not a racist. He merely surrounds himself with racists and says racist things to get racists to vote for him, and will put in place racist policies to mollify those voters… > > So he’s not a racist - he will merely say and do racist things. Is there really much room between those two things? > > Or maybe we should just shut up and HOPE that he does not do what his racist advisors tell him to do? Trump is probably somewhat racist but he’s not a racist ideologue. However, the people around him are absolutely ideologues and some of them are deeply prejudiced against a variety of people. Trump will depend on these people to run the government, and they will have great latitude as he sits and basically cheers the on some of the time and curses them out on odd days. Over time, they will be the ones in control. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/28 "2016-11-19T01:14:24Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Trump is really shutting out the press. They richly deserve every bit of exclusion they get. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/29 "2016-11-19T01:21:30Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > They richly deserve every bit of exclusion they get. They should be included for the betterment of the country but they were wrong to not make a bigger stink about Obamas media manipulations. Now it looks hypocritical if they complain. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/30 "2016-11-19T01:28:08Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/31 "2016-11-19T01:30:40Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > They should be included for the betterment of the country but they were wrong to not make a bigger stink about Obamas media manipulations. Now it looks hypocritical if they complain. Meh, I think [mass media is well on its way to the ash heap of history](http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx). It was swell when we had a legitimate Fourth Estate. It got less cool when they decided to turn themselves into an organ of the DNC. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/32 "2016-11-19T01:35:30Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Meh, I think [mass media is well on its way to the ash heap of history](http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx). > > It was swell when we had a legitimate Fourth Estate. It got less cool when they decided to turn themselves into an organ of the DNC. Don’t need no stinkin’ journalism when we can get tweets right from the horse’s [del]ass[/del] mouth. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/33 "2016-11-19T01:37:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Don’t need no stinkin’ journalism when we can get tweets right from the horse’s [del]ass[/del] mouth. I don’t think I’d call most of what we have these days “journalism” (although maybe “stinkin’ journalism” works), so yeah, I guess might as well go read some tweets. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/34 "2016-11-19T01:53:41Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I don’t think I’d call most of what we have these days “journalism” (although maybe “stinkin’ journalism” works), so yeah, I guess might as well go read some tweets. You misunderstand. (Or I wasn’t clear.) I was intending to agree with you. Journalism as a profession had been dead for years. The demise started with the 24/7 news cycle where getting it first became more important that getting it right. Social media has finished it off with primary quotes, video, eyewitness reports arriving in millions of phones and computers as the event is happening with no synthesis, organization, mediation, or intelligent analysis. Some of us still read print/online media with a critical, discerning attitude, but we’re on the way to extinction. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/35 "2016-11-19T02:32:55Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Trump is probably somewhat racist but he’s not a racist ideologue. However, the people around him are absolutely ideologues and some of them are deeply prejudiced against a variety of people. Trump will depend on these people to run the government, and they will have great latitude as he sits and basically cheers the on some of the time and curses them out on odd days. Over time, they will be the ones in control. I agree. The scary part is that as long as Trump’s people are able to orchestrate some cheering crowds and rallies, that will keep President Trump happy. He LOVES his rallies with the associated adulation. As long as Trump continues to have that, he will let these people do whatever they want. Sort of having an egotistical small child in charge… ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/36 "2016-11-19T02:35:25Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > They richly deserve every bit of exclusion they get. Sure, sure. This sounds like a fine plan. Perhaps go with what FoxNews has suggested, and ban all the competition from the Whitehouse, because they are lefites. Have one single news agency responsible for all reporting of all political events. That sounds good, right? Keep those evil lefties away from reporting anything. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/37 "2016-11-19T02:56:41Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Sure, sure. This sounds like a fine plan. Perhaps go with what FoxNews has suggested, and ban all the competition from the Whitehouse, because they are lefites. Have one single news agency responsible for all reporting of all political events. > > That sounds good, right? Keep those evil lefties away from reporting anything. Isn’t this what we are likely to have with Bannon and [del]Pravda[/del] Breitbart at Trump’s elbow? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/38 "2016-11-19T07:52:53Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Oh, get a grip. > > The results were almost 50-50. I live in Arizona, ground zero for anti-immigrant sentiment, and I don’t see any significant difference from my neighbors this time around. > > There are lots of Americans with Asian backgrounds out here - my great friend and workout partner is one of them (his parents were from Vietnam). I’ve never heard him say that he has experienced any increased discrimination. I suspect he voted for Trump (although, I’m not going to ask). Your friend, and **Bricker** , will die in the camps. So will my mixed-race neighbors. You know who says, “Oh, that kind of racial violence wouldn’t happen here!”? Pretty much everybody, including people for whom it’s about to happen. The difference is that this is the USA, and we know racial violence has happened here before, it comes as no surprise, it’s expected, and the people do say, “Yes, that can easily happen here.” The party in power in most states and in DC is \*not \*the Republican Party of Eisenhower and Taft, but the “conservative movement” doing business under that name. And the right has gone bloody racist again. The previous high-water mark for nativism was in 1920, when the second Ku Klux Klan marched openly with exposed faces in the street and the USA closed its borders. Unlike then, this time the white-power faction have the shadow of 9/11 to inspire them, and _they finally have a President on their side._ ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/39 "2016-11-19T08:42:42Z")
None of this will matter after Sessions, Bolton, Bannon and the other rogues Trump is hiring get the war with Iran they so desperately want. That’s not going to stay contained to Iran for very long… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322/40 "2016-11-19T08:57:22Z")
People seem to keep forgetting that we’ve had a concentration camp of sorts for extrajudicial detainees going for more than a decade, although admittedly that it’s survived for so long may be down to it being offshore, and being, you know, just a small one; so small it doesn’t really count, or something. The tripwire for me will be if the Trump regime (don’t worry, I’m not going to use that term regularly) quickly puts in place regulations intended to muzzle the media. Much harder to get away with all the dire things people are predicting in the daylight, after all. Should we start seeing, say, Rachel Maddow forced off the air, all bets are off. Unfortunately, there probably are many folks like **HurricaneDitka** , who actually would prefer to be ignorant of inconvenient facts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-fictional-totalitarian-regime-here-we-come/771322.md?page=3)