Also while obviously the K’s were not at all reluctant to power, I’m not sure if it was a “long play towards personal domination of politics” as much as both of them being interested in the presidency and being married afforded them the oportunity of having it in stages, when Nestor was president Cristina was accused of being the power behind the throne, when Cristina was president Nestor was supposed to be the true power…
Too many people think that until people are being herded into concentration camps, that it’s nothing to worry about.
The idea is to worry about it before people are being herded into concentration camps.
Yeah. At that point, it’s too late.
At least, it’s too late without a bloody war and a whole lot of people dead; and it may not be possible to pull that one off for years. We really want to avoid getting to the place at which the best possibility is a civil war.
A good comparison. I’d also suggest Victor Orban of Hungary, who seems to be the one that a lot of conservatives are currently enamored with.
Agreed.
My closest friend originates from Hungary. She was a young child when her family fled during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, when the Soviets crushed a popular national uprising in Budapest.
(Interesting side note: Her family became Canadian because my friend came down with chicken pox at the departure port, causing her family to miss the ship that was to carry them to the United States. When my friend was well enough to travel, the next ship was bound for Canada. So Canada it was. Though she is now a long-term resident of the US, my friend retains her Canadian citizenship.)
Obviously Erdoğan’s rise to power came much later, but she had learned from her family well how to identify a fascist.
When Trump began his rise to power, she immediately clocked him as one, or at least, as someone with fascistic tendencies. She also correctly identified the scary direction the Right was taking their party. I didn’t argue with her position that the Right was moving toward fascism, but I was more skeptical that they would be successful. Not anymore.
DeSantis is simply the continuation of this fascist movement of the Right. I hope we don’t mistake it for anything else.
A very good treatment here by Rick Steves (the travel in Europe guy):
Yes, the recent popular Republicans are showing signs of moving in that direction. I don’t know what it will take to send them in a different direction, other than a few more national election losses. Maybe not even that.
The martyrdom complex that they have picked up from their theocratic side means that they see losing elections as an unfair punishment that only makes then double down on their ideology.
When you attack congress to overthrow the government you are already at the extreme.
No, I don’t. Anyone supporting today’s GOP is already immune to reason.
That was gorgeously said. Thanks
You forgot to mention establishing his private police force just like his hero Mussolini did. I don’t know why people don’t see it. His fans don’t see it because they don’t care if he’s a fascist, but everyone else is ignoring his actions also. Perhaps it’s because he’s cleverly disguised it as racism which most people have never had much problem ignoring.
No, I didn’t. 
But I’ll allow it bears mentioning more than once!
You did have it. Sorry I missed it the first time. It’s the most ominous sign.
It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis was published in 1935. He referenced the rise of Hitler using a demagogic Senator who strongly resembled Huey Long.
We had a demagogue creating a cult of personality in Trump. That’s necessary for fascism but not sufficient. DeSantis will not generate a cult of personality.
So? That doesn’t make him not dangerous. Ordinary mainstream conservatism is dangerous. Conservatism with fascist tendencies is very dangerous. We’re already at that point, with solid pluralities if not majorities in support in Florida.
But the question then becomes what difference does that shade of distinction make? Would the liberals (and remaining moderates if they exist) be less motivated if DeSantis weren’t a true capital “F” Fascist? Would their oppositional techniques change in any way? Would their candidates change? Would anything they say and do be different?
I can’t see how. Proclaiming DeSantis a Fascist by itself is a losing game. Name-calling isn’t historically a working rallying cry on the left. Right-wingers are already ass-kissing actual Fascist leaders like Viktor Orban and supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Making DeSantis a Fascist just gives him an extra glow for his supporters without changing anything for his opponents.
DeSantis is bad in every way. If it makes anyone want to work harder against him by terming him a Fascist, then I’m all for it. But we didn’t need to term Trump a Fascist to make him the poster child for evil. Calling Nixon a Fascist didn’t change anyone’s minds on him, and he did more to earn the term than DeSantis. I think it’s a political blunder. It’s a bad term and it singles him out as if he’s somehow special instead of being like pretty much every other Republican striving to be heard above the crowd. Denounce them all equally and work against whomever gets the nomination in 2024.
Not having the required personality may only mean that he didn’t turn out to be successful and a fascist.
Nope. He is a right wing populist. Which indeed, has lead to fascism several times. Hitler, Mussolini. DeSantis is not a dictator.
Right-wing populism is an ideology that primarily espouses neo-nationalism, social conservatism, and economic nationalism.[28]
[P]opulism is like fascism in being a response to liberal and socialist explanations of the political. And also like fascism, populism does not recognize a legitimate political place for an opposition that it regards as acting against the desires of the people and that it also accuses of being tyrannical, conspiratorial, and antidemocratic. … The opponents are turned into public enemies, but only rhetorically. If populism moves from rhetorical enmity to practices of enemy identification and persecution, we could be talking about its transformation into fascism or another form of dictatorial repression. This has happened in the past … and without question it could happen in the future. This morphing of populism back into fascism is always a possibility, but it is very uncommon, and when it does happen, and populism becomes fully antidemocratic, it is no longer populism
Nope, again, a right wing populist- but I will grant a fascist wannabe.
Yep- We need to use the correct terms.
The only fascist I know of in power today is ironically- Putin. He started as a right wing populist, then became a fascist dictator.
Perhaps a proto-fascist. But not one yet.
Boris- Right wing populist. Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni Right wing populist and fascist wannabe. Most Euro nations have a Right Wing populist party, and they are growing in power.
Putin is.
As of now, yes. The left overuses that term so much it has lost it’s meaning.
I agree with this. I think people will respond more to Democrats if they talk about how they will help people, especially the Rust Belt. Florida is a lost cause for the time being. The Democrats should continue to try to make gains in Georgie and Texas.
Kind of interesting how quickly Florida went all-in Hard Right (or rather reverted to its historic all-in Hard Right) from being a putative swing state at the turn of the century. I suppose it was just the final generational passing of established Democrats, plus the continuing retiree influx.
They talk about this every day and twice on Sunday, and the Republicans accuse them of being anti-white because a train crashed in a poor white area, and Republican voters eat it up.
I agree with you about Florida and Georgia. I disagree about Texas. That money would be better spent in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.