I’m thinking the folks agitating for Civil War 2.0 would be surprised at how it would turn out in practice. Which isn’t altogether surprising : they were surprised the first time around, too. As were their more recent, more teutonic heroes.
History is nothing if not an often tiresome repetition. They always see themselves as wolves declaring war on sheep. They always forget that when the sheep are backed in a corner, they turn around and trample the *shit *out of the wolf.
I’ll note that even as they start to tentatively open their eyes, for that caller it’s still not “Trump fucking lied to us”. It’s “Trump has been cruelly used”.
Brings to my mind the early French Revolutionary trope (well, throughout the feudal period really, but it was more dramatic then) that no matter how bad things got or how harsh the repression was ; for many people it was not, it was never the absolute King’s *actual *fault. Even in their squalor and famine (or stewing in their absence of civil rights, for the more bougie types) they still couldn’t *quite *bring themselves to the notion that the King really didn’t give a solitary shit. They axiomatically, dogmatically believed the King to be good, caring, sharing the suffering of his subjects and having their best interests at heart - because that was the foundation of their entire political thought system and idea of the social contract. And so they’d automatically move on to “the King’s counsellors must be lying to him, misdirecting him, manipulating him. Oh, those Swiss bankers and Italian meddlers and his wife’s Austrians !”. And they reviled them as weren’t blinded by these fig leaves who marched the fucker to the guillotine.
But again, that had been true throughout the Middle Ages, and not just in France - when peasants revolted it wasn’t hoping for social change or even to kill their oppressors. It was always a matter of “being heard by the King/Emperor”, who would sort the bad things out and the only reason he hadn’t must perforce be that he didn’t know about it, since he’s a Good King, QED.
I used to listen to his show in the 80s, and that was his main talking point while Reagan was in office. Deficit and budget. He blamed the deficit squarely on liberal spending policies. Now he’s saying that he was “bogus” from the very beginning. Fat fucking traitor.
And it’s particularly infuriating in that the underlying point that routine deficit financing is ultimately bad for the country is actually a legitimate point, unlike all the other crap the GOP has been pushing.
The one actually good thing they claimed to be concerned about was nothing but a smokescreen.
I think that if Trump has taught us anything, it’s that “old fashioned” Reagan conservatism: small government, low taxes, local control… really has no appeal for the American people any more. You can’t win on it, the leader of the Republican party doesn’t give a shit about Reagan conservatism, 60-odd million people didn’t vote for Reagan’s stated view of America in 2016, and it’s sure as shit obvious the GOP isn’t going to run on being the party of “small government and lower taxes” in 2020.
So, yeah, Reagan-era conservatism is spent as a political force which can move elections. Sure, there’s millions of them out there who pine for the good ol’ days of… 2005? 1991? 1984?.. but they’re not the ones driving the cart, and they never will as long as they allow Trump and his inevitable successors continue to take control of their party.
I remember he used the “I’m just an entertainer” line whenever he was trapped in a corner. I think he genuinely believed in fiscal conservatism at the time. I don’t buy he was being purposely deceitful. He sold what was left of his soul when he supported Trump, and he realizes that. Saying it was bogus the whole time is a way to imply he was actually smart and clever and pulled off a long con. He wasn’t really colossally stupid for throwing his ample weight behind Trump, because he’s not really a fiscal conservative.
If it takes vaguely implying untruth to cover his lard ass, he’d rather say he’s a liar than that he’s wrong. Nobody was ever put in jail for hypocrisy.
Seriously. Movies about noble home-grown guerrilla forces rising up against tyranny are undoubtedly exciting, but they’re not practical as guides on how to deal with Trump.
The chest-thumping just isn’t particularly helpful: Trump, idiot though he is, has nukes.
Yes, and in addition, many in the population have what used to be called ‘the authoritarian personality’–an orientation toward hierarchy, and a desire to be taken care of by the Great Father. They want to submit. They need to believe that the Great Father is all-caring, all-wise, and all-powerful.
It must be one of the most confounding cosmic jokes of all time that these people are now engaged in trying to shoehorn Donald Trump into the role of Great Father.
So, when does it become a problem? Depending on how you count things, we last had a surplus back in 1969 (my understanding is that the Clinton surpluses were to some extent accounting tricks (maybe not clearly accounting for the SS budget - not a CPA)).
Generally, if the deficit is declining (or even just growing slower than before) that is a good thing. Also, the deficit should be considered as a percentage of the economy (the GNP), not as a raw number. So if the deficit is growing at 2%, but the GNP is growing at 6%, that’s a good trend.
For most of history, slavery was race neutral – anybody of any race could be a slave. Yhe connection to race was a peculiarity of the slave trade to the Americas.
Egyptian slaves were mostly other Egyptians, sometimes Jews & other Middle easterners.
Greek & Roman slaves could be any race. Some Romans flaunted their highly-educated, professorial class Greek slaves.
Medieval serfs were effectively slaves to the landowners, who were neighbors & even relatives.
Slaves in India were just fellow Indians of a lower caste.
Current slavery is even more race-neutral. Mostly just poor people from the same area.
Great Og, I feel so betrayed. Same goes for Repub attitudes toward Russia. They were the ones carrying the torches and warning us against the evils of communism, Russian spying, and their buildup of nuclear weapons. Now they’re completely OK with Russians and their troll farms, energy lobby payoffs, and well, everything they were accused of doing during the Cold War.
The Reagan-era conservatives chose to retire rather than oppose Trump. McCain was the last holdout. Not even Trump’s childish and disrespectful insults towards this great American hero made a dent in his voter base. Good thing the diabetes keeps me from drinking myself into an early grave.
Hey Rispoli, ever heard of fact check? Rhymes with redneck if that helps. If you read something inflammatory about a public figure, maybe you should take at least 15 seconds to verify if it is true before you suggest assassinating them. I mean, you had Facebook on, your computer was right there, up and running. I know a lot of people don’t like AOC, but maybe she isn’t the icon of all your propaganda-fueled fears in real life. Did you ever consider that?
Well it doesn’t matter now. You, Mr. Tough Guy Kopper Rispoli, just suggested assassinating a Representative because… she’s extra mouthy? That’s pretty much it, right? This extra mouthy Millennial from New York got elected to Congress and has taken precious few breaks spouting off ever since, and you think a bullet might put a stop to that, because that’s how Big Bad Louisiana Koppers serve and protect the 1st Amendment freedom of speech in 2019 America. By. killing. innocent. women.
Why don’t you figure out how to refute her ‘objectionable’ speech instead of contemplating murder? You’re going to have a lot of time for that now that you just got shitcanned for suggesting assassinating an innocent, successful young woman from outside your jurisdiction. Better get your facts and reasons real, real straight though, because as the shitcanned Mr. Tough Guy Kopper Rispoli, you are probably not going to float your case on reputation and authority alone.
THAT, my friends, is a stupid Republican idea.
These are the chucklefucks who spend all day watching media that is over 60% lies and believe every word as if God himself spoke them.
Who or where are they going to fact check it against? Other right wing media repeating the same lies and misinformation? The networks they call Fake News?
