From Robert Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley
Has DJT missed any?
Take notes now, because in a decade or so, there will be theses, dissertations, and books to be written on this steady progression of events.
If he wrote that last year I’d give him some credit but it seems to me to be nothing but an exaggerated caricature of Trump designed for the weak minded left wing who will continue to whine about the election they lost instead of providing any solutions to the problems of society that caused this situation in the first place.
And yes, in the future when we have lost all hope of progress they will write about how the supposed progressive leadership could never accept responsibility for their failures.
What the poster above said.
Even as a left-wing person, this seems like a post-fact adaptation of whatever the “original” warning signs were in order to fit Trump better. Eh. Órban is a far better case study and point of comparison for Trump. That guy doesn’t even blush or deny it when you call him a fascist.
My fear is point 8. Trump does not like checks and balances. Independent judiciary, independent media, independent congress, etc.
If there are acts of terror, I could see him trying to consolidate power in the executive branch. However hopefully congress does not let him.
It appears to be an adaptation of this piece, which is a heck of a lot older than a year.
Why didn’t he just boil it down to one sign:
and make it easier fro everyone.
Exaggerate their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a landslide even after losing the popular vote.
Didn’t Caesar claim that, when he won in the electoral college?
So let me understand: you’re wholly dismissing the content of these points and saying they have no validity today because Reich didn’t write them a year ago? 'Kay…
I would dispute this one:
Historically, tyrants who don’t themselves have a military background don’t appoint generals to positions of power. They know that generals often have military support and they makes them possible rivals. You’re more likely to see a non-military dictator appointing politicians to military commands rather than generals to political positions.
No, what I think he’s saying (and I agree) is that Reich wrote a list of items that describe things Trump has done and then claimed they’re an objective list of warning signs.
Like this?
Trump isnt alone in wanting to control the courts and his message.
So far, Trump hasn’t engaged in point 12, having a private security force. The Secret Service is handling his security. If he ever appoints his own “SA” then we can give him 15 out of 15.
Damn that Roosevelt and his New Deal – historically described as “relief for the unemployed and poor, recovery of the economy to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression”. The man should have been impeached – he was like America’s own Hitler! :rolleyes:
I don’t think tyranny is the greatest concern. I’m more worried about the massive potential downside due to economic mismanagement, societal disruption by social conservative wingnuts, the possibility of war, and stacking the Supreme Court with reactionary idiots whose policies will plague the nation for generations.
Trump is less interested in tyrannical power than in personal enrichment, and I go along with the theory is that this is why he’s throwing all those extremist-policy bones to a delighted Congress of carnivorous Republican ideologues even though he’s no Republican himself – he just wants to be left alone to play the system for personal gain like no president has ever played it before. Those poor rubes who voted for him because they were tired of “Washington politics” are in for one hell of a shock. Virtually all Trump’s appointments are professional plutocrats with as little regard for the welfare of the common man as they have for the environment or the rights of women or minorities.
Interesting…the ‘weak minded’ left wing that believes in facts rather than feelings.
Solutions…solutions…like, say, repealing ACA without any kind of alternative? And, while we’re here, how about the problems created by your boy Dubya that had to be cleaned up by…who? Oh, right, those weak-minded liberals.
Please, don’t be afraid to let your bias show. Let’s all go back to life in the '50’s.
Right on schedule, after obstructing for 8 years the blame is on the left. Conservatives aren’t even capable of cognitive dissonance. That list is an almost perfect description of the Republican party.
The list did leave out “likes to get peed on my hookers.”
That requires a sense of reality, something in very short supply on that side of the aisle.
This may or may not still be applicable:
Donald Trump’s private security team will follow him to the White House
More or less agree. Our system is robust enough to prevent someone like Trump from becoming a tyrant. Exaggerated nonsense like that is not useful going forward.
The president can only do so much, domestically. But he’s got almost carte blanche when it comes to international affairs. War is my biggest concern, and I only hope the American People are too war weary to allow that to happen. It’s a hope, not a prediction though.
Where were your concerns when Obama decided to start two new wars (you could argue he started three by leading us into a new Cold War), decided to throw two ideologues onto the court who make up rulings to fit their agendas, kicked millions of Americans off their preexisting health plans and onto plans that were more costly yet provided less coverage (indeed, even more Americans will lose their coverage next year as more Obamacare exchanges fail and insurers leave the market) and watched as a record number of Americans decided to drop out of the labor force (thus masking the real unemployment rate)?
Thankfully, Hillary lost.