The real mistake is to confuse progressivism as suggested by the American left or “social democracy” as successfully practiced by many European countries for 50 years now with “communism” as practiced in the one and only “commie” Latino country: Cuba.
The Sandinista movement in Nicaragua was certainly a Soviet client. What they were not, was Communist.
Said another way …
Of course a Republican congressman would use “socialist” and “commie” as synonyms. Both for each other and for the US Democratic party platforms. But by doing so he demonstrates nothing but factual error from end to end. And therefore undercuts his case.
An interesting question is whether he knows the difference and is deliberately lying or is so far down the rabbit hole himself that he believes it’s the truth. Neither is good news, but they’re different orders of bad news.
It also speaks to how political experts failed to see the rot within the Republican Party. Granted, the GOP had already been going in a pretty wacky direction for some time, but many people assumed there were just some lines that the party wouldn’t cross, and that it would demand at least a basic level of competence and decorum in its leaders.
Hell, it’s laughable to think back now that a traditional establishmentarian like Jeb Bush was at one point considered a front runner. I remember a number of pundits saying, in all seriousness, that 2016 was shaping up to be another Clinton-Bush contest. Instead, Jeb! wound up becoming Trump’s PWB (Personal Whipping Boy).
But even if Trump hadn’t run, it’s pretty clear now that Bush’s brand of moderate politics, especially on issues like immigration, had no place in the modern GOP, and some other red meat-throwing fire breather, most likely Cruz, would have scored the nomination.
Still, that a rank amateur like Trump, who most every political observer expected would quickly flame out, managed to gain such a stranglehold on the GOP, is indicative of a serious void of leadership, or even of people who care about principles, in the party.
Take the sacking of Esper and Krebs: the Republicans have long regarded themselves as the national security party in the grand tradition of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. Sens Graham and others express passing disapproval but nothing can make them give up their addiction to Trump because they need his voters for their own relevance.
What’s happened to the Republican party is almost precisely what happened to conservatives in Germany when they made alliances with Hitler. They thought they could use him and throw him away; instead, he became their party and threw them away instead. And that’s what has happened to Republicans.
There will be no line he can’t cross because they have removed the lines. At this point, it is simply a matter of whether Trump and his core loyalists realize that yet. If we’re lucky, they will calculate and conclude that they cannot win by poisoning the democratic process and begrudgingly leave the office while vandalizing and pillaging the White House as they exit. If we’re not so fortunate, they will see how far they can go before someone stops them, and even they might be surprised at just what they are able to achieve.
I was taught the difference in grade school, but many people to not understand the difference. Apparently many people fled dictatorships of one sort or another that called themselves socialist.
Many people are ignorant of the difference between Socialism and Communism. I do wish Sanders had used another term to describe his concept.
Chuchill for that matter, was very much against a Socialist government in Britain and lost the 1944 (1945?) election, but was elected again in the 1960s.
I honestly think they never meant for these to be serious. Their attorneys told them there was no chance.
So they went as cheap as they could and tossed up some BS cases so the rabble would be satisfied, feel that the system was once again working against them and they needed to donate to Trump to fix it.
Trump knew from day #1 (maybe #2) it was going nowhere.
Be careful about assuming that “clowns” like Trump and Giuliani couldn’t potentially succeed in doing the unthinkable. Hitler was a clown. Chavez a clown. A clown can become a dictator. There are people who see Trump as their own individual vehicle to power, and I can assure you that some of them are deadly serious about what they intend to do with power once they have it.
By being able to influence Trump, by being near power but with the added benefit of not always being in the glare of the spotlight. Think about Stephen Miller, for instance. He’s had outsized influence on immigration policy, just by existing.
If nothing else, they can continue grifting. They can replace civil servants with more and more people who are in government for no other purpose than to enrich themselves. From their point of view, there’s all the motivation in the world to keep him in power - by any means necessary.
What is this comment in reaction to? It’s not in trumpet’s or the Republicans’ interest to work with Democrats. They don’t give two shot about our country or it’s institutions. They just want to stay in power. They don’t want to work together.
To the extent that there was any irony in the title of this thread, that irony is gone. We are in treason territory now. In any reasonable circumstance, Trump and Giuliani would be facing the gallows.
Yeah, when I first saw this thread, I thought it was a bit hyperbolic. I still don’t think an actual coup will take place, but the fact that things have gone as far as they have is just insane. American Democracy has been severely damaged already, no matter what happens now. trump is really scorching the earth on the way out.
I’m deeply embarrassed for my state of Michigan: first the 2 Repub Wayne county canvassers refuse to certify the Wayne County vote (I mean, the Detroit portion-- they were fine with lily-white Repub Livonia, which had more voting irregularities than Detroit). Then they reverse themselves and vote to certify. Then, after a call from trump, they try to reverse their reversal and rescind their vote.
Now today, the GOP heads of the Michigan House and Senate are flying to Washington to meet with trump. Whatever could that meeting be about?
What’s more head-scratching is that it’s the clown show of trump, Guiliani, et al, who are actually persuading weak-minded people to believe in this voter fraud fantasy and go along with it. It’s like the Three Stooges fomenting a fascist takeover of the U.S.