Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden opened up a 21 percent national lead over President Donald Trump in the three days following news of Trump's positive COVID-19 test result, according to a new poll.
But I hate to underestimate the dark side of the force.
Maybe worth opening a thread/struggle sesh about this, but I'm still skeptical on the value of analyzing the Republican party through the lens of fascism. The Republicans haven't made a pivot toward economic populism (lol), nor have we seen a rise of mass politics. QAnon is still scattered old people on the internet treating politics as a TV show, not a participatory struggle. Trump has fascist instincts, perhaps, but he and his cronies are too dumb/lazy to build any para-political infrastructure that would be necessary to negate bourgeois democracy.
IMO they're just far-right capitalist authoritarians who rely on the masses being passive/splintered. Has modern capitalism not moved beyond the need for fascism, considering how gutted the revolutionary left is? Change my view.
I think it really depends a lot on what comes after Trump. These people have proved they can be corralled and influenced pretty easily. They're like those people who take on the traits of whoever they're dating. If the next republican leader ups the fash they'll all follow suit.
That said, I can't imagine what's in it for the GOP if they continue down that road. Obviously too much disruption is bad for business.
Seriously, Y'All Qaeda might have a temporary setback if Trump dies or loses, but thinking they will turn around know and become reasonable is insanity. They're showing us the world they want to run and what they will do to protect it. IMO nothing short of an extreme change in America's social and economic framework can stop the rise of fascism here.
Nobody is saying there's no reason for the GOP to continue their current trajectory, I just think they'll pivot if they lose this election. We're likely to see the economy improve pretty significantly after the pandemic and there's a good chance climate change doesn't really start to impact governmental behavior that dramatically for a while. I think you're definitely right about where things are headed in the long term, but I'm talking more in the immediate future.
I hate to be the "read this article" guy, but Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism nails it on the head. Functionally, there is no difference between mask off fascism and "just far-right capitalist authoritarians who rely on teh masses being passive/splintered".
Fascism has no coherent ideology, it only has aesthetics. At the GOP matches every single one of Eco's 14 points.
Ty for the recommendation, I'll check it out! I realize I'm using a very "historicist" definition of fascism, but aesthetics > ideology seems to make sense.
Republicans will not go back to feckless neocon shit bc they don’t want wars
Ehhh, plenty of Q and MAGA people seem pretty down for war with China. Some even more than the neo-libs/cons. I don’t really think the isolationist, right populist contingent of the Republican Party is big as some people thing. I think Trumps less hawkish behavior is more cuz he’s lazy and doesn’t want to deal with a war.
plenty of Q and MAGA people seem pretty down for war with China
plenty of everyone in the western world is.
In any group to the right of r/genzedong people just deepthroat whatever the US tells the media to say about China.
WMDs 2.0.
True to an extent. But I’ll be honest, I think a lot of the more recent Saber rattling is just the DNC and the GOP trying to out big dick each other in foreign policy. Once either party wins cooler heads at the Pentagon are probably gonna have a sit down with the victors and go “okay you know an ACTUAL war with China is a REALLY BAD IDEA! Now that you’re in office maybe tell our media asset to cool it with the anti-China shit before we dig ourselves into something.”
Thing is the DNC has more control of their base than the GOP. If they tell them to cool with the China hate they may actually do it. If the GOP stokes the fires too much their supporters will compel them to go through with it.
Though maybe I’m entirely wrong and Biden will launch the aircraft carriers the second he wins. Idk.
I think the idea that the people, chuds or no, could bait America into a war is not tenable. Remember, the institution of bougie democracy exists to enforce the will of the country's bougie douches upon the working class of the country and the world. No matter what, the arrow of government action will point the way the bourgeoisie wants it to. They're just throwing a tantrum because they thought the dengist shit would collapse China and they could hop in and economically balkanize. The people, even chuds, will be swayed by the massive wave of information as soon as the bourgeoisie begin a different tack. That's how I see it, at least 🤷♀️
Lmfao the fash is out of the bottle tho. Republicans will not go back to feckless neocon shit bc they don't want wars
Maybe worth opening a thread/struggle sesh about this, but I'm still skeptical on the value of analyzing the Republican party through the lens of fascism. The Republicans haven't made a pivot toward economic populism (lol), nor have we seen a rise of mass politics. QAnon is still scattered old people on the internet treating politics as a TV show, not a participatory struggle. Trump has fascist instincts, perhaps, but he and his cronies are too dumb/lazy to build any para-political infrastructure that would be necessary to negate bourgeois democracy.
IMO they're just far-right capitalist authoritarians who rely on the masses being passive/splintered. Has modern capitalism not moved beyond the need for fascism, considering how gutted the revolutionary left is? Change my view.
I think it really depends a lot on what comes after Trump. These people have proved they can be corralled and influenced pretty easily. They're like those people who take on the traits of whoever they're dating. If the next republican leader ups the fash they'll all follow suit.
That said, I can't imagine what's in it for the GOP if they continue down that road. Obviously too much disruption is bad for business.
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Seriously, Y'All Qaeda might have a temporary setback if Trump dies or loses, but thinking they will turn around know and become reasonable is insanity. They're showing us the world they want to run and what they will do to protect it. IMO nothing short of an extreme change in America's social and economic framework can stop the rise of fascism here.
Nobody is saying there's no reason for the GOP to continue their current trajectory, I just think they'll pivot if they lose this election. We're likely to see the economy improve pretty significantly after the pandemic and there's a good chance climate change doesn't really start to impact governmental behavior that dramatically for a while. I think you're definitely right about where things are headed in the long term, but I'm talking more in the immediate future.
I hate to be the "read this article" guy, but Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism nails it on the head. Functionally, there is no difference between mask off fascism and "just far-right capitalist authoritarians who rely on teh masses being passive/splintered".
Fascism has no coherent ideology, it only has aesthetics. At the GOP matches every single one of Eco's 14 points.
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It really is incredibly short and still full of info.
Ty for the recommendation, I'll check it out! I realize I'm using a very "historicist" definition of fascism, but aesthetics > ideology seems to make sense.
I think this is a really good take, I agree.
Ehhh, plenty of Q and MAGA people seem pretty down for war with China. Some even more than the neo-libs/cons. I don’t really think the isolationist, right populist contingent of the Republican Party is big as some people thing. I think Trumps less hawkish behavior is more cuz he’s lazy and doesn’t want to deal with a war.
plenty of everyone in the western world is.
In any group to the right of r/genzedong people just deepthroat whatever the US tells the media to say about China.
WMDs 2.0.
True to an extent. But I’ll be honest, I think a lot of the more recent Saber rattling is just the DNC and the GOP trying to out big dick each other in foreign policy. Once either party wins cooler heads at the Pentagon are probably gonna have a sit down with the victors and go “okay you know an ACTUAL war with China is a REALLY BAD IDEA! Now that you’re in office maybe tell our media asset to cool it with the anti-China shit before we dig ourselves into something.”
Thing is the DNC has more control of their base than the GOP. If they tell them to cool with the China hate they may actually do it. If the GOP stokes the fires too much their supporters will compel them to go through with it.
Though maybe I’m entirely wrong and Biden will launch the aircraft carriers the second he wins. Idk.
I think the idea that the people, chuds or no, could bait America into a war is not tenable. Remember, the institution of bougie democracy exists to enforce the will of the country's bougie douches upon the working class of the country and the world. No matter what, the arrow of government action will point the way the bourgeoisie wants it to. They're just throwing a tantrum because they thought the dengist shit would collapse China and they could hop in and economically balkanize. The people, even chuds, will be swayed by the massive wave of information as soon as the bourgeoisie begin a different tack. That's how I see it, at least 🤷♀️