Trump said that he would be a dictator only on “day one” of election!
Trump also said, "he would close the border with Mexico and expand oil drilling".
What are your thoughts on this?I believe that it a harbinger of terror to come. Who made the mistake of not taking Hitler's " Mein Kamph" seriously?
Cred:
"Who made the mistake of not taking Hitler's " Mein Kamph" seriously?"
The German populous looked the other way, because they believed Hitler wanted to Make Germany Great Again after it was decimated as a result of WWI.
Trump uses the same slogan and he has convinced his supporters that we are in the same state of affairs as Germany was after WWI; therefore, MAGA.
He also said that he would not abuse power or break the law to go after his political opponents, except for the ones who are “using” the government against him.Was does it take to save a nation?
Is Trump the first of his kind in American History?
Wasn't Teddy Roosevelt a self-aggrandizing blow-hard populist that used less than gentlemanly words to harangue his opponents?
Wasn't there a shift in the direction of the nation's trajectory due to Andrew Jackson’s Trumpian assault on the genteel elites of his day?
Didn't Abraham Lincoln, at the time a much maligned President within DC, though a favorite of the people, lead us through the fratricidal bloodshed of the Civil War?
Due to recent discourse I have had with Credence, I have given some thought back to the Kennedy years and that time in our history.
So much of what we contend with today derived from the 60s.
And as in the Sixties, we’ve seen the take-over of large sections of American cities by armies of drug-addicts, riots, homeless, hopeless, dirty political tricks by the FBI and the CIA, universities overrun with militants obsessed with race and gender, dire warnings about the fate of the planet, and the wholesale abandonment of American military allies abroad while at the same time developing new wars to fight.
The difference between now and the 60s is that the people with Angela Davis posters on their walls are living in gated communities, rather than communes, and have luncheons with their friends to self-flagellate over their white privilege.
Since the end of the Cold War, another point in time I have been noting and considering of late, America has transformed itself from a country in which most citizens proudly imagined themselves to be “middle class” into an international Oligarchy.
In addition to a wildly unequal distribution of wealth that has nearly doubled in severity in just a few years thanks to efforts done to "counter the pandemic", we have an increasingly choking bureaucracy, paranoid mass politics, and the weaponization of the security apparatus (aka Alphabet Agencies).
The beginning of the current crisis really initiated during the election of 2016, in which a large majority of voters expressed their rejection of the corrupt socio-political order by voting for either Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump over the neocon establishment candidate Clinton.
The counter to that was a closing of ranks within DC, a Uniparty coalition to minimize Trump's Administration, the use of the DOJ, FBI and CIA to trip up his Administration, and the combining of the primary Social Media platforms to establishment efforts co-ordinated through the FBI to ensure censorship of Trump supporters and a restriction on information.
Of course there was the non-stop MSM noise about Trump being a Russian Puppet, KKK member, rapist, etc. etc. ad nauseum, which continues to this day unabated, but the MSM's tattered credibility with the public was plunged into the toilet long before the 2020 election and only a growing minority of older voters pays it any attention.
Then we had the pandemic which just so happened to give reason for many swing states to revise their election processes to include Mail-In-Ballots that were absolutely unverifiable, and without proper change of custody protocols met in those states, to impact the 2020 election.
So you could say... we have as yet unresolved the very issues that began in 2016... still on the burners... overheating... and yet to be served.
If the election of Joe Biden in 2020 was supposed to restore the legitimacy of the American political system and bring a measure of social peace. It instead did the opposite.
Biden went on attacking his opponents as “white supremacists” and "domestic terrorists" and the biggest threats to Democracy the country has ever faced... setting the FBI on domestic foes and endorsing a banana republic-style raid on Trump’s home.
America’s toxic partisan politics are a symptom of deep changes in the socio-economic structure that date back to the aftermath of the end of Cold War.
Trade deals that included NAFTA and GATT, China's Favored Nation status and Wall St's choice to invest into 'Westernizing' China and getting rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams in the process.. this effort which started during the Clinton years destroyed the American middle class that Roosevelt and his successors created and the industry and education system which had made America so strong.
At the top of the narrowing social pyramid is a tiny class of mega-billionaires who personally own and control a staggering percentage of the country’s wealth, resources, and power, and make their money from the globalized economy. Larry Fink, Billl Gates, and Jeff Bezos have far more control over the direction of the nation than all the voters in America combined.
The glue that holds this power vertical together is the Democratic Party, which now regularly outspends the Republican Party an incoherent mix of Trumpsters, Christians, and other socio-economic losers by margins of three or four to one.
It doesn't hurt that they get huge kick-backs in contributions from their friends in Ukraine and elsewhere that they fund with our national debt, but hey, that's politics.
While tech giants such as Oracle and Palantir have large contracts with the US security apparatus, 'public' companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter regularly censor news and opinions at the behest of the White House while funneling private user data to the security services for free.
Well, Twitter became X, and under Musk's leadership exposed that Twitter was doing this when he released the Twitter Files, exposing the collusion and control the FBI had. X is now one of the only worldwide Social Media platforms that allows open discourse free from governmental oversight.
So who wins... the Woke? The... Working Class? The... Conservative... the Progressive?
No... of course not, and anyone who buys into these ideologies is a dupe, one only has to look at the 1% and their efforts to fund the WEF and guide the efforts of the UN, to create a Open Society... that does away with Nationalism, and in particular American exceptionalism and the Great Experiment (aka the Bill of Rights and the Constitution).
Without a strong State, without a Nation first policy, there is no beholding to either the Bill of Rights or the Constitution, they are trumped by International law and global oversight agencies.
The more fractured, dejected, and heavily surveilled the America public is, the less likely a strong state is to emerge... and if they have not already taken things far enough to ensure the people will ever unite to make it so, be certain that if a course correction is not forced upon it soon, there will be no correction in its future... only our eventual subjugation to a very detached Oligarchy that no longer needs to worry.Well, Ken
Theodore Roosevelt was an extrodinary man who did not attack democracy and its foundations, regardless of his third party and his problems with William Howard Taft.
Andrew Jackson had a objective of making democracy more widespread rather than less, advocating full white adult male suffrage, dispensing with all of the property requirements before. That is nothing like Trump.
Lincoln, as well, did not threaten to undermine democracy in general while prosecuting the Civil War.
Changes were necessary in the 1960s if we were going to get along in the face of those that resisted change and there was need for the out groups to get organized. I was not going to continue to sit at the back of the bus in peace. So, the 1960s as they were, was necessary.
You can blame the corporate class and its greed to explain the disparity in wealth and its distribution in the population over the last 50 years. We have had this unequal distribution in wealth long before the Biden Administration. What we see is the culmination of trends and policies that has taken hold over those same 50 years. Republicans are the plutocratic party, if there is an overreach regarding the weathy and the corporately connected, they are the advocates for it.
People had the choice in 2016 and they voted for Donald Trump, that same choice removed him in 2020 in favor of Joe Biden. The people had spoken.
All these so called attacks on Trump is just so much hogwash. He accuses government agencies of attacking him as if he is to be considered guilt free and I don't buy it. The first thing he promises is to use those same government agencies to pursue his enemies. The pot calling the kettle black?
There are a million excuses as to why Trump and his supporters did not win in 2020, it is just under critical examination that not one of them holds water. The election of Joe Biden was a refreshing change from a bombastic, unhinged Donald Trump, in my opinion.
So, what does Trump call his opponents, Marxist, leftist vermin? So, who is putting him on a pedestal?
Yes, if we are to keep fascism and totalitarianism at bay, we (the Democrats) are going to have to continue to spend in large quantities as a matter survival for our democratic system. As for any wrong doing on the part of Biden, that has yet to be proven.
I am all far "X" and freedom of expression, but that does not mean freedom from criticism regarding its content.
Any "Strong state" must feature democratic institutions first and foremost. We can avoid having our institutions compromised from excess foreign influence, but tyranny and strong arm politics is not the answer.
Trump in his bombast has threaten the democratic governance with his so called populism. I see through it and make my responsibility to point out the danger posed by Trump and his followers.These are interesting questions and thoughts.
Over the years nations change. They change shape, governmental style, and ideas about morality.
The US (And Europe and the world for that matter) is fastly different than 500 years ago.
When the bill of rights was written a 200+ years ago the US was not a proper nation either. Different languages, different ideas about morality, different ideas about how to live, and different rights depending on colour, race or religion.
A nation is a construct. And who constructs it?
When you say for example. Make America Great Again. When is the Again referring to! and what does the Great mean? Great for whom?
But besides this little note I think that we are in a time where things change rapidly. We can long for the time when we were kids and all seemed fine, but that time is over. We live in a completely different world. A world dominated by the internet and soon dominated by AI.
If you want a nation state it would not surprise me if AI surveillance will play a huge role in it to organize power structures. Is this a bad thing? Knowing that the powers that be know 24h a day what you do, where you sleep, eat and play cards...
The mobile telephone with an internet connection changed the world drastically. The same is happening now with AI technology. AI technology will open doors we can't even think of. Just as 40 years ago we couldn't imagine the complexity of the world we live in today. It is going fast, really fast.
And with these changes come challenges.
Is our civilization doomed because of the growth economy and finite resources? Will technology save us? Or will it bring a doomsday weapon? (Let's say a deadly virus that is easily made in your garage with a DIY kit with AI help. available for any unstable person who hates the world)
Or are medicine and vaccines cheaper and easier to make with the help of AI?
Meat is grown in labs so you don't need the massive animal farms anymore and energy is used more efficiently...
A cheap AI lawyer can beat any fancy layer as the law is basically code. So no matter the money behind you, you can win a case against Elon Musk if you are poor. That's not something Elon Musk wants I guess!!
So where does the Nation stand in all this? Is the Constitution strong enough to withhold? Or does it need to be changed?
Is a huge nation like the US, Russia, China, India, or Brazil efficient or does it make more sense that a division into smaller organizations take place?
The US already has different laws for different parts of the country if I'm correct.
I can envision though that the glue between all these States (and keep them United) is AI surveillance.
Just some thoughts.Yes indeed, serious thoughts that explains a lot that we all need to take into account as we hurtle into the future.
Peter: Those are all very good thoughts that have to be contemplated.
The problem that we are facing right now is that technology is improving at an exponential rate. I would venture to say most of those who make laws for the country and the people don't have the wherewithal to even understand what today's technology is in order to make laws to prevent any miss use of the power of the technology. We have a Supreme Court with no term limits. Many older people in government can't even relate to today's technology.
It looks like we will have to rely on the next generations for the future of the country and the world at large. They at least, are growing up with the technology.Steam. Trains. The cotton gin and many other powered farm tools. The automobile. Birth control. The whole field of electronics - TV, computers, even small portable radios.
All have made massive, fast changes to our world, and we survived them all even though very few people understood them or how they work. I think we'll do it again.Wilderness: All of the things you listed are on the bottom of the exponential technology curve. That curve is now going almost straight up. Which means technology is being developed at a much faster rate because developers are using the current technology as tools to develop more improvements with more power.
The advent of microminiaturization in computer chips has given the average person the power of main frame computers of years past. What used to be in 100's of vacuum tubes is now in over 1,000 transistors that is in a chip, the size of your thumb nail. That power is now in every phone. In fact, todays phones can actually do more than those giant main frame computers and they use less energy and take up magnitudes of less space.
As an example, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can immediately reply to any question that is asked of it because it has access to all the meta data. It can even give you several answers for the same question.
All the things you listed have very crude intelligence, if any. Creating laws to prevent the miss use of the internet and AI requires tech savvy people to prevent the miss use of that power. I venture to say our law makers of today, don't have that knowledge. I believe AI will require a paradigm shift in our structure of government and laws. Who will be watching the watchers?I think you missed the entire point.
For tens (hundreds?) of thousands of years man walked or rode horses. Suddenly, in a matter of only a decade or so, we had a wide open country, where people could travel where they wanted in a short time on a train.
only a few decades later we found the automobile doubling, and tripling that capability.
Look at the difference birth control has made to our mores and morals, and it came about in less than a decade. It was a major force in the changes to women's rights, and it happened in just a few years.
I was there when the transistor became available to the consumer; in 50 years it has morphed into the beginnings of rudimentary AI.
The point is that these huge advancements happened almost overnight compared to the time frame, and achievements, preceding them.
AI has been in development for many decades now, and it is still in its infancy. It cannot compare to the rapidity of the change from birth control, the cotton gin or even the advent of TV. It seems fast because we're living through it (and many do not like change) but if anything the rate of change is slowing from that of the last century.I think we are saying the same thing. The rate of change is happening more rapidly than it was in the past. If you look at the rate of change of technology. it started very slowly with man discovering fire, therefore the rate of change was flat for eons.. Today, on that same technology curve, the rate of change is exponential. I agree many people do not like change, but it is the only constant in this world.
Another briefer thought than the one above.
I don't think America ever corrected the mechanisms within the establishment which allowed such reprehensible acts and usurpation of our nation... as a Nation we never brought to justice those responsible for the murder of Kennedy, and by extension X, MLK and RFK.
What was stolen from America at that time has not been returned, the wrongs have not been righted, the truth never revealed, and now we suffer a nation built on lies and corruption because of it.
Not sure how to respond but with a question --- do you feel we should close the border for a time, due to the crisis and the sheer number of migrants crossing, or just continue adding to the numbers of migrants being admitted who are waiting for court dates? Dates that are fully backed up for many years?
I approve of drilling, but I would prefer it here due to the many regulations for safe drilling. We have one world atmosphere. It does not discriminate. I say we look to improve on drilling methods, not just let other nations pump dirty.
I don't feel many don't consider America uses lots of oil, and better to maintain how it is pumped, than let other nations pollute heavily.
Actully --- The United States is poised to extract more oil and gas than ever before in 2023, a year that is certain to be the hottest ever recorded, providing a daunting backdrop to crucial United Nations climate talks that hold the hope of an agreement to end the era of fossil fuels.
How does this bode for a president who claimed he would cut production? He ran on cutting oil production.Sharlee:
The U.S. Senate is currently negotiating emergency funding for Ukraine, which has become enmeshed with the most vexing policy challenge President Biden has faced in office: immigration. Republicans are demanding major improvements to the U.S.-Mexico border before supporting funding for Ukraine
Senator Alex Padilla of California has personally warned President Biden not to fold to GOP on immigration to aid Ukraine, stating that Republicans are ‘dragging’ Biden into territory that is 'harmful'.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sp … ocialshare
This is from Newsweek about Biden's gas prices.
Gas prices remain high across the country despite slower demand and weaker inflation, an issue that could become critical for President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election, analysts have told Newsweek.
When Biden took office in January 2021, gas prices were an average of $2.4 per gallon across the country, according to historical data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). By December of the same year, they had risen to over $3 per gallon. In June 2022, they peaked at an average of $5.06 per gallon, the highest on record, after which they started to drop below $4.
This year, gas prices have remained consistently below the peak of 2022, but still higher than they were when Biden took office two and a half years ago.
In the first week of January, the average gas price in the U.S. was $3.2 per gallon. By the end of the month, it had risen to $3.4. In the following months, prices remained steadily over $3 per gallon, while in August they surged to nearly $3.8 per gallon, according to the EIA.
As of August 30, the average price of regular gas was $3.827, according to AAA—just slightly lower than the $3.844 average reported a year before.
You never answered the question about Trump being a dictator only on day one of being in office for his second term.I am hopeful that a good compromise can be reached many Americans are more concerned about the border than they are about Ukraine. This is just something that should not be ignored.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-uk … db9eedb646
We need the other side to recognize that polls show Americans have put the border crisis above the Ukraine war. My hope at this point is to see compromise from the Dems on the border or that the Republicans hold their ground. I consider we need to tend to the pressing problems at the border. We have not begun to see the true problems that three years of open borders will bring in the near and far future.
I think you know I feel we (at this point) need to start addressing the crisis that we have right here in the USA. I am in no respect saying we should ignore what needs addressing globally. I feel time to put more work into our pressing problems in America.
I have witnessed Trump saying he will be a dictator on his first day, at his rallies. I take him at his word. I think he may have meant he would handle pressing problems on day one. I can't read his mind. I never found him to be a dictator when president. I found him transparent, available to the people, and a president that was working for all the people. I felt he worked hard to solve problems.
I think J. Powell has done a good job bringing down inflation. However, we are just not feeling it in our pocketbooks. This is odd because we should be. I don't think most economists can answer why the stats do not reflect what is happening with the costs of consumer goods.For the first time in 30 years, during Trumps first 3 years, inflation stayed relatively flat and wages went up.
With interest rates at historic lows people were able to purchase new homes, new cars, and afford other "luxury" items that were not necessity items.
People contrast that to the first 3 years of Biden, they struggle to pay their bills... everywhere things have gone up... taxes... insurance... food... energy... it doesn't matter, the dollar is worth less, things cost more.
In addition interest rates are hitting heights we have not seen in 40 years.
You cannot undo the loss in the Dollar's value... a Candy Bar that cost you $1.00 in 2020 costs you $1.50 in 2023 and there is no going back... until your pay goes from $15.00 and hour to $22.00 an hour you are going to feel that loss every day.
If you are young and looking to buy a new car or a new home, what it will cost you is near double in monthly payment from what it would have cost you in 2020 in 2023 because of the increase in interest rates.
Anyone living from paycheck to paycheck feels these changes drastically, and then they see their politicians starting and funding wars, spending trillions on 'Green Energy' and 'Defense Policy' and realize that they are not the priority.I can honestly say I agree with all the sentiments you have offered up... My comment on Powell was based on his performance. I think Willow asked me my thoughts on Powell.
In my opinion, J. Powell performed admirably during the Trump administration, even though they didn't always see eye to eye. I commend Trump for not dismissing him, as it shows a level of restraint. Trump's judicious decisions, not allowing personal differences to interfere, were commendable.
I can't help but wonder about the potential consequences if Biden had replaced Powell. I believe Powell's decisions played a crucial role in preventing an economic crash. While we've experienced at some points historic high inflation during Biden's term, I believe it could have been more severe without a competent Federal Reserve Chair. I appreciate Biden's choice to retain Powell among his appointees. I mean just consider a few of his appointees.
Who agrees?
Trump said Saturday he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” if it attacked a NATO country that didn’t pay enough for defense.
Speaking to supporters at a rally in South Carolina, Trump recounted an exchange from his time in office with the leader of a “big country” who asked whether they would be protected if Russia attacked.
This actually sounds fake to me. Whenever he starts with "well sir" comes across as a made up scenario in my view.
Trump said he told the leader that the U.S. government would not protect the bloc if they didn’t pay their fair share in defense spending.
“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recalled. “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills,” he added.
Good foreign policy to encourage one country to do whatever the hell they want to another country? or mob tactics?
Video below
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/202 … nr-vpx.cnnIt's interesting how quickly this response came. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/11/worl … lysis.html
It is a very sticky issue, Trump questions our ongoing involvement in NATO even in 2017, and in 2018 he made a similar statement.
Many Americans have questioned the amount of funds we are spending in Ukraine versus what the rest of NATO has spent. As well as questioned how the conflict was handled before it came to war.
So, it is very possible many would find it now plausible to pull out or cut back the amount we spend on NATO.
In regard to Trumnp's words -- Encouraging any nation, Russia included, to engage in aggressive actions against other sovereign nations is deeply concerning and undermines the principles of peace. It's imperative for leaders to uphold and strengthen the rights of sovereign nations to live in peace. His words, in my view, were uncalled for and reckless.I don't even bother to argue with these people who love to twist the intent of the words to suit their argument that Trump is a nut.
That is what they do, they take anything he says, out of context if necessary, and twist it to mean the worst thing possible.
It was old four years ago.
Especially when we see what the alternative has done with his 3.5 years in office, and how bad things have gotten, with Russia, the Middle East, China...Yes, it was old, it would seem that Dems are getting very desperate and need to go way back in their archivesand and risereck old BS to have another go-round at Trump. It is obvious they are desperate, and should be due to polls... And it is clear social media is ripping into Biden more and more daily. https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1756713597864988940
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