The campaign has been under fire from Republicans this month for not having an in-depth, on-the-record conversation with a reporter since taking over the Democratic ticket.
I’m not trying to have a discussion about electoral politics.
I’m pointing out that the American window of respectable political discourse is shifted dangerously to the right, and that gives fascist candidates like Trump a foothold, while Eisenhower Republicans like Bernie Sanders are popularly viewed as extremists.
The Democrats should not be viewed as saviors in this situation, they are complicit in the fascist collapse of the United States political system. It may survive this election, but the catastrophes created by capitalism can’t be solved by capitalist solutions. As long as the political system is incapable of real democracy, authoritarian populists will always be a threat.
One of the disgusting aspects of Trump’s rise to power is the rehabilitation of former Republican presidents’ legacies. Once faced with a terrible enough alternative, George Bush looks less like the terrible monster he was to those who allow themselves to acclimate to the new normal.
Imagine Trump is defeated, disgraced, and jailed. Do you think the vacuum he leaves in the political system will remain unfilled? What if that space was filled by a more competent fascist? Will people look back on Trump the way some do at Bush and say, “It’s true he was a fascist, but at least he hardly got anything done.”
I’m not trying to have a discussion about electoral politics.
I’m pointing out that the American window of respectable political discourse is shifted dangerously to the right, and that gives fascist candidates like Trump a foothold, while Eisenhower Republicans like Bernie Sanders are popularly viewed as extremists.
The Democrats should not be viewed as saviors in this situation, they are complicit in the fascist collapse of the United States political system. It may survive this election, but the catastrophes created by capitalism can’t be solved by capitalist solutions. As long as the political system is incapable of real democracy, authoritarian populists will always be a threat.
One of the disgusting aspects of Trump’s rise to power is the rehabilitation of former Republican presidents’ legacies. Once faced with a terrible enough alternative, George Bush looks less like the terrible monster he was to those who allow themselves to acclimate to the new normal.
Imagine Trump is defeated, disgraced, and jailed. Do you think the vacuum he leaves in the political system will remain unfilled? What if that space was filled by a more competent fascist? Will people look back on Trump the way some do at Bush and say, “It’s true he was a fascist, but at least he hardly got anything done.”