The Near Future

For John, BLUF:  I think this is malarkey.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Historian Timothy Snyder:  “It’s pretty much inevitable” that Trump will try to stage a coup and overthrow democracy

This is an article in Salon, by Reporter Chauncey Devega, on 1 May, appropriately.

Here is the sub-headline:

American democracy is in crisis. The election of Donald Trump feels like a state of emergency made normal.

Here is the lede plus two:

Trump has threatened violence against his political enemies.  He has made clear he does not believe in the norms and traditions of American democracy — unless they serve his interests.  Trump and his advisers consider a free press to be enemies of his regime.  Trump repeatedly lies and has a profoundly estranged relationship with empirical reality.  He uses obvious and naked racism, nativism and bigotry to mobilize his voters and to disparage entire groups of people such as Latinos and Muslims.

Trump is threatening to eliminate an independent judiciary and wants to punish judges who dare to stand against his illegal and unconstitutional mandates.  In what appears to be a violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution,  Trump is using the office of the presidency to enrich himself, his family and his inner circle by peddling influence and access to corporations, foreign countries and wealthy individuals.  Trump and his representatives also believe that he is above the law and cannot be prosecuted for any crimes while in office.

What can the American people do to resist Donald Trump?  What lessons can history teach about the rise of authoritarianism and fascism and how democracies collapse?  Are there ways that individuals can fight back on a daily basis and in their own personal lives against the political and cultural forces that gave rise to Trump’s movement? How long does American democracy have before the poison that Donald Trump and the Republican Party injected into the country’s body politic becomes lethal?

Poison injected into the body politic?  Is this person for real?  Does he see the protests and violence from the Progressives as just normal for the body politic and President Trump and his backers and their calm demeanor antithetical to democracy?

Further down, the interviewee says:

The attempt to undo the Enlightenment as a way to undo institutions, that is fascism.

So, can we say that Daesh (ISIS) is fascist?

And what about other groups?  Pick one.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff