Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims From Entering U.S.

[Barrister]

...My point of comparing the Canadian experience with the American experience is that we have never had the kind of demagogue Americans have had... 

Yes, Canada has, of course, had such demagogues.  Réal Caouette was one, for instance.

That's a pretty obscure figure.  I'm a real student of Canadian politics and I had to google his name (though once I did I am familiar, even slightly sympathetic, to his party the Creditistes).  Do you mind me asking where you heard his name?

There's a book about him, apparently, with that title.  Google the guy.  Argued for shooting Communist leaders, said his heroes included Hitler, etc.  Led a Canadian political party (minor, but once getting 7.5% of the national vote), served as a CMP for many years (Trump has never been elected to anything), etc.

Now, I never said that Canada has been plagued by demagogues, but  I think the evidence shows that the claim that they have never had any is false.  Caouette sounds much worse than Trump, in fact.

I have been, which is why I'm so surprised you'd ever heard about him.  The only book I can find about him was a French-only book published in 1981.  Did you actually read that book?  If not... I'm just curious - where did you hear about this guy?

[Malthus]

People have often claimed a preference for someone who is not a "career politician".  This is what it looks like.

To be honest, if I were American and the choice available, I'd rather vote for you than Trump - and you aren't a career politician. 

[Barrister]

The Scottish fish lady has yanked Trump's honorary Scotsman title.

Is Trump of Scottish descent?  I figured based on the name he was a Dutchman.

German, at least from the Trump side.  There were some news articles about a book on his family a little while ago, and in particular how his grandfather Friedrich Trump got his start in my favourite ever historical event, the Klondike gold rush.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trump-canada-yukon-1.3235254

[dps]

But Trump said his ideas were no worse than those of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the internment of more than 110,000 people in U.S. government camps after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Trump may be technically right--probably barring people who aren't American citizens from entering the country isn't as bad as putting some of our own citizens in camps--but comparing your ideas to one of the worst examples of sheer bigotry and discrimination perpetrated by the Federal government doesn't make your ideas less contemptible.

German-Americans and Italian-Americans were not subject to internment, although presumably under Trump's logic they should have been.

If German-Americans and Italian-Americans had been interned as well, then the internment policy (though it would have still been a bad thing) would not be so obvious an example of bigotry, and AR's defense of it in Reply # 33 wouldn't be so stupid.

[The Brain]

African-Americans are put in gaol and that's OK.

[Malthus]

It certainly isn't the case that Canada has never had demagogues. It appears to be the case that Canada nowadays lacks mainstream demagogues at the federal level. Our Conservatives are not the equivalent of the US Republicans - for whatever reason, the latter have been hijacked by what appear to be popular lunatics: many of the most popular Presidential choices (Trump, Carson) are, to this foreigner's eye, quite bizarre. 

Our Conservatives, in contrast, appear boringly normal. 

[alfred russel]

If German-Americans and Italian-Americans had been interned as well, then the internment policy (though it would have still been a bad thing) would not be so obvious an example of bigotry, and AR's defense of it in Reply # 33 wouldn't be so stupid.

I don't think I was defending anything. 

[The Brain]

If German-Americans and Italian-Americans had been interned as well, then the internment policy (though it would have still been a bad thing) would not be so obvious an example of bigotry, and AR's defense of it in Reply # 33 wouldn't be so stupid.

I don't think I was defending anything. 

He who defends nothing defends everything.

[The Minsky Moment]

If German-Americans and Italian-Americans had been interned as well, then the internment policy (though it would have still been a bad thing) would not be so obvious an example of bigotry

Exactly.

[The Minsky Moment]

Scalia gave a speech about a year ago in Hawaii anticipating this sort of nonsense:

"You are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again," Scalia told the University of Hawaii law school while discussing Korematsu v. United States, the ruling in which the court gave its imprimatur to the internment camps.

The local Associated Press report quotes Scalia as using a Latin phrase that means "in times of war, the laws fall silent," to explain why the court erred in that decision and will do so again.

"That's what was going on — the panic about the war and the invasion of the Pacific and whatnot," Scalia said. "That's what happens. It was wrong, but I would not be surprised to see it happen again, in time of war. It's no justification but it is the reality."

[derspiess]

If German-Americans and Italian-Americans had been interned as well, then the internment policy (though it would have still been a bad thing) would not be so obvious an example of bigotry

Exactly.

Germans were interned, albeit at a smaller rate.

[Caliga]

IIRC German nationals only.  Japanese-Americans were interned regardless of citizenship.

[Razgovory]

If German-Americans and Italian-Americans had been interned as well, then the internment policy (though it would have still been a bad thing) would not be so obvious an example of bigotry

Exactly.

Well technically some were interned.

[derspiess]

IIRC German nationals only.  Japanese-Americans were interned regardless of citizenship.

American citizens of German descent were also interned, but again in smaller numbers.

[Razgovory]

My Grandmother's maiden name was Hess...  I think some of her relatives had some trouble.