What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Tonitrus]

Trump has a Riefenstahlian tinge.

[grumbler]

I'm sorry that you and your ilk failed to spot the danger in time, patting yourself on the back for not being hysterical like those who have.  I'm sorry for our country first and foremost.  Please don't make the next mistake fashionable among those who orgasm over their perceived rationality, and claim that fascism begins and ends with Trump.

Sorry, but who is my "ilk" and what danger did "we" fail to spot in time?  Your boasted of your hyper-partisanship here and dismissed moderation here long before Trump was a candidate.  Now that your brand of politics has produced the predictable toxic reaction, you squirm and blame the innocent to avoid confronting the fact that you are just the flip side of the fascist coin.  I don't really blame you, though.  The emotional appeal of partisanship seems very alluring to the anti-intellectuals on both sides. 

[grumbler]

The "F" word I'd most associate with Trump isn't "fascist", it's "fool".  Calling him a fascist gives him too much credit--it assumes that he actually has something remotely resembling a political philosophy.  I'd say that he shares the disdain for civil rights often found on both the far right and far left, but you probably have to have at least some understanding of what a concept is in order for it to be accurately stated that you have disdain for it.

Agreed. Trump is a grifter, and grifters are good at pretending to be what people want them to be, without having the character to actually be much of anything at all.

[DGuller]

Sorry, but who is my "ilk" and what danger did "we" fail to spot in time?

The fact that conservatives were becoming authoritarian and anti-democratic over the last several decades, and that the "partisanship" was a reaction to that.  Just because two people are fighting doesn't mean that both of them were equally belligerent before the fists started flying.

Your boasted of your hyper-partisanship here and dismissed moderation here long before Trump was a candidate.

Yes, thank you.  As I said, authoritarianism was on the rise long before Trump, so it would've been stupid to be moderate in response to that, unless I was more concerned with appearances than with being on the right side of history.  Moderation in the face of extremism is a sin, not a virtue.

The emotional appeal of partisanship seems very alluring to the anti-intellectuals on both sides.

[Razgovory]

Sorry, but who is my "ilk" and what danger did "we" fail to spot in time?  Your boasted of your hyper-partisanship here and dismissed moderation here long before Trump was a candidate.  Now that your brand of politics has produced the predictable toxic reaction, you squirm and blame the innocent to avoid confronting the fact that you are just the flip side of the fascist coin.  I don't really blame you, though.  The emotional appeal of partisanship seems very alluring to the anti-intellectuals on both sides.

Libertarians.  Of course, libertarians may have been very poor at spotting the threat because so many were complicit in it.  Much of the Alt-Right comes from the Libertarian/Ancap/Minarchist movements.

[Ed Anger]

Taxation is Theft

[grumbler]

The fact that conservatives were becoming authoritarian and anti-democratic over the last several decades, and that the "partisanship" was a reaction to that.  Just because two people are fighting doesn't mean that both of them were equally belligerent before the fists started flying.

Given that I was one of the most strident voices here against authoritarianism and partisanship (and you were just against the authoritarianism and partisanship of your opponents) this is rich.  You are blind to the fact that your 'side" is just the mirror-image of the other side, and that would be sad if you didn't wallow in it.  As it is, it is merely despicable.

Yes, thank you.  As I said, authoritarianism was on the rise long before Trump, so it would've been stupid to be moderate in response to that, unless I was more concerned with appearances than with being on the right side of history.  Moderation in the face of extremism is a sin, not a virtue.

That's what is so funny; that you cannot see that authoritarianism isn't a matter of which side you are on, it is a matter of how much you will tolerate the suppression of ideas you don't like.  You are proud of your own authoritarianism, and thank me for mentioning it, but don't see that you are just the mirror-image of those you despise.  I am far enough back from the emotions to despise you both.

[PDH]

The first rule of life - Don't be a douchebag.  Trump has failed this, and so he fails.

[Eddie Teach]

I don't despise anyone.   

[dps]

authoritarianism isn't a matter of which side you are on, it is a matter of how much you will tolerate the suppression of ideas you don't like.

Ooh, that's well put.

[Berkut]

authoritarianism isn't a matter of which side you are on, it is a matter of how much you will tolerate the suppression of ideas you don't like.

Here, here.

[Habbaku]

Where, where?

[grumbler]

There, there.

[Razgovory]

Grumbler was blaming both sides since at least 1939.

[Valmy]

Hey from the Germans' perspective it was Poland that was evil.