Political Violence Makes The Task Of Stopping Trump And Fascism Much Harder
Political Violence Makes The Task Of Stopping Trump And Fascism Much Harder
Philosophy professor and fascism expert Jason Stanley responds to the assassination attempt on the former president, in an exclusive essay for Zeteo
Please permit me to vent for but a moment.
Enough of this fucking grandstanding.
If I have to hear one more time how this is a somber moment for the country and that this is a tragedy and both sides must make peace, my lord does that dodge the elephant in the room.
I mean, Hello, McFly!? These fuckers are out there engaging in full-throated stochastic terrorist threats on a daily basis. These right-wingers are responsible for the VAST majority of political violence both in present day (that's per the FBI and DOJ) and throughout our fucking history. ProPublica reports these right-wing extremist groups are actively trying to instigate a civil war.
I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that the blood of Sandy Hook and Uvalde children fall squarely on the same fuckers whose convention listed, "We Are All Domestic Terrorists." All the trained shooters, security detail, preparedness couldn't stop some dumbass from taking pot-shots at a President... And yet, these people try to argue that MoRE GuNz = Safer Society? Please.
They can go fuck themselves. My concern stops beyond the bystander father who protected his family. Beyond that, I have no more tears to give. While I agree the fight needs won at the ballot, and that we should always use brains over bullets — I just cannot abide by hearing the incessant BoTh SiDeS bullshit as though Democrats are even remotely responsible for the heightened tensions in this. No. This is a response to blatantly clear fascism and a threat to our Democracy as we know it. Godwin himself said that it was okay to compare Trump to Hitler because it's fucking accurate.
Check out the shooter's Facebook. Apparently he is a registered Republican too. Their own base is so torn themselves that someone shot at him for Epstein. They've got their hands over the spout trying to convince us they're in control of the beasts they created as the water soaks their cuffs. They're the ones calling for Death, and it answered.
You can see them really struggling with the cognitive dissonance in this moment.
Side note, but from a Telegraph article, I confess this made me chuckle:
Crooks tried out for his school’s rifle team but failed to make it because he was a “comically bad shot” and made jokes deemed inappropriate with firearms around, two former classmates told The New York Post.
He missed his target by close to 20ft, Jameson Murphy said.
“He tried out…and was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day,” he added.
The rules may be different for Democrats and Republicans, but those are the ones by which this game must be played. If Trump is to be defeated, it can only be by honestly adhering to norms and principles that Trump has long since torn down. The Democrats must make the case to voters that the election is a choice between these norms, and permanent rule by an explicitly fascist political party.
If the best way to defeat Trump was to honestly adhere to established political norms, Hillary Clinton would have won the election in 2016. There has hardly been a more established political candidate than Clinton. Yet, she lost. I think a candidate adhering to norms matters more when the people are generally happy with the status quo, but when the people become less satisfied with the status quo, candidates adhering to norms matters less. In fact, I think as people become less satisfied with the status quo, the more they like candidates to deviate from the norm. I mean, if people aren't very satisfied with normal, offering them more normal probably isn't going to get you very far.
if people aren’t very satisfied with normal, offering them more normal probably isn’t going to get you very far.
Here's the thing. You're right, in that Trump got elected because people were unhappy with the status quo. And Trump at least offered something different.
But what we're seeing isn't being "unhappy with the status quo". It's believing in fairy tales. It's believing in conspiracy theories. It's making it up as you go along. Worse, it's wanting to force you to adhere to it too.
I've always said that if you're in an election where your opponent is saying monkeys are flying out of your ass and terrorizing the city, and 51% of the people believe that flying monkey terrorism is a huge problem, you can try appealing to logic and saying there are no flying monkeys coming out of your ass, but you'll be doing it during your concession speech, while your opponent is not only making his victory speech but boasting about the fact that he solved the flying monkey problem on day one.
This is where we are as a society. A sizeable chunk of our society really is listening to Trump's claims about whatever is flying out of Biden's ass, and they have absolutely no appetite for things like truth or logic. Biden is trying desperately to stick to this realm of reality, but it looks more and more like he's going to be making that appeal while watching Trump's inauguration and listening to Trump's supporters cheer on the chaos.
Trump got elected because the US electoral system is undemocratic. He doesn't need 51%, not even close.
what we're seeing isn't being "unhappy with the status quo". It's believing in fairy tales. It's believing in conspiracy theories.
I think when people become unhappy with the status quo, they are more likely to believe in fairy tales and conspiracy theories, especially if those messages are coming from a seemingly strong leader promising a return to glory. I don't think it would be a terrible thing if Democrats tried harder to look strong and promise that they're going to make America great, only without the conspiracy theories and scapegoats. I think a lot of people really need to hear that message, and if the "good guys" aren't willing to offer that message, someone with less than honorable intentions will.
Yeah, there are definitely some parts of this where I disagree with the author, but the very next paragraph makes a good point
A fascist party can only come to power when it attracts multiple constituencies, whose members do not think of themselves as fascists. The fascist leader represents the compromises necessarily involved in democratic politics as unmanly. But fascism needs to appeal to a broader ideology than the mere destruction of democracy. Patriarchy is just such an ideology. By doubling down on traditional gender roles, by the restriction of women’s rights, and by villainizing LGBT, a fascist party attracts religious conservatives. The strutting masculinity of the fascist leader appeals to powerful business elites, who tend to view the world in terms of “winners” and “losers”, and often view their own success as a product of their masculinity (it doesn’t hurt if the leader also vows to promote their interests). Survival in a violent struggle for power is the ultimate badge of honor in the fascist worldview. Violence leans into and supports it.
So long as we're still in an electoral situation, violence is a bad look. I'm not even saying the Democratic party should or can do anything here, I'm just underscoring that this weekend's event
shas made this election tougher to win.e; grammar are confusing
I would like to clarify that I am not in favor of assassination attempts, but I'm just not convinced that simply playing the game by the rules is the most effective method for defeating fascism. That being said, I don't claim to know what is, necessarily. However, it seems to me that, in most cases, defeating fascism has required using at least some violence.
The norms being a problem is why trump exists.
A couple years ago? Sure
Now? We are on the brink. The supreme court is so corrupt that they have given trump immunity for everything he has ever or will ever do. This includes a literal violent fucking insurrection where he attempted to lynch congress and the VPOTUS.
In a world where people gave a shit about any of the above? Yeah, this would be a problem. But Democrats and The Left are hellbent on tearing down their candidate for a multitude of reasons and have consistently refused to do anything that could possibly have prevented the current mess of a supreme court.
Attempted political violence doesn't make stopping trump harder. Yes, it emboldens his base but nobody else is going to feel sympathy and the Democrats were always going to kill their own chances anyway.
nobody else is going to feel sympathy
The undecided voter who only pays attention to the news when something "big" is happening doesn't like assassins and think fist pumping after a bullet flies by your head like a cheesy movie scene is super cool.
Beyond that, the rhetoric of violence just kind of validates all the claims about might making right that fascists hold on to anyway, which is probably a bit to esoteric for a lot of people to see but I'm pretty sure it shows dividends that will undermine future efforts at a better society. I won't say violence is never justified (e.g. self defense situations), but just as a political tactic against fascism assassinations are like cutting the head off a hydra.
e;
We are on the brink.
This I emphatically agree with.
If an "undecided" voter decides to vote for trump because he got shot? They are the dumbest mother fucker in existence and were looking for an excuse to vote for a fascist anyway.
I’m pretty sure it shows dividends that will undermine future efforts at a better society.
That ship has sailed. We are no longer fighting for a better society. We are fighting for a society period.
If the end result is "This nation is fundamentally broken and we need to re-assess the constitution before we engage in full blow civil war... again"? GOOD.
But that self awareness is not going to happen under the fascists who are openly undermining the country and planning to make trump a king.
Failed political violence makes stopping Trump harder.
Political violence may stop Trump the man, but do you think it'll stop Trumpism? No. It won't. Instead, some authoritarian jackwagon who actually knows how to play the game will step up into Trump's shoes, and ride his assassination straight into the White House. Then they'll dismantle Democracy so they can't lose again, and the only way we get them out of power is by bleeding a whole fucking lot. The good news is it's some unhinged Republican who took a shot at Trump, so it may take some of the wind out of Trump's sails on this.
But Democrats and The Left are hellbent on tearing down their candidate for a multitude of reasons
Reasons like he may not be fit to do the job, he's trailing in the polls, and is likely to lose?
and have consistently refused to do anything that could possibly have prevented the current mess of a supreme court.
Such as? Everyone says this but never gives the next sentence, what they should have done.
This kind of moral lecturing is always directed at moderates and the left. Even when it's right wing in fighting. I'm sorry but I'm not laying down my life to keep people that constantly say I should be dead or in prison, from fighting each other.
Didn't we kill nazis into submission? How the fuck can anybody say this shit when we have hundreds of history books filled with wars that evolved culture and values?
If nobody took the roman empire down, pedophilia would still be a thing.
If nobody killed the medieval lords that enjoyed the "right of the first night", having sex on the first night of a bride's wedding, as a means to show dominance and control over the peasants, that shit would still exist today.
If America didn't listen to George Washington when he proposed to kill the spaniards that were abusing you, 4th of july wouldn't exist, you wouldn't be independent, you'd be living like absolute shit right now.
Same for Mexico listening to Miguel Hidalgo in september, a priest that convinced mexicans of fighting for their independence, to kill the bunch of spaniards that were absolutely corrupt and evil. If we, and like, the rest of the world didn't do any of this, we'd still be living like shit under authoritarian governments.
Same with the nazis. If we didn't kill thousands of them, they would not be a minority right now as they currently are, they'd be bigger and more powerful. I know America only joined WWII because of monetary reasons, not to save the jews or whatever, but so what? I am still glad it happened, because nazis are people who think they are the shit just because of their genetics, and people like that fucking suck.
And now, today, we are dealing with the children of the few nazis that survived and moved to America, Argentina, etc. Managed to expand their ideas and shit, becoming again a potential threat to everybody, and the media comes up with cowardly headlines like these?
These headlines have to be propaganda. Rich powerful corrupt people have to love to pull these psychological tricks on people: saturate us with headlines like these so we lose the will to fight and so they can continue being corrupt pieces of shit comfortably behind our backs. Fuck that.
Out of the 2000+ billionaires that exist in this world, everyone only talks about 5 or 6 all the time: Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Taylor Swift, JK Rowling... Not even about Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim or whatever anymore. We never talk about any more than that really, and that's how they thrive, by staying anonymous, they pay the media to not talk about them or something. Fuck that as well.
A president is our employee; his job is to appease and give us what we need and want. Whatever makes happy the most amount of people in the country. If he can't do that, or instead is causing more harm than good to the majority, he needs to go, he needs to be removed, he should fear society, not the other way around. The military knows this, the military should always be on the people's side, because if they killed us all, nuked us or whatever, they're shooting themselves in the foot too by having no country that gives them power anymore. We are the country, we built it, we are the ones who work the hardest, not them. They are just managers sitting on a chair all day telling us what to do, and if they can't do that right, then to fucking jail you go because a lot of them refuse to give that power up voluntarily.
And no, I am not talking about removing Biden you dense idiot. We must remove people like Trump from power, there are a lot of assholes like him that hate gays, blacks, women, minorities, russians, chinese, mexicans, all southernamericans, africans, indians, arabs... People like that are fucking dumb and detrimental to be around with, they're a massive nuisance to the existence of everyone, is not funny anymore. So, as I said, fuck headlines like these.
If nobody took the roman empire down, pedophilia would still be a thing.
If nobody killed the medieval lords that enjoyed the "right of the first night", having sex on the first night of a bride's wedding, as a means to show dominance and control over the peasants, that shit would still exist today.
You know, an argument is much stronger if you don't resort to bullshit like that that is impossible to prove.
How is it impossible to prove? If those influential cultures and values were never killed, they'd still exist today like some of them do.
There are still arab countries that see pedophilia as normal, that video of the 30 yo something with a 14 year old girl he forcefully married because "culture" comes to mind.
Couldn't find it but found worse:
A 9-yo being sold to a 55-yo for marriage: https://youtu.be/e3C8grEN2Fk?si=uYy0BjWWh_mI-O5c
In Yemen it seems it's still legal and normal: https://youtu.be/HmP66xGpjGo?si=FQm_2CtCkLra20Xo
How do you change those people in your world? Education, waiting for time to do something just because, and being nice won't do shit. It's heavily ingrained in them, sadly, I don't blame them, I blame the culture they grew up in.
I really cannot believe that you believe broken evil people would suddenly turn good and change just because of time or something. When they do that is because they were forced to by the people, the status quo, or simply someone bigger than them. That's what History has proven to all of us countless of times for you to say something this nefarious.
There are cultural values that don't deserve an ounce of respect or preservation at all, no matter what. People need to understand this and stop playing the "Love and Peace" hippie bs already, because look at what it's doing and allowing to happen. I feel so bad for those little kids, I wish I could do more. It's crazy that you do not.
Unfortunately the targets for all this hate have, again and again, expresses, in many ways, that they will not fight back.
"LOL, you'll get killed!"
If that's what it takes to make my family and country safe, so be it.
Oh do fuck off. A republican shot him. What the fuck do you want from us?
Guys, everyone be sad for the wonderful human killed that day, who full-heartedly supported a mass-mudering fascist domestic terrorist, who wants four more years to create more fucking misery. I am so sad this former fire chief is dead. He loved his own personal family. 🎻
I don't buy the argument. This doesn't Trump more sympathetic. He doesn't look like a tough guy. He still the same incoherent fuckhead he was eight years ago. Just ask him about gun control and get his incoherent response. Thanks NRA and Republicans for making this assassination attempt easy. Too bad the assassin was incompetent. I guess Nicki Haley or whoever would have replaced DJT would probably have been younger and therefore more capable of attacking Joe's age.
A great demonstration of how right-wing violence results in lectures about how to coddle the violence of the right-wing.
No one to the left of fascism was involved. And yet.
It sure woulda got a lot easier if somebody knew how to shoot.
400 feet is pretty far (yards is 3 times farther but I don't recall which unit of measure they were using). Getting close enough to hit his ear with that weapon, at that distance, and under that kind of pressure is a pretty good shot in my book. I know that isn't exactly what you were getting at but still, the situation is pretty interesting from a ballistics perspective.
Dude jumped on a target of opportunity, cops and Secret Service all around, climbed on a roof and took the shots with iron sights.
Well then, It sure woulda got easier if someone brought the right gun.
It hit the protective glass surrounded Trump. It didn't fail because he was a bad shot.
It only makes it harder cause he missed.
Hehehe liberals will always protect fascist from violence.
I don't get it, this is exactly what every tankie has been saying "america" needs to do. Take care of its toxic messes before they leak onto the international stage.
Are you saying what the tankies want and what is the best course for the most people are not the same thing?
This isn't a far-left outlet.
(My opinion is that the best plan against fascism is the one someone is actually going to try and do, and so far American far-leftists haven't responded to fascism in the way they claim is necessary to defeat it.)
Neither have the fucking tankies. So what's with the moral ego trip?
Edit: answer; agitprop. It's always agitprop.
Did hunter wrote this?
Fuck NATO