This article over at Instapundit talks about the accusation. I don’t think so, anymore than I thought Obama was a communists. I think Trump is a populist authoritarian in the Jacksonian tradition. He’s also arguably an attractive candidate to “national greatness” conservatives. I don’t like Trump because I don’t like authoritarian populists, and I think national greatness is achieved through liberty rather than a strong man. But I don’t think Trump is a fascist in the European tradition. I don’t notice his brownshirts roughing up left-wing activists on the streets. He doesn’t even have brownshirts. Trump seems to be to fit into American traditions, it’s just he fits into ones I don’t like.
As I’ve said, I don’t think Trump will govern from the far right. I think he’ll govern as a haphazard centrist. I don’t believe Trump is an ideologue (that’s Ted Cruz). I think Trump will go in whatever direction sufficiently strokes his massive ego. It can certainly be successfully argued that Trump is a narcissist, but to be honest with you, you won’t rise much above state senator these days without having at least some narcissistic tendencies.
I’m bringing this up now because Trump is close to having a lock on the nomination. His victory in Nevada yesterday was decisive. I may be sitting out this primary for the lack of any acceptable candidate by the time Pennsylvania’s primary rolls around in April. Or hell, maybe I’ll switch parties and vote for Bernie.
But damn it all, just when you think we’ll have an election that’s slightly less depressing than normal, I’m proved disastrously wrong.
How pathetic of you. Bernie Sanders sang praise for communist dictators like Kruschev and Brezhnev, is still a Soviet Communist, and yet……Trump is the “controversial” candidate. People don’t even no what true NAZIS are!!
People — especially millennials — don’t know what true socialism is, either. That’s why they overwhelmingly support Bernie.
Poll them about capitalism vs. socialism, and they’ll decisively swing toward socialism. Poll them about “free-market principles” vs. “centralized-government-controlled market”, on the other hand, and they’ll choose the free market.
They’re not “stupid”, per se; they seem to know that every good thing we as Americans enjoy came from free-market invention and innovation. They just think “socialism” means “free stuff”, and haven’t made the link to what socialism really is.
I don’t want Bernie to be president, I want him to beat Hillary. He’s an easier candidate to beat, and even if by some miracle he does win, he’ll be a decidedly ineffective president.
I don’t think voting equals endorsement. I can’t remember the last time I voted for a candidate I liked. I don’t know if I’ve ever done it.
My current order of “choose the form of your destruction” is Trump > Bernie > Hillary. Though I worry that Bernie will be too easily manipulated, and will get an even bigger pass from the media than does Obama. This election is for a large chunk of the SCOTUS marbles, after all.
I think you are wrong on the issue of “brownshirts.” See http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/trump-vows-security-will-get-even-more-nasty-as-more-rally-attendees-are-manhandled-for-no-reason/ and https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/22/black-activist-punched-at-donald-trump-rally-in-birmingham/ (with trump proclaiming “maybe he should’ve been roughed up”) and here in SC http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/17/3750224/trump-sc-protest/
With respect, you seem to be laying the groundwork for a future “must vote Trump, despite the fact that he’s essentially as bad if not worse in ways than a Democrat, in the general as the vote against Hillary” and I have to tell you: there are a bunch of folks, gunners included, who will vote third party and/or write in Rubio/Cruz before accepting the judgement of the “angry-mob-brainless-reptillian” faction of the “republican” party.
Vastly different from what Brownshirts were doing in Weimar Germany, or the Italian fascists were engaging in.
I’m not laying the groundwork for “must vote for Trump.” I can’t ask anyone to do that.
At least one person on Earth seems to know that the Fascisti were Italian. 98% of the time Fascism gets mentioned, the person using the word has no idea what it means. The other 1 to 2% of the time, it is attributed to Hitler. One might just as well attribute Fascism to the English. At least there is precedent for that;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Fascisti
I’m fairly sure that Trump would wipe the floor with Bernie Sanders. Bernie’s rhetoric may be popular with college students and unemployed salty millenials, but it won’t get anywhere with the general public. An avowed socialist winning a general election? Highly unlikely. Trump would openly mock Bernie, and Bernie’s SJW shaming techniques would just get swatted away by Trump, with comedy.
Bernie or Hillary would be a disaster for the 2nd amendment. Unfortunately, I think Trump would be as well. Since he is not ideological, and didn’t need the backing of the republican establishment to get to where he is, I think that he will be unafraid to hang large swaths of republican denominations (evangelicals, business chamber, gun owners) out to dry when it suits him. If he doesn’t care about the republican party or the democrat party, then he can make deals with the devil all day. Not a good development for us. His sons are staunch hunters, so there is hope, but I do not trust him. With that said, I’d still vote for him over Bernie or Hillary all day.
The fate of the Second Amendment rests in the judiciary and the legislature for now. The president can indirectly affect the judiciary, but Trump won’t be using 2A opposition as a litmus test, at least
Is Donald Trump a narcissist? Scott Adams say no.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139910704581/how-to-spot-a-narcissist-trump-persuasion-series
Would Donald Trump ruin the world if elected? Scott Adams says no.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/132408086396/why-donald-trump-will-ruin-the-world
Is there something that people could learn from Scott Adams? I dang well think there is.
I’m not convinced that Scott Adams is a conservative/libertarian type. I have the impression that Scott Adams wouldn’t give a darn, for example, if Trump put a liberal on the Supreme Court, or if Trump were to sign a “compromise” Let’s Ban All the Scary Assault Rifle Guns bill, Adams doesn’t strike me as a person who would raise an eyebrow.
For someone like me, who’s a principled anarcho-capitalist conservative libertarian who wants a government that respects the Constitution, however, I can’t take any comfort in the belief that Trump isn’t a narcissist, because I see a man who will say and do whatever it takes to get Power, and, once in power, will gladly sell all our rights to the highest bidder, if the deal of the moment seems to make sense to him…
Scott Adams describes himself: “On social issues, I lean Libertarian, minus the crazy stuff.” More insights here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams
Andrew Jackson, good one!
“But damn it all, just when you think we’ll have an election that’s slightly less depressing than normal, I’m proved disastrously wrong.”
Really? I’ve run out of popcorn numerous times just enjoying this form of entertainment. I know this is a gun blog, but, when our country is $20 trillion on the books in debt and has anywhere from $100 to $200 trillion in unfunded mandates (depending on who’s numbers you use), I just sit back and enjoy the show. Getting cranked up as to who is the next President, in the end only matters a little bit. But with one caveat…Hitlery. She’s the true fascist, not Trump. He’s the entertainer. Trump got inside the loop of the other candidates early, and has occupied that territory since the summer. I get to vote next week in VA, and just for the hades of it, I may vote for the BERN! I just enjoy the show and want it to continue…
Bingo: I’ve been looking for the proper expression for a while now, and you provided it: “Trump got inside the loop…”
Thank you
Don’t thank me, thank Col. Boyd, he’s the one who came up with the OODA loop. It applies to almost everything in life. Just figuring out how to apply it is the hard part at times.
I’m old enough to remember the run up to the Regan election. Pre-internet, but I saw the same kinds of hand wringing (I was actually a liberal college kid at the time, but I did vote for Reagan because I disliked Carter). It took Reagan a full four year term to really become the conservative sweet heart. I voted for him the 2nd time around just because he’d done well by us, and after that voted Democrat until my conversion (as a reaction to Gore) in 2000.
While I agree with a lot of what you said, I think he’ll be good on the 2nd amendment. The reasons is is that there’s no reason not to (it won’t hurt him in the polls/will probably help him) and it’s one very clear campaign promise he can live up to. From what I understand his son is also an honest gun enthusiast.
If we can defeat the dems for the presidency and hold the house/senate this will be my favorite election ever, even if it’s Trump in the lead spot. And frankly for various reasons I wouldn’t be surprised to see Trump do very well in the general.
After that will he be a horrible president, a great president, or just an average president … well, the only bet I’d make is that he won’t be the worst President of the 21st century — that honor lies with Obama and hopefully we’ll never do worse …
Scott Adams predicts Donald Trump will be elected in the general election.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/125930283831/how-trump-becomes-president
The degree to which the Cheeto crowd nut-rides Scott Adams like he’s some sort of sage cracks me up.
I do need a like button :)
I’ve never been that impressed with Scott Adams’s political thinking. Though, I think he’s made good points that Donald Trump is a master persuader. I can’t think of any other explanation for how many people he’s put under a spell.
Comparing Reagan to Trump? Sorry that doesn’t fly.
By the time Reagan was elected president he had accumulated a record of decades worth of effort for the conservative cause both in and out of elective office.
What have we got from Trump? “Trust me”. Trust Trump? Trust Trump in spite of Trump’s record? When even as he campaigns, Trump sounds like a Democrat half the time? Trust Trump?
Sorry. I’m no chump for Trump.
He’s America’s Berlusconi.
An utter sleazeball.
I’ve seen that comparison before, and it’s apt. Let’s hope though that Trump doesn’t put out an album of love songs like Berlusconi did :)
I hope he doesn’t have sex with underage prostitutes like Berlusconi.
This blog needs a Like button.
Good call.
Trump is so mercurial, I would not be surprised in the least to see a President Trump suddenly switch parties to the Democratic Party, or renounce the Republican Party and declare himself an independent.
Because for Trump, it’s Trump first, and country and party a distant second and third.
The italians could (and have) done worse. Of course, when you change your government as often as they do, it’s easy to get a large sample size to compare against
First Term Trump would be like First Term Obama: No action on guns. Think of all the times President Obama could have done something during 2009 through 2012, and did *NOTHING*. It was only after his re-election that he moved on gun control.
That’s assuming, of course, that he would want a second term, which they always do. No guarantees afterwards.
Clinton, on the other hand, hasn’t been ashamed to say she’s going to press for more gun control upfront. I sincerely hopes she continues to do so, because it’s going to lose her a number of states, something that Barack Obama understood in 2008 and 2012.
Sanders, on the other hand, doesn’t have much of a chance at all. The nominating process is heavily stacked against him. Unless Clinton has some major scandal or major stumble, she’s going to be the one on the ticket.
I’ve said it before, and forgive me if I’ve already said it here: Trump the man and candidate may not be as dangerous per se, as the inner fascist, that has always lurked in American populism, that he has released. It’s a genie that may not be easily returned to its bottle, with or without Trump.
Some would argue that some of the early fascists like Mussolini weren’t originally as bad as they sounded, but the movements they created carried them along to become worse.
Trump is a modern Know-Nothing candidate. The Know-Nothings campaigned basically on anti-immigration sentiment, and Trump is the very personification of that issue; he’s centered his campaign around it.
I like this analogy as well.
Of course the problem with the Know Nothing analogy, is that America and the World of 2016 is radically different from the America and World of 1845.
I think it is entirely fair to say the opening of immigration both legal and illegal since 1965 has proven to be a bad policy for America. So bad that the reaction to it is powering the candidacy of even so loose a cannon as Trump into first place.
I became eligible to vote in 1976 and except for 1980 have voted for the Republican in every election since. Couldn’t vote for Carter because I served under him and saw what a disaster he was for the military. Then because I watched the CBS evening news I made the mistake of casting a vote for Anderson. What we’re seeing now is the re-emergence of the Ross Perot candidate / voter with two big exceptions. Trump is running inside an established party, and he’s not a quitter. I don’t know if Trump will do everything he claims he wants to do but I know he will take the fight to the enemy, he is unafraid and the establishment is crapping in their pants. Rubio is really the last establishment candidate with a chance and he’s scared of Trump. Why else would they trot out Romney with his tax return / what does Trump have to hide crap. I don’t know if it’s ever been done before but Trump has the ability to take all 50 states in the general. Hillery is from what state exactly? I don’t think she even knows. And finally since this is a gun blog, Trump didn’t raise his kids to be anti-gun, he raised them to be successful law abiding members of society.
I don’t think Trump is electable…because of Donald Trump.
There has GOT to be a ton of dirt on him that Dems and Republicans are sitting on.
I expect that you will see some of it start to come out from Repubs towards the end of the primary.
I mean, personal life alone. Hillary is the “loyal wife who stood by her cheating husband”.
Donald is the hound.
According to Glenn Beck (who has attempted to bring some of this stuff to light, to some degree or another), there is a LOT of dirt on Trump. Indeed, the Media is currently staying their hand; they want to see Trump nominated, so they could turn on him.
One example: a documentary about Trump made by Trump. Apparently certain media outlets even have footage that wasn’t put into that documentary.
This isn’t the first time the Media has acted this way. They liked McCain until McCain became the actual Republican nominee; and while they didn’t necessarily have “dirt” on McCain, after the nomination, they were no longer Mr. Nice Media.
To be sure, I’ve only heard bits of pieces on Glenn Beck’s program…and I’ve only heard bits and pieces of the program itself, so I’m short on the details…but it does cause me to wonder how we can sit back and say “Hey, Trump is electable compared to these other Republican candidates!” without considering what a fully weaponized Media might do to him…
The left-wing/democratic-mouthpiece news media also did all they could to promote Romney during the 2012 primary season. just to tear him down during the general election. It’s an old story. Yet the media still seem to get away with selecting the Republican nominee for President.
El Trumperón is the personification of “no such thing as bad publicity.”
I mean, personal life alone. Hillary is the “loyal wife who stood by her cheating husbandâ€.
Well yeah, cause that’s the only way she could get ahead in life.
Trump has a rape allegation against him by an ex-wife, and an attempted rape allegation against him by another woman.
And lots more sleaze.
Just wait until he gets the nomination, and then the media will submerge him in oceans of his own slime and hypocrisy 24/7 until Hillary gets elected.