So, as David has said, the point is chaos and confusion. We are meant to be befuddled and confused and worried and angry. That's the point. We are meant to make irrational judgments and lead with our emotions. It is part of the strategy.
Conversations with people we know are supposed to get difficult and divisive. Trump's primary success since his arrival in politics has been to divide people, confuse them, fill them with fear and anger. This he actually has done well.
In terms of media, particularly TV and internet media, Trump has corralled this group into primarily reacting to him. Hence keeping himself front and center. His goal is to make us believe there is no hope of fixing anything. To make us feel we are forever divided and one side has to destroy the other. In doing this we lose faith in all of our institutions, government, justice system, educational system, all of the defenders and protectors of our country.
This has made some us feel even more protective of our democracy and his followers more interested in destroying it.
Why is he now quoting Hitler openly when discussing what he plans to do? His followers are ready for a new Hitler. They want that. We've, again as David has said, always had people that like the idea of fascism here in the USA, really, we have them all over the world, and interestingly, I think there is some real alignment between being a fascist and religious people.
Fascism is like a religion and having a single godhead from whom all the law, rules, and judgements flow down from. That's why we see religious people line up behind Trump. They feel he, and only he, will smite their enemies and destroy the evil of the people they dislike.
That's why this Trump thing is so...well...cultlike.
He actually began saying to his followers "I am your retribution." which is a really F-ed up thing to say to people. Now he has gone directly to quoting Hitler in what he intends to do if reelected. That's not a mistake. He wants to be a leader who can, with the backing of his followers, indiscriminately kill whomever he wants in a very public fashion.
He has openly said now he wants to create "concentration camps" for immigrants. Need we even get into the old "I said nothing when they came for them." deal?
It is not a mistake that he is now speaking openly in this manner while wars in Ukraine and the Middle East rage. If the Nazi symbolism of that stage Kevin posted was not enough to get the message across, if that was too subtle, now he is just quoting Hitler. He is openly telling his followers "I will be your new Hitler!"
Great.
There is no equivalence with this with Joe Biden and Democrats. There is no "Oh they are all equally corrupt." in this. There is no actual split between Democrats and Republicans, the split now is between people that believe in the ideals of a democratic republic and those that want to bring that republic down to install a dictator that will then rule with an iron fist. Killing and crushing people at his whim.
That's a pretty harsh choice we have to make. There is no "same" in that. It is clear cut. This Trump character, and DeSantis as well, is an angry, nasty, vile little tyrant. These guys think no rules, no laws, apply to them. They believe they make the rules and they apply them as they see fit. Best of luck to anybody who shares that belief because as fast as you can get your little red MAGA hat on, they can turn that on you...and your AR-15 won't help you then.
My question is then, could there have been more effective ways to deal with him than those of exposing his horrible nature, character, and behavior?
Well, I think the way a Trump should be dealt with is basically to treat him as the danger to the world he is. He is getting that treatment from our justice system right now. He broke laws and is being prosecuted for them. The people that helped him break laws have entered guilty pleas...lawyers that were helping him break laws have entered guilty pleas. Meaning, they have admitted to the FACT they committed crimes. This is not lost on those of us that can reason and think but obviously we want a fact to be a fact for everyone.
The media, I believe, have handled Trump with kid gloves and they let his followers off the hook. This is for more than one reason. We have the "true believers" in the media that give Trump special treatment because they want to be part of his chaos and destruction and then we have the media that just sees Trump as a ratings bonanza that keeps people tuned in. He profits both sides of that. If you want people to watch, click on, read a story put Trump in it and mention whatever awful behavior he is displaying in the headline. That will either excite or upset a person based on how they feel about things.
I mean, we could now have a headline that reads "Trump quotes Hitler in how he intends to govern if reelected." and that would depress and upset some of us and for others they would think "Finally, we have a Hitler again!" and they would love it. Of course, there will be those that have no idea Trump quoted Hitler, said he intends to do what Hitler did, and they just think this Trump guy is pretty smart. And we get yet another lesson in why history repeats itself.
My question always remains the same here, who is pulling Trump's strings? He is no student of history, he is not pulling out Hitler quotes and determining how to use them. Unless I am way off here, he does not have the intellect to come up with this stuff. It is being fed to him and then he uses it because, sure, he likes it. Anybody that looks at this cleareyed though will say, Trump is a mark. He probably does not know it, his ego blocks him from seeing reality, so that leads us to the question, is it Trump we are not handling properly or is it the people that pull his strings we are not handling properly? You can take down the puppet, but the puppeteer just pulls out a new puppet. (Waves to Ron DeSantis)
Or, are we actually doing quite well with all of the possible new presidential voters in 2024?
Look, 2024 is, I think hard to predict. I think there are things we can see clearly. Trump has lost a lot of support, I would say, despite what any polling shows right now, his base is smaller but even more loyal. The thing is though, his campaign, while having a massive lead over fellow Republicans, looks shaky. In fact it does not look much like a political campaign and it functions more as a hostile takeover. The tactic they have chosen is destroy the Republican party, morph it into nothing but a Trump cult, force them all to pledge their loyalty to him, and then they will worry about destroying all his enemies in 2025 once he declares himself emperor.
So, we are not on the frontlines of this battle yet, the Republicans are. We are watching to see if they stand or fall. If they fall, Trump completes his coup and the Republican party becomes nothing but his brown shirts, well, we are next in line. It is a bit nerve-wracking that the Republicans have continued to look pretty weak in this battle. Not sure why, I mean other than they fear his insane followers, but how hard is it to stand up and say you don't want a guy that is quoting Hitler to represent you and your party? That should be a gimme.
