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Greg's avatar

Students of the rise of fascism ( actual historians) might consider this downplaying of the threat of totalitarianism to be dangerously naive. Those unfamiliar with the dismantling of democracies ( that would be most of us) have no idea when to be alarmed by Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, and his state intentions. What I hear is that it happens very quickly….. Did Hitler dismantle Germany’s government checks and balances in 54 days, as has been suggested? Just what are Trump’s real objectives, and what key results have already been delivered by a compliant congress and Supreme Court? Is this the time to disregard real and present threats?

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Zachary Karabell's avatar

Thanks Greg. Though to be accurate, I am an actual historian with an actual PhD. Which doesn’t make me anything other than any person with an opinion. And no historian has a crystal ball about what aspect of the present will create what future. And also to keep in mind: German democracy in 1933 was an infant, barely a decade old and in no way deeply entrenched in society.

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coralie koonce's avatar

You imply that democracy is "deeply entrenched" in this country. But half the country now reads at a 5th or 6th grade level or less, the mainstream media is owned by five mega-corporations, and we are given plenty of toys to play with.

No, I am not an actual historian with a degree in history (APPEAL TO AUTHORITY).

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Gary Reynolds's avatar

The are no real and present threats only the cacophony of the Democrats (supported by MSM) who lost the election after hoodwinking the American Public for 4 year! They lied and supported an incompetent Administration and SSLWD President/WH. The MSM (who are 96% Democrats in their political affiliation) gladly carried the false narrative continually!

Now they are using scare tactics and pushing narrative talking points with the media and using the Courts to block his agenda which he promised openly prior to being elected.

Democrats believe the administration has veered into authoritarianism, that American democracy is facing an unprecedented attack, and that we are in an existential contest between freedom and an oligarchic, fascist, kleptocratic future. What a load of poppycock!

All of their rantings are self serving partisanship in an effort to win back Congress in 2026 and continue their progressive reformation of America.

If you believe our Borders should be secure, that Legal Immigration is fine, that Government fraud, waste and inefficiency should be rooted out, that we should Re-Shore a lot of the Jobs we sent overseas, that our supply-chain should not be controlled by China and that China is an existential threat to World order and peace, that we are unsustainably carry too much Debt, that our Taxation and Spending should be fiscally aligned then you need to support what this administration is trying to accomplish. Stay calm and carry on for Democracy is safe and another election will happen in 2026 and 2028.

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Rebecca Ayraud's avatar

You are leaving out the human side of what the republican regime is doing. Taking people who are in this country legally and throwing them into prison outside the United States is not even remotely close to being fair or right! And then the regime admits its error but refuses to go and get the man out of prison!

How is this making America great?

How is firing government employees who have devoted their careers to furthering science and education right and “efficient”?

Sir, we Democrats have not been perfect, and we are doing soul searching right now, but we have always respected the Constitution and the rule of law!

And on a personal note, if you want to be seen as remotely competent and educated, learn the rules for capitalizing English words. Hint: only proper nouns are capitalized.

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Gary Reynolds's avatar

I'm not writing a formal paper for submission and grading first off!

Secondly please provide validation of "legal' persons within the States have been summarily thrown into prisons in other Countries. He was on a deportation notice for being here illegally and his past criminal records were a facto. It was a legitimate deportation of a criminal. End of story.

People get fired all the time in the private second (2 times myself when a company was going through difficult time); RIFs happen. And merit based evaluations or LIFO are legitimate ways of dealing with RIFS.

As for Dems honoring the Constitution please go back and check actions in the past say 6 administrations regarding deporting illegals within the USA. And for the record the last two Democrat Presidents have used various departments within the government to target their opponents.

You have a good life!

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Rebecca Ayraud's avatar

If you want to continue to be a sloppy writer, feel free. If you want people to seriously read what you have to say, learn capitalization.

If you are referring to the man who was illegally and mistakenly thrown into an El Salvador prison, he WAS HERE LEGALLY, and was not scheduled to be deported. I don’t know what your news source for this story is, and I am seriously interested in learning about it.

I am very worried about the government’s actions. For example, Elon Musk is not a government employee; yet you seem to think he is qualified to fire government employees as he did in his own company. This is not right, no matter if you think our government departments are over-staffed! There are better and more humane ways to downsize government, if they have to be downsized!

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Barbara L Taylor's avatar

Dear Mr Karabell,

At the very least you are being complacent. And by the way: saying that 145% tariffs cannot be sustained because they are unsustainable is a tautology.

Apart from the chaos surrounding the tariffs and DOGE, have you noticed the plain clothed, masked ICE agents literally kidnapping people off the street. Have you noticed the all-out attempt to defy the courts, including the Supreme Court, on the issue of deportations, especially those to El Salvador's appalling prison system. Undermining the rule of law is frightening at best. You diminish the impact of COVID, but how fast did Medieval Society notice the profound effect the Plague had on the Feudal system. When peasants realized the scarcity of labor had become a bargaining tool, the feudal social compact was undermined. Just as the "high" middle ages have been described by professional historians as a harbinger of modernity, perhaps what we are seeing is our own harbinger of a post modern social compact. I am all for optimism, but with some realism thrown in

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Zachary Karabell's avatar

So easy to dismiss lack of hyperbole as “complacency”. And you do know that plain clothed CIA officers or FBI took perhaps 1000 Americans and some green card holders and sent them abroad for enhanced interrogation (torture) under Patriot Act laws post 9/11? Where were warnings of fascinating them? Were we all complacent then? And the courts have hardly been supine and this story of how those El Salvador deportations play out is hardly set.

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Marie Brennan's avatar

Alternative interpretation: the fact that we did NOT react very strongly when those previous offenses happened left the window wide open for more and worse offenses now. And if we just say, "welp, democracy will probably survive" right now, what will happen the next time someone pushes that window a little further?

Again, you are right that we don't *know* what's going to happen. But I have yet to see anything like a compelling argument that sitting back and waiting for it play out, rather than calling out authoritarian maneuvers when we see them and opposing them as best as we can, is going to produce a better future. This hyperbole is not merely individuals trying to predict the future; it's them trying to *shape* it, issuing calls to action so that we, the American people, will *do something* about the direction our government is headed in. If we wait until we're obviously in the situation of some of those other countries you name to agree that yeah, wow, this is bad, then it will be far too late to salvage what we've lost.

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Rebecca Ayraud's avatar

This is not fair! Our country was attacked, and many innocent people died on 9/11. There may have been a clear and present danger at the time, and we could not know who was behind the attacks.

What happened at Guantanamo was disgraceful, and we should definitely question those actions! But surely you agree the situation was much different then!

But now, immigrants who come to our country only want to live and work, for the most part. They don’t want to destroy us; they want to be part of us! How is it right to send these people to prison for wanting to have what we have? The current president wants to do just that!

We now have immediate access to news, and it comes from many sources, for good or ill, and we know what is happening as it happens.

I believe if we had known what was happening to people after 9/11, many of us would have spoken out!

And by the way, a Republican was in charge at the time. I believe President Bush was an honorable man, although I didn’t agree with his politics. But he authorized those people’s removal.

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Gary Reynolds's avatar

Illegals have broken our Laws and should be removed as is done in every other Country!

We do NOT owe the residents of mismanaged and corrupt societies in under developed Countries the freedom to damage our Country and our Citizens. The prime directive of the Executive Branch is to maintain our Security and promote a strong economy.

As a Libertarian I am biased to a certain extent but what I see are Democrat sore losers in the last election using the courts to try and focus on maintaining the status quo that has evolved under their progressivisms rather than pursuing new

sustainable ideas to reinvigorate our Country fiscally, economically and our Security.

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Nobodyknowsnothing's avatar

The upcoming plot twist which already developing is when these tariffs either are dramatically reduced or eliminated for most of our trading partners with the exception of China that will face higher tariffs than before (most likely scenario) but nothing close to current 145% levels and the doomsday narrative that many envision will be proven completely wrong.

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Catherine Hills's avatar

- yes agree with this write - the worse situation is when u don’t know u don’t know -

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Mary Andersen's avatar

Perhaps we can be optimistic about the future under Trump and GOP legislatures, but the wheels are still turning. What is certain is that people must reduce spending and create robust savings to make it through the next few years. Also, advising people to seriously maintain their relationships with family and friends in order to add stability to a messy era. It will take years to undo Plan 2025, and if Trump approves more Supreme Court judges, the Constitution will take more hits. Keep in mind that the GOP Constitutional Convention is a couple states away from happening.

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coralie koonce's avatar

Who is running the country, Trump or the oligarchs who put him in place and can take him out anytime they consider it expedient?

Liberals are stupid and easily fooled.

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Marlene McEwan's avatar

I’m someone in the middle and I appreciate you saying that we don’t have to be reactive just yet. We don’t like it but sometimes it just means we disagree (not that it’s unconstitutional). Please help me say what I want to say - that change is coming and our bipartisan country has many splinters in it.

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