Opinion writer lures with comparison to Weimar, but full of Both-Siderism & misleading writing
Both Sides: This writer sets up every opportunity to hint at SHITLER and his Deplorables being parallel to the rise of Hitler, but backs off every time, besides doing the Equivalency thing making us Lefties sound just as bad.
Poor writing: There's a difference between rich writing that evokes layers of possible meanings and writing that is not precise in saying what is meant. For example, here he says SHITLER, "identifies those who oppose him, like the media, as 'enemies of the people.' ” Is this writer really saying that the media *opposes* him by documenting warts-and-all?
I was drawn to this item's premise/title, but got less so in getting deeper into it, fwiw.
*********QUOTE******
https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-america-about-to-suffer-its-weimar-moment?ref=home
DEJA VU
As happened in Germany, we are seeing the collapse of any set of common beliefs among Americans.
Joel Kotkin
.... Under these circumstances, it’s not surprising that respect for the basic folk ways of our republic has disappeared, even at the highest levels of society. President Trump, with his all-too-evident lack of knowledge of how the system works, is a classic authoritarian personality who identifies those who oppose him, like the media, as "enemies of the people.” Some fear that Trump is weaponizing the courts to go after opponents in the bureaucracy and the military, just as Hitler and other dictators once did.
But if Trump is nauseating and dangerous, so too are his critics. From the moment of his election, a large part of the entrenched establishment—in the military, the court systems, the FBI and CIA as well as large parts of the old GOP establishment—have sought to violate their oaths so they can undermine his rule. Even the foreign policy establishment has been weaponized against the current administration to wage “war by other means” against a sitting President. ....
City College Distinguished Professor of History Eric Weitz has described the “proletarianization of the middle class” as one of the precipitating causes of the rise of the Nazis. Germany’s middle ranks were pummeled first by the great inflation of the early 1920s that undermined savings and bankrupted many small businesses. Even during the recovery of the mid-1920s, many felt threatened by large corporations, chain stores and an increasingly militant working class. When the Great Depression hit, many feared that they would soon join the property-less proletariat. ....
A progressive win next year, carrying with it economic and environmental policies that might devastate the country’s heartland, would accentuate the paranoia and even militarization among the Trump base. They may well see an unsuccessful election, set amidst a totally partisan impeachment, as part of a relentless attempt to overthrow the results of the 2016 contest. They would resent progressive moves to ban fracking that would cause enormous economic pain in places like Texas (where the practice has produced as many as 1 million well-paid jobs), West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Dakota. ....
***********UNQUOTE**********
= new reply since forum marked as read
