Conservatives keep calling for an American dictator. Believe them.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The MAGA crowd really want a dictator and to get rid of elections. Making America Great Again means getting rid of rights for everyone other than white conservative idiots/assholes. If TFG is elected in 2024, we can kiss all future elections goodbye and watch as TFG suspends the US Consitution.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/far-right-aspirational-fascism-us-dictator-jesse-kelly-rcna85799?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma&taid=64737a9c3e63f9000107bf22&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

This week, radio host and frequent Fox News guest Jesse Kelly wrote on Twitter that America “needs a dictator.” Kelly’s assertion, part of a dialogue that included Covid denialism and warnings about “monstrous communists,” was met with an equally chilling declaration that he quickly agreed with: “Weimar problems eventually lead to Weimar solutions.”

The words “fascism” and “authoritarian,” once relegated to commentary from and on the fringe, have returned to mainstream political discourse. In many cases, according to scholars who study extremism, they are accurate descriptors for many of the most troubling actions on display from the right-wing’s leading figures. It’s not ideal that it’s become a routine occurrence to see media personalities, think tankers, and others whose large platforms give their rhetoric weight, call for a dictatorship in America.....

Beyond the approving nod to dictatorship in general, the specific dictatorship Kelly seemingly endorsed would in another day and age have been a bright red line that few would cross. The “Weimar” in question is a reference to the Weimar Republic, the name for what remained of the German Empire after its collapse at the end of World War I. In defeat, the Allied Powers demanded harsh punishments from the Central Powers, led by Germany, for acting as the aggressors in the war. Many of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points for a lasting peace were shoved aside in favor of extracting massive financial and territorial reparations from Germany.....

The political turmoil in the U.S. today is nowhere near that of Weimar Germany. Even if it was, the “solution” being advocated was a disaster for the Germans, the people of Europe and the world. And yet, conservatives like Kelly are not shy at all about sharing their beliefs at this point: They are not being metaphorical when they are saying that dictatorship is in America’s future. It may come across as a lament, but in their eyes it is still a viable prescription for the supposed “woke mind virus” that has infected the country. And if you think that dictatorship is the cure for what ails America right now, I fail to see how that is at all different from an endorsement.

[keithbvadu2]

1. Those millions of republicans want an authoritarian gov't but they mistakenly think they will be the

Those millions of republicans want an authoritarian gov't but they mistakenly think they will be the few thousand elites actually in charge.

Those millions are useful tools for those who will actually be in charge.

One poster called it a 'new social feudalism age'.

[Trenzalore]

5. Some of the most militant ones will be in the first few rounds that go

Judging by history if it ever took place. Dictators don't like competition.

[hadEnuf]

21. Night of the long knives part two.

[Trenzalore]

23. Pretty much every dictatorship

The French revolution killed a lot of the people that started it.

[dchill]

19. And they'll all be taken up in the rapture.

[keithbvadu2]

25. Maybe the rapture has already happened... and they're still here... with us.

How can you tell if someone genuinely believes in the end times coming soon?

Are they accumulating worldly wealth?

[RKP5637]

2. And starting another civil war. n/t

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. 9 out of 10 Republicans silent on Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution

This worries me. Agan, if TFG is elected in 2024, we can forget about future elections and kiss the US Constitution goodbye

Link to tweet

https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/9-out-of-10-republicans-silent-on-trumps-calls-to-terminate-the-constitution/

In December 2022, Donald Trump called for the termination of the United States Constitution, citing his long-debunked Big Lie of a stolen election. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

Following these comments, only a handful of Republican elected officials spoke out against Trump’s comments, with the vast majority remaining silent. In the months since, Trump has continued to spread election misinformation and used increasingly violent rhetoric—going as far as to urge his supporters to “Protest, take our nation back” in the event he is indicted. Despite these actions, Trump has been reinstated on Facebook and Instagram despite his increasingly violent rhetoric.

While in office, Donald Trump violated his oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution by instigating the January 6th insurrection and attack on the Capitol. These comments are a reminder that Trump still poses a dire threat to our democracy, and that constitutional accountability remains necessary. Members of his party also have a responsibility to speak out against his call to terminate the Constitution. CREW has launched a tracker recording how Republican members of Congress and governors have responded. If your senators, representatives or governor haven’t commented, reach out to them and ask and then let us know their response using the form below.

Of the 336 former and current GOP members of Congress and governors listed in CREW’s tracker, only 36 have commented on Trump’s call to terminate the constitution at all. From these comments, 29 officials have disagreed with Trump’s statement to terminate the constitution and seven officials do not see his remarks as problematic or a threat to our democracy. None of the 20 House committee chairs have commented on Trump’s statements, and of those 20, only Reps. Mike Bost (IL-12), Jim Jordan (OH-4), Mark Green (TN-7), and Roger Williams (TX-25) have expressed support for Trump’s 2024 candidacy. Thus far, 75 GOP members of Congress and governors are either supporting Trump’s 2024 Presidential run or backing whoever becomes the Republican nominee. Only 19 members of the GOP that CREW tracked have firmly spoken against Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, and a third of those members are no longer in office.

[Trenzalore]

7. Not making light of this

He will likely die before he could finish a second term, which makes whatever troglodyte he selects as a running mate the scarier thing. Both of his sons are too stupid to hold onto power for more than a minute.

[erronis]

12. The power isn't in the office - it's in the controllers.

Whether addlepated djt or coke-brained jr or doofus - they'll all follow orders. Drugs, power, sex, adulation --- addictive personalities and easily controlled.

Yes, the planted VP may be the real executive (like Dicky Cheney?)

Future poli-sci majors can write tons of dissertations on what happened back now - if they are allowed to exist.

[Trenzalore]

13. I don't think Donald is controlled

Maybe I'm naive but it seems like he fires anyone that gives him any kind of half-decent advice that goes against his instinct.

The insurrection wasn't a controlled event, it was a crackpot scheme otherwise it would have been much better organized.

[erronis]

15. Good points. But djt was very easily nudged. Give him a news clip and off he'll go.

I think I've heard that he reacted to whatever story came across the fux-tv screen - that comprised his understanding of the situations.

[Trenzalore]

16. Yes, and they all told him to concede

After the election and he ignored it and did the crackpot scheme. Than didn't take their calls when they were telling him to stop it

[Mr.Bill]

9. If Trump does anything like that

he will have to live in a vault ten stories underground.

[2naSalit]

18. I would seriously consider...

Defecting immediately. Getting kind of fed up where I am lately, might be a good time to start looking around again.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. A second Trump administration would be much worse (we kiss our democratic form of govt. goodbye)

TFG did not think that he was going to win in 2016 and so TFG was no prepared to implement his plans to takeover the US govt. This time around, TFG is planning on destroying our democratic form of government if he is re-elected in 2024

If TFG is re-elected n 2024, we can kiss our democratic form of government goodbye

Link to tweet

https://www.vox.com/2023/5/13/23708595/trump-second-term-cnn-town-hall

In 2016, Trump put absolutely zero effort into preparing for the possibility that he might actually govern after the election. The result is that he took office with a staff heavily drawn from the ranks of the GOP establishment, some of whom worked to curb his most disruptive impulses.

This time around, we can expect no such discordance — meaning that we’re likely to get Trump unleashed from day one.

Moreover, experience with politicians like Trump abroad suggests that Trump’s agenda will be every bit as radical as the town hall suggests — with a focus on dismantling constraints on Trump’s authority and undermining the fairness of the political system.....

The effort to find Trump a friendly staff does not merely cover traditional political appointees. In 2020, Trump issued an executive order called Schedule F — which would, in effect, allow him to convert over thousands of career civil service jobs into political appointees. While Schedule F was not successfully implemented — President Biden rescinded it when he took office — there is an extensive plan in place to revive it as soon as Trump returns to the White House (one that Democrats in Congress tried and failed to block). If successful, it would allow him to replace what he calls the “deep state” with the Trump state.

Trump, in short, will be much better positioned to get “his” people in power this time around — and bend the entirety of the government to his will.

[Mad_Machine76]

35. DeathSantis

is talking a lot about how he plans to leverage Article 2 of the Constitution and Trump was trying to implement Schedule F late in his (mis-)Administration. Chilling stuff, folks

[yardwork]

4. True.

[Cha]

6. They're Fascists Not that long ass

word.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out they want a DICtator.

TY, LMPV

[JustAnotherGen]

8. He's not in good health

So there's that.

[wnylib]

10. My brother was the lone Republican in our Democratic family.

In the 1950s and 1960s, he used to say that democracy doesn't work very well because the common people don't have the sense to govern themselves. He believed that a "benevolent dictatorship" was a superior form of government.

[erronis]

14. Not to agree with your brother, but look at China's command economy vs India's democracy

And I wouldn't call any of China's governments "benevolent".

I can see the sausage-making analogy of democracies quite well, however.

Did you ever find out who he thought might be a "benevolent dictator" for the US? Back in the 50s/60s it might have been along the lines of the John Birch Society. Ike was definitely not the right one, Nixon probably not, McCarthy (HUAC, not temp Speaker)?

[wnylib]

28. I know that he strongly supported Nixon in 1960, and

again in 1968 and 1972. But he was in the Navy and spent two years in Vietnam during the Nixon years. Lost his adoration of Nixon after that experience
Ironically, considering his idea of a benevolent dictator, he was concerned about crackdowns on demonstrators in the 60s and 70s. Said that he was fighting for their freedom to dissent, so why were they punished for it? I don't agree that Vietnam was fought over for our freedoms, but I understand why he was disturbed about the crackdowns. When he returned stateside after 2 years, the country was different from when he left.

He hated Bush Jr's attitude about the military and war. Called him a phony, especially after his son, who had completed his service in the Air Force, was called back up and sent to Iraq.

In 2016, he was a Trumper, and in 2020, too. Trump was his idea of a "benevolent dictator" who also opposed getting us into war. But he did not live long enough to vote for Trump in 2020. Died of covid in July of that year. I have wondered what he would have thought about J6 if he had lived to see it.

[keep_left]

11. "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

--Maya Angelou

These people best be careful what they wish for. Their "Weimar solutions" often end up with a Night of the Long Knives, and they're usually on the business end of those long knives.

[PortTack]

17. He'd have to get by SCOTUS...yes even this conservative court is not going to go along with that

They seek power as well and the courts would not be allowed.

[dchill]

20. The only way they can get what they want...

...is to do away with the rule of law.

[TheRealNorth]

30. Or have judges that will rule in your favor regardless of what the law is....

And a police state to carry it out.

[Orrex]

22. I posted something along these lines earlier, and it was called "ridiculous" & "beyond hyperbole."

So what happens when reality is ridiculous and beyond hyperbole?

[tenderfoot]

36. I know the feeling

Says a lot about them doesn't it?

[LonePirate]

24. They are in for a surprise when that dictator ends the 2A and takes their guns.

Dictators do not like an armed populace. The gundamentalists have no idea what's coming down the pipe for them.

[TheRealNorth]

31. But by that time....

They will have rounded up and either imprisoned/subjugated or executed all the liberal opposition.

[ck4829]

26. They lose when it is One Man, One Vote. They know this.

[Hekate]

29. I believe them, all right

[LetMyPeopleVote]

32. DeathSantis wants to be a dictator

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. 'We want dictator Trump': America First activist calls for 'Trumpian Reich'

Link to tweet

[Hortensis]

34. Not just Republicans. There are authoritarian leaners or

outright needers on the left also. Small numbers comparatively, and weak tea on their own, but potentially enough to throw a national election to RW authoritarians.

Like possibly whatshername who accused Biden of molestation and has now moved ("defected" ) to Russia? She CALLS herself a "liberal democrat," whatever that means to her, but rejects our liberal democracy and embraces Vlad Putin and his quasi-socialist/kleptocratric-capitalist, pseudo-democratic, but always authoritarian state with centralized government headed by a dictator. Where the people, unlike her, have never had a real chance to experience anything but authoritarian government of various types.