(05-03-2017, 11:55 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(05-03-2017, 02:43 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Most of us underestimated the talent of Donald Trump as a jungle fighter. Such a capability is typically rare in the upper class, and we Americans were simply unready for it. When did we last have so combative a fighter as a Presidential nominee?
Richard Nixon comes to mind. He was actually quite a good speaker and campaigner.
Richard Nixon was not upper class. Donald Trump is.
We are not accustomed to jungle fighters within the upper class. During World War II, some of the most vicious fascists in Hungary were members of the land-owning elite, often with old and distinguished noble titles. That includes the most vicious antisemites (as Holocaust perpetrators) and proponents of military aggression and diplomatic bullying. I'm not saying that Donald Trump is quite that bad. Of course his language shifts the Overton window. We need to reject this and not make compromises on it.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.