- I don’t recall comparing Bush to Hitler during the election being particularly prevalent.
- It’s actually more of a “Trump’s too stupid to realize that Leni Riefenstahl would be 113 years old, if she were still alive.” Plus, it would be a really bad idea, and Trump doesn’t care if he does stupid things (see his recent comment about shooting someone).
- Bush didn’t win the election. Remember?
- I’ll do with my “political energy” what I damn well please.
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[quote=“TillDusk, post:39, topic:72883”]
Don’t say Trump is like Hitler. Hitler comparisons are about as tired and worn out[/quote]
Except in this case they are completely appropriate. Trump is a demagogue willing to appeal to the worst in human nature to gain power.
Real classy.
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a tomato. he threw a tomato.
I won’t argue that is wasn’t technically a form of assault. But sometimes people get arrested for protesting and that is a worthwhile price. I mean if it an essentially harmless crime like this… a tomato. If he gets fined, I say we fund raise to pay it.
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Yeah, you guys kind of passed that milestone a few hundred years back and have been accelerating ever since.
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Mussolini was a fascist without being a nazi. Trump sounds pretty fascist, but he doesn’t seem to espouse national socialism. If we teach ourselves that in order to be fascist, there have to be goose stepping brown shirts burning books, that makes it a lot easier for the real fascists to get away with it. And opposing them can and should be done with better ideas and better arguments rather than physical assault. Raising the drama level is something fascists like to do, let’s not make their lives any easier.
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That’s a mighty broad generalization.
In the November election, a million more Americans voted for Democrats seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives than Republicans. But that popular vote advantage did not result in control of the chamber. Instead, despite getting fewer votes, Republicans have maintained a commanding control of the House.
Thanks! You made my point for me. The minority claiming majority is so often wrong these days, as is the case in that article you cited. Majorities rarely need to trumpet it.
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This was obviously a carefully planned attack. The assailant made certain he was white before confronting the authorities.
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Hitler is completely the wrong archetype. The correct one is Berlusconi. He created his own political party, which resembled a football supporter’s club. He was a media owner, but then Trump’s money really seems to come from his media presence and brand sales.His dog whistle politics was designed to keep right wing Italians voting for him while he used his position to enrich himself and protect him from arrest for fraud.
I’m not suggesting, though, that Trump consorts with under age prostitutes. That plays well to the Right in Italy, but does not work in the US.
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The difference between Mussolini and Trump, which is why I think the comparison is invalid, is that Mussolini actually had some progressive ideas1, and some of his Blackshirts were actually honorable men who wanted to do the best for Italy. Mussolini’s huge mistake was to ally with Hitler when in fact if he had stayed out as Franco did, WW2 in Europe would most likely have been shorter and Mussolini would have stayed in power forever. (If Mussolini had agreed with Britain and France to oppose Hitler in 1938, history would have been different and Mussolini would probably be remembered much as Churchill is today.)
To put it another way, Mussolini for all his flaws had a chance at greatness and missed it by choosing bad friends. Trump has no chance at greatness.
1 Some of them were muddled, but he genuinely wanted to reform the banks, rebuild Italian industry and modernise the country. A friend with an Italian wife says his in-laws still argue about Mussolini.
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No you were saying that it is all right to meet ideas with violence. How is that not an extreme point of view?
I don’t know if it’s still the case, but back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (ie - when I went to ISU) as long as an Iowa kid’s ACT or SAT scores meet the minimum for acceptance, they have automatic entrance at state universities(they prefered to sneak their own kids in over us over-paying out-of-stateters). Some kids aren’t super bright, but can do quite well on multiple choice exams. Some kids go to UofI for poly-sci or art. Other kids are good at cheating. But then, some kids are real-life trolls.
I think you’re seeing a nice mixed bag of all of the above at play over in Iowa City. Now I’m wondering how his crowds have been in Ames?
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At what cost your aversion to civil disobedience?
Tomato-throwing is more expressive than violent with a long history behind it as well. I for one would rather see the rabble roused in electoral cycles and slow progress than see a populist elected on his message of hate that could foment the need for actual rebellion in response to the purges he would have if given free rein. My children did nothing to deserve interesting times.
If rational speech alone cannot counter this vitriol, do we deserve to be led to the slaughter for it? History says no.
You are also simply incorrect in your assessment of right and wrong, where you could only be correct by pointing out legal or illegal.
It makes you uncomfortable, that is all. And it is what is intended.
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.How much violence? Is causing a clap of air that assaults the eardrums violent? Roars, cheers, jeers?
Is throwing a tomato in Connecticut too violent?
How about Illinois?
Outside of the rally?
Straight up in the air?
If I throw the horns at Trump, or give him the stink-eye, is that too violent?
But I suppose these are just slippery slopes. We’ve already decided upon violence, and are just now determining how much. Once you open your mouth in opposition, you are committing a violent act, and you’re just n steps away from using a gun.
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IKR!?
And tomatoes if you’re lucky or just slightly un-loved by the public, because fresh turnips could fuck you right up.
But 63? Ol’ Vespasian didn’t become Caesar until 69, he was a consul or pro-consul in Africa when he got turnip-ed.
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Oh snap! 
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The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a tomato is a good guy with a tomato.
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If New Jersey had such a statute, surely Christie would have been impeached by this point, as closing a bridge during heavy traffic is really sadistic.
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