A theme running through much testimony by eyewitnesses as Hitler's fascist movement rose to power in Germany was that the Nazis initially represented only a limited percentage of Germans.

[darcher@hachyderm.io]

@wdlindsy

"... a society that is continually changing to embrace new peoples, cultures and technologies, products, environmental constraints, languages, religions, forms of expression, gender identities, sexual affinities, and so on."

No. Absolutely not. Do not even start down this road unless you're willing to walk side by side with fascists.

Solidarity means solidarity, not divisive anti-immigrant culture war stuff. Stop listening to pundits and start talking to your neighbors instead.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@darcher It's interesting, isn't it, how terms like "fascist" can be turned right on their heads by people who promote agendas consonant with fascism, but who want to pretend those opposing them are fascists? Sort of like quoting Martin Luther King to justify racism. Or like Putin calling the Ukranians Nazis….

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Trump’s cabinet appointments are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance. … Wrecking the government is not only Trump’s technique for gaining submission and compliance, but is his ultimate purpose."

~ Sidney Blumenthal

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/14

Trump’s cabinet picks are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance | Sidney Blumenthal

With them, Trump will tear down any person or institution that tried to restrain his worst impulses or hold him accountable

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"One of the reasons those of us who’ve been paying attention were devastated by the results of the 2024 election is because we know not only how cruel my uncle and his supporters are, but just how cruel they intend to be. …

In the last two weeks, Donald has made it clear through his cabinet picks that he—and they—intend to cause as much pain as possible to their perceived enemies and to the most vulnerable among us."

~ Mary Trump

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/15

Cruelty as Tactic

Who traffics in identity politics?

(www.marytrump.org)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Trump is … an atavist, inviting citizens to satisfy all of their hungry drives, all of their libidinous instincts: His America is a place for malign energies to express themselves in action. There’s a certain pleasure in that, perhaps, a kind of psychic relief—to lose oneself in a radical movement and to express feelings normally prohibited by society."

~ Elizabeth Bruenig

The cruelty is the point.

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/16

Another Theory of the Trump Movement

Who else but Sigmund Freud to help explain?

The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Beyond all the hot takes of who was up and who was down compared to the last election, the clearest answer to why Trump will be returning to the White House is that white Christians, more than any other religious group, returned to the polls to put him there."

~ Robert P. Jones

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/17

The Rest of the Story: White Christians and the Second Coming of Trump

Sharing my interview with Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post and Chauncey Devega at Salon.

(www.whitetoolong.net)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Trump once more owes his victory entirely ... to the votes of white Christian nationalists, people who frankly overwhelmingly favor strong leaders. They want someone to be the victor against evil. They want someone to crush their enemies."

~ Jennifer Rubin

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/18

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"They want someone to impose their Christian values on the rest of us and they take a dim view, frankly, of the ast 50 or 60 years of progress for women minorities anyone who isn't a white male."

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/19

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The biggest thing mainstream analysis refuses to comprehend is the continued power of a politics of racial grievance and religious nostalgia among white Christian Americans."

~ Robert P. Jones

The media comprehend this. They just do not intend to admit it, because tax cuts for their super-rich owners and managers count more than anything, and admitting the price of getting those tax cuts is shameful.

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/20

ERROR: The request could not be satisfied

(www.salon.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The answer to the question on so many Americans’ lips — 'How did we get here?' — is straightforward. That answer won’t be found in the margins of which group shifted toward Trump between 2020 and 2024. It is right in front of us. White evangelical Protestants, along with other conservative white Christians, were the principal actors who baptized, defended, rehabilitated and sustained Trump’s candidacy."

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/21

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"More than any other group, these white Christians, who once proudly called themselves 'values voters,' have provided moral and religious cover for the immoral and the profane. …

The responsibility for Trump’s initial rise to power, his resurrection and everything that is now coming sits squarely with white Christian Americans."

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/22

[humanhorseshoes@mastodon.world]

@wdlindsy Religion is only a cover

[arqtec@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

I like Girls
and they liked me
Younger than I am Now
I moved to Hawaii, lived right in Waikiki on Kioniana Street in-between the aliwai Canal and the Kalacawa
My Buddy and me would go to the Airport and greet whole DC-8's that had no swinging' Dicks on board other than the pilots
I liked girls, whole college age wonderful bikini women, and I had a lot of sunscreen !!
When they invent a time machine I am going back to 1969 Hawaii
Honama Bay, The Toilet Bowl, The Pali lookout & Don Hoe

[jstatepost@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy
🥥 In case you're wondering who's paying attention to your threads, William, Eye for one, look forward to them and usually boost or favorite most of the posts. 🥥

[greenfire@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy
I don't think that we're giving the Kremlin as much credit as they are due for creating so much division in our society personally.

[davidpnice@mastodon.online]

@wdlindsy Id-iocy. The irrational dark forces are underrated. The ancient Greeks could tell you about them as much as Freud can.

[patmikemid@sfba.social]

@wdlindsy That is an amazing collection of essays. Thank you for sharing.

[havvyhh2@mas.to]

@wdlindsy the conundrum being that these people, as you've pointed out, have thrown virtually all the hallmarks, all the fundamental elements of their "religion", right under the bus, then kicked the remains into the sewer, in supporting a movement, with a vile, corrupt, immoral leader, who has promised to dismantle, and ignore until done dismantling, the core of the system of governance that protects their "religious" freedom. Nearly the perfect definition of Enemies of America.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

“I refuse to accept that Republicans just did a better job of responding to the concerns of the majority of 'real Americans,' when their first piece of post-Trump legislation is a bathroom bill that literally targets one (1) (ONE!!!) person.”

~ Ginny Hogan

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future

/23

Ginny Hogan on Substack

I refuse to accept that Republicans just did a better job of responding to the concerns of the majority of "real Americans," when their first piece of post-Trump legislation is a bathroom bill that literally targets one (1) (ONE!!!) person

Substack (substack.com)

[acronymesis@mastodon.world]

@wdlindsy Republicans did a better job of making up problems that don’t actually exist, using disinformation and generally lying to people to play at their emotions and get them to vote for the fascist candidate. That’s it.