If Trump is elected in November, America’s decent into authoritarian fascism will be complete.
I am reminded of a debate in the British Parliament on March 19, 1935, in which Winston Churchill was concerned that the current government wasn’t taking the threat of the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the rapid rearmament taking place there seriously enough. Specifically, he was upset that not enough funds were being allocated to build military aircraft in anticipation of a possible future war between Germany and Britain. In his arguments, he extracted a few lines from the late-19th century poem by Edwin James Milliken, “Sleep and His Brother Death”:
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axels creek and the couplings strain.
For the pace is hot and the points are near,
And sleep hath deadened the drivers ear…
And signals flash through the night in vain.
Death is in charge of the clattering train.
So I ask today, in November, who will be in charge of our clattering train?
Will it be the 100,000 or so “uncommitted” voters in Michigan, upset about civilian deaths in Gaza, but apparently unconcerned about other civilian deaths, in Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, and Myanmar, who will sit out the election? Will it be OK with them that we may have authoritarian fascism in charge of our train for perhaps generations to come?
Will it be a few 10s of thousands of young voters, too busy playing Grand Theft Auto, or Mindcraft, or Warhammer, to get out and vote?
Will it be a few unconcerned folks too busy watching funny cat videos and make-up lessons on TikTok to get out and vote?
Or, will enough people take this pivotal moment in American history seriously and vote for VP Harris? I wish I could say for sure.
No question, too many recent grads don't get involved and have their heads in the sand . I have two sons , one cares and the other is involved in his EMT work and gaming while turning a deaf ear to the cacaphony of blaring political messages and fear mongering . He just wants to hide. I have to say, Trump has crossed the sound and personal space barrier with his stupid, furious spew to the point where even I just want it all over to shut his barrage down. I already voted in MA and come hell or high water will drag the ostrich who lives with me to the poling station upon threat of shutting off his connectivity.
it is hard to believe we are in 2024 and the same old human frailties in character are getting front page news. No different than any one of the numerous manipulative and defective cult inspiring orators through time , Trump's platform will eventually implode here in the U.S. as he continues his unintelligible rantings and inability to grasp the required realities this world needs to survive , inclusive of social and environmental progress. It is too difficult to fathom, especially in today's United States, that which has come this far will slip back for any more than a disgusting exclamation point in time. While it may be possible he may win, I have to tell myself it cannot last.
I hear your anger. I feel it. We are angry and blaming the voters. I am; they are so plain stupid. They don't know we are in this together and need us to act individually with a grip on the situation at hand. We all will suffer. It won't be over with a Harris/Walz win, should we be so fortunate.
We support some candidates down ballot as well as at the top. This country has some really great leaders. But it's always been a struggle against, I will say it, evil.
The Evil here is selfishness and striving to grab power, taking advantage of weaknesses in people and the system. That is what we are up against now. It's a question whether or not this country, this system we have, will survive. We will have to care enough. It's never been gamed like it is now even though we have had the vulnerabilities all along.
I believe that there are too many of us that feel the way we do basically. And we will not succumb. We will come out from under the bed if Trump/Vance wins this. It will still be a battle. Trump is only the head of a snake that has been slithering through our body politic for a long time rather stealthily until now. There is a lot to blame for this complacency looking back. Hindsight is useful but you can't really have it until some suffering makes the point and forces it.
We voted. We watch funny cat videos! I play Spelling Bee (NYT). I need the diversion. I keep up with the news "on my channel", listen (or read) here and Aaron Rupar Substack plus Acyn on twitter and much much else. That's because I can and must. The diversions are needed though. But folks are very busy. They are! Getting and spending...raising their families.... nose to the grindstone.. too much so. They must look up and pay attention. But we also have resentment and hate and blaming being promoted. We have misogyny and racism; we have selfishness and ignorance. This cycle has me more worried that Trump, though much much worse and out loud about it ( as HCR reports) will prevail. Either way, because it's so close, we will have a battle in this country with those types. But at this point, "things are in the saddle".. Emerson.. and I wonder how much more can be done. Kamala Harris is getting the message from those nervous that feel she is not strong enough even though she has been working her ars off. 🤞 There just comes a point....
General Milley had a front row seat on Trump’s mania for four long years (2016-2020) while in office. Given his long service record in defense on America, he should know a dedicated fascist when he sees one, especially one holding a bible aloft while he unleashed security on some activists and used military officers as props for his stunt. If he didn’t know it before, he did know it in that experience (and I’m sure there’s a lot he can’t or won’t say that’s even worse.
We are in big trouble if nearly half of those who vote think that we should follow the fascist Trump back to the 1880s or even farther.
Just look at Russia - a mafia state, a kleptocracy; a state that wages war to recolonize Ukraine; a state where almost all officials high and low routinely lie and steal from the public coffers; where journalists, activists, opposition politicians and foreign tourists can be thrown in prison without due process and some poisoned to silence them in a very public manner.
This is what Donald Trump will do to America since this is what he has been told to do by his BFF Putin. We are on the brink of an attempted dictatorship with only 21 days left to the decision point.
So, thinking ahead to the next "move" on this "chess board" I can see only a few plausible reasons for these blue state rallies:
1) Trump doesn't want to see dwindling crowds, so he's trying to fill out the crowd size by going to places where fewer folks have had the opportunity to attend a rally - a bit of a keep-your-candidate-pacified strategy; or
2) The Trump team is using data on rally attendees to actively recruit aggressive "poll watchers" who could create disturbances in blue states on election day.
Those ideas aren't mutually exclusive, actually. The first would sort of suggest that the team is trying to hold Trump together long enough to steal the election, after which they're free to sub in J.D. Vance. The second - that's just part of the steal.
I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t believed these presidential polls for at least a year. Is there any chance that Trump and/or his allies have played with them somehow?
As a Louisiana Republican I must say todays article was a bit extreme. I don’t always vote Republican Party lines, but articles like this don’t inspire me to vote for for Kamela Harris. How many Presidents have been for government by big businesses and for big businesses. I didn’t vote for any Bush, talk about Facist. Prove to me Kamela will keep her promise to support small businesses and I’m in. With two caveats no debt forgiveness or guaranteed loans. I had to make it by the sweat of my brow in much tougher time, and so should the entrepreneurs of today. Let’s not be Socialists while we’re condemning Facism.
If Trump is elected in November, America’s decent into authoritarian fascism will be complete.
I am reminded of a debate in the British Parliament on March 19, 1935, in which Winston Churchill was concerned that the current government wasn’t taking the threat of the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the rapid rearmament taking place there seriously enough. Specifically, he was upset that not enough funds were being allocated to build military aircraft in anticipation of a possible future war between Germany and Britain. In his arguments, he extracted a few lines from the late-19th century poem by Edwin James Milliken, “Sleep and His Brother Death”:
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axels creek and the couplings strain.
For the pace is hot and the points are near,
And sleep hath deadened the drivers ear…
And signals flash through the night in vain.
Death is in charge of the clattering train.
So I ask today, in November, who will be in charge of our clattering train?
Will it be the 100,000 or so “uncommitted” voters in Michigan, upset about civilian deaths in Gaza, but apparently unconcerned about other civilian deaths, in Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, and Myanmar, who will sit out the election? Will it be OK with them that we may have authoritarian fascism in charge of our train for perhaps generations to come?
Will it be a few 10s of thousands of young voters, too busy playing Grand Theft Auto, or Mindcraft, or Warhammer, to get out and vote?
Will it be a few unconcerned folks too busy watching funny cat videos and make-up lessons on TikTok to get out and vote?
Or, will enough people take this pivotal moment in American history seriously and vote for VP Harris? I wish I could say for sure.
No question, too many recent grads don't get involved and have their heads in the sand . I have two sons , one cares and the other is involved in his EMT work and gaming while turning a deaf ear to the cacaphony of blaring political messages and fear mongering . He just wants to hide. I have to say, Trump has crossed the sound and personal space barrier with his stupid, furious spew to the point where even I just want it all over to shut his barrage down. I already voted in MA and come hell or high water will drag the ostrich who lives with me to the poling station upon threat of shutting off his connectivity.
I wanna hide too…I’m 69yo!
it is hard to believe we are in 2024 and the same old human frailties in character are getting front page news. No different than any one of the numerous manipulative and defective cult inspiring orators through time , Trump's platform will eventually implode here in the U.S. as he continues his unintelligible rantings and inability to grasp the required realities this world needs to survive , inclusive of social and environmental progress. It is too difficult to fathom, especially in today's United States, that which has come this far will slip back for any more than a disgusting exclamation point in time. While it may be possible he may win, I have to tell myself it cannot last.
I hear your anger. I feel it. We are angry and blaming the voters. I am; they are so plain stupid. They don't know we are in this together and need us to act individually with a grip on the situation at hand. We all will suffer. It won't be over with a Harris/Walz win, should we be so fortunate.
We support some candidates down ballot as well as at the top. This country has some really great leaders. But it's always been a struggle against, I will say it, evil.
The Evil here is selfishness and striving to grab power, taking advantage of weaknesses in people and the system. That is what we are up against now. It's a question whether or not this country, this system we have, will survive. We will have to care enough. It's never been gamed like it is now even though we have had the vulnerabilities all along.
I believe that there are too many of us that feel the way we do basically. And we will not succumb. We will come out from under the bed if Trump/Vance wins this. It will still be a battle. Trump is only the head of a snake that has been slithering through our body politic for a long time rather stealthily until now. There is a lot to blame for this complacency looking back. Hindsight is useful but you can't really have it until some suffering makes the point and forces it.
We voted. We watch funny cat videos! I play Spelling Bee (NYT). I need the diversion. I keep up with the news "on my channel", listen (or read) here and Aaron Rupar Substack plus Acyn on twitter and much much else. That's because I can and must. The diversions are needed though. But folks are very busy. They are! Getting and spending...raising their families.... nose to the grindstone.. too much so. They must look up and pay attention. But we also have resentment and hate and blaming being promoted. We have misogyny and racism; we have selfishness and ignorance. This cycle has me more worried that Trump, though much much worse and out loud about it ( as HCR reports) will prevail. Either way, because it's so close, we will have a battle in this country with those types. But at this point, "things are in the saddle".. Emerson.. and I wonder how much more can be done. Kamala Harris is getting the message from those nervous that feel she is not strong enough even though she has been working her ars off. 🤞 There just comes a point....
May I post your Comment? Excellent post.
Yes, of course you can post. The comments I make here are just my own musings, thoughts, opinions and sometimes mindless blathering…
General Milley had a front row seat on Trump’s mania for four long years (2016-2020) while in office. Given his long service record in defense on America, he should know a dedicated fascist when he sees one, especially one holding a bible aloft while he unleashed security on some activists and used military officers as props for his stunt. If he didn’t know it before, he did know it in that experience (and I’m sure there’s a lot he can’t or won’t say that’s even worse.
We are in big trouble if nearly half of those who vote think that we should follow the fascist Trump back to the 1880s or even farther.
Just look at Russia - a mafia state, a kleptocracy; a state that wages war to recolonize Ukraine; a state where almost all officials high and low routinely lie and steal from the public coffers; where journalists, activists, opposition politicians and foreign tourists can be thrown in prison without due process and some poisoned to silence them in a very public manner.
This is what Donald Trump will do to America since this is what he has been told to do by his BFF Putin. We are on the brink of an attempted dictatorship with only 21 days left to the decision point.
Thanks Don for the Churchill speech!
Trump as president again? Again? Oh, the horror! How can we be this stupid?
So, thinking ahead to the next "move" on this "chess board" I can see only a few plausible reasons for these blue state rallies:
1) Trump doesn't want to see dwindling crowds, so he's trying to fill out the crowd size by going to places where fewer folks have had the opportunity to attend a rally - a bit of a keep-your-candidate-pacified strategy; or
2) The Trump team is using data on rally attendees to actively recruit aggressive "poll watchers" who could create disturbances in blue states on election day.
Those ideas aren't mutually exclusive, actually. The first would sort of suggest that the team is trying to hold Trump together long enough to steal the election, after which they're free to sub in J.D. Vance. The second - that's just part of the steal.
Vote early where you can, friends!
Revitalization movements and the Messianic:
A warning:
Matthew 24:23-28
I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t believed these presidential polls for at least a year. Is there any chance that Trump and/or his allies have played with them somehow?
Verrrry scary indeed
As a Louisiana Republican I must say todays article was a bit extreme. I don’t always vote Republican Party lines, but articles like this don’t inspire me to vote for for Kamela Harris. How many Presidents have been for government by big businesses and for big businesses. I didn’t vote for any Bush, talk about Facist. Prove to me Kamela will keep her promise to support small businesses and I’m in. With two caveats no debt forgiveness or guaranteed loans. I had to make it by the sweat of my brow in much tougher time, and so should the entrepreneurs of today. Let’s not be Socialists while we’re condemning Facism.