The media is inexplicably obsessed with whatever is going on or not going on with Kate Middleton and whatever kind of cancer she has. Meanwhile, the oceans are burning, the ice caps are melting and we are sleepwalking toward fascism.
It Was Always About Kate
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Sleepwalking toward fascism? Agree to disagree? ESR (Ever Since Reagan) an erosion of civil liberties has been steadily increasing. If you watch the Three Stooges (You Nazty Spy!, 1940), the opening scene of the short is three industrialists helping to put Moe Hailstone in power. In the non-Stooge version, I.G. Farben and Krupp rescued the Nazis from bankruptcy. Why? Because Hitler offered to eliminate trade unions and communists. They came up with $30 million (in today’s money) so that the Nazis could put their financial house in order. If Moe Howard knew it in 1940, we need to start watching more black-and-white comedy shorts.
The stranglehold of neoliberal control of government is well documented. Donna Brazile wrote about how Hillary Clinton bailed out the dnc, showing how easy (and for just about the same amount Krupp and Farben spent) it is to take control of the political process.
The idea that Donald Trump is some dire existential threat? He’s scientifically illiterate. In an era where scientific awareness in politicians may be the only thing that saves us, I don’t think any president since Carter has had anything more than the merest glimmer of any scientific training or education, so that’s hardly new.
Trump’s a bully? They’re all bullies. Bullying isn’t just knocking someone down in the playground. Obama taking a microsip of Flint, Michigan, water. Bill Clinton “feeling our pain” and then signing off on NAFTA? Those are the acts of bullies, too, because they are denying the humanity of the people being victimized by the actions. So Trump’s a bully. He’s got plenty of company.
Seriously. Go item by item down the list. Whatever criticism Trump gets, there’s at least one other president who gets the same check mark. The only plus for Trump is that he won’t just slowly let the creep toward totalitarianism continue. He’s going to try to jump to the end. And nothing else is going to wake up a sufficient number of people.
And now, off to moderation!
Well said, well said! The only qualifier I could add is that a big jump towards fascism MIGHT wake up a sufficient number of people. No guarantees. Meanwhile, the Democrats are happily embracing totalitarian repression in the name of “stopping Trump.” Schtup any adult you want, but don’t you dare criticize US foreign policy!
No need to wait for 2025. Congressman Tim Walberg, a US House representative from Michigan, suggested that the US should subject the Gaza to a nuclear bombing similar to what happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and that we could end the Ukraine war by nuking Russia. So the world might end before summer 2024.