Watch the Sword, Not the Flag!

People, look at the sword, not the flag!! Trump is a master of deceit, deftly focusing attention away from the real stories. Real stories include rampant conflicts of interest, deliberate manipulation of news in ways that harm political enemies, cabinet appointments of people who plan to dismantle the agencies they're  assigned to shepherd, and fishing expeditions for the names of career civil servants who worked on particular projects.

But there's also a dual purpose in the scintillating hint that the nuclear arms race is about to be revived. One of the first steps that every authoritarian / fascist / totalitarian regime takes is to create a perceived threat which is then utilized to justify allocation of resources and erosion of liberty and privacy. Both Putin and Trump need an excuse to rattle their sabers and create crises, in order to justify what comes next. 

If you are a Republican and have read this far and think the poor little liberal has lost their mind, be warned. Consolidation of power by the would be despot takes awhile. The first who will  be attacked are the old-school Republicans who stand up for principles of fairness and decency, like McCain, Romney, and Lindsey. But after that, anyone who crosses the fascist Right will be targeted. It took Stalin 23 years to fully consolidate his power, but by 1940, Stalin was the only survivor, literally, from among the top political officials at the time of Lenin's death. 

You say it can't happen here, but it can. The only gate that prevents this happening in any society is the gate imposed by those who recognize the signs and stand against it.

Why President Elect Trump Does Not Represent Politics As Usual (Part I: COMMONALITIES OF FASCIST REGIMES)

No one, ever, wakes up and says, "I think I'll become an alcoholic today."  Alcoholism comes on slowly, taking us unaware, until we find ourselves unable to resist its inexorable grip.  In a similar way, this is how Fascism overtakes societies.  No democratic society makes a deliberate decision to give up freedom in favor of Fascism.  It comes on slowly.  We make compromises in favor of what seems to be the greater good.  The compromises then become larger and larger until we find ourselves inextricably tied up in more than we bargained for.

These small, baby steps have been happening in the USA for a long time.  I won't go into details to support that statement. Those who choose not to see, would not believe me anyway, no matter what evidence I present.  Let me merely say, "He who has eyes, let him see, and he who has ears, let him hear."  The USA is well on its way to becoming a Fascist state.  This is not a "Democrat" or "Republican" thing, either.  In a future blog post, I will show how policies of both major political parties have failed to staunch these tendencies.

Moreover, Trump is not an anomaly.  He is a logical result, merely taking a tendency one step further.   But he is, indeed, extreme.  This is why his election does NOT represent  "politics as usual."  The water has turned from tepid to hot. It's time to take notice, and stop it, before it's too late.

No one wants to hear that, including me.   But, if you are willing to be honest, take a hard look at these characteristics I've compiled below, with characteristics of Fascist regimes.  Judge for yourself where the USA falls on this scale.  Whether you believe me now, or not, it is important for all of us to know the following signs of the slide into Fascism, and resist wherever we find it: