I guess I'll take the bait. If it's "pretty clear" that all of these are wins to you, then I think you might be part of the other extreme pole to what you're arguing happens here. Leaving all nuance behind doesn't really help the discussion.
For example: I'm excited to see how trade wars with the world turns out for the US, but I'm not sure it's a guaranteed win.
People portray everything in terms of the ideological war between "democracy" vs "authoritarianism", fitting everything into that narrative even when it doesn't make sense.
It's a nice, simple, easy way to understand what's happening around us, who's good and bad, yet deeply flawed.
There is the theoretical understanding, and then there is how it meshes with reality.
The theoretical understanding is that we are in an ideological war. If you strip away all the nuance and ask for a high level understanding of what is happening right now, that is happening right now.
When meshed into reality it is a bit more complicated... neither side of our government is on the side of democracy. One is straight fascist, the other is in favor of a corporate state or oligarchy. Both party's power primarily comes from news media (oligarch owned) and from legalized bribery (the richest have the most power), so neither can challenge oligarchic power, because oligarchic power is where their power comes from. The fascist party is currently in the process of giving themselves power by replacing enforcement institutions with loyalists. Once all the people who enforce the law are loyalists, they can decide what the law is, and then it's no longer people with money who have all the power, but people the enforcers of "law" are loyal to.
Neither party can fight oligarchy because to fight oligarchy is to disempower themselves. Bernie and AOC might be the only exceptions.
Those things may be true, but he also has signed executive orders directly overstepping the judiciary and legislative branches (e.g. 14160 / birthright citizenship reinterprets the text of the constitution; 14159 / suspending illegal alien rights directly overrides a law passed by congress). He also uses his authority to stop criminal investigations into himself and his loyal supporters (sources 1-4), and he uses his supporter base to illegally threaten his enemies (note: he does not do anything illegal, it's the supporters who do), sources 5-7.
The policy decisions aren't why Trump is being called a dictator and a nazi.
Imagine still talking about "Trump Derangement Syndrome" while "The King" goes on rants about invading Greenland and posts AI videos of Saddam-esque gold statues of himself in "Trump Gaza", all while he wrecks every international relationship we have, turns the economy into chaos, and puts Kash Patel and Dan Bongino on charge of the FBI, after which they openly started dropping investigations against politicians (Eric Adams) contingent on their cooperation with his agenda.
That is a not even close to exhaustive list of only things that have happened in the past two weeks.
And like fuck it's not like recent history is all that counts. January 6th 2021
This is much much more dangerous than you realize. When Russia invaded Ukraine, killing people's families and torturing those who resist in Bucha, "russophobia" was the word Putin used. When China does something evil and people rightfuly don't like it, china calls that "sinophobia."
These are words that mean there will be no compromise. It's a word that directly represents a state of war. "It's a sickness, so there is no way to reason, the only thing we can do is use force."
These "sicknesses" are a clever linguistic tool. They flip cause and effect. It frames criticism as irrational hatred so that the accusers can see themselves as victims. It dismisses problems with trump as blind hatred and directly ignores any harms caused by Trump.
TDS is straight out of the Russian propaganda playbook.
I think that a right-wing American that reads this can even think it is about the left. They are already that divided. I agree that this is not (or no longer) a place to discuss these things, or play “devils” advocate, or steelmanning the other side, it will be seen as gaslighting. Your post will be buried.
NegatioN|1 year ago
For example: I'm excited to see how trade wars with the world turns out for the US, but I'm not sure it's a guaranteed win.
fmnxl|1 year ago
It's a nice, simple, easy way to understand what's happening around us, who's good and bad, yet deeply flawed.
hayst4ck|1 year ago
The theoretical understanding is that we are in an ideological war. If you strip away all the nuance and ask for a high level understanding of what is happening right now, that is happening right now.
When meshed into reality it is a bit more complicated... neither side of our government is on the side of democracy. One is straight fascist, the other is in favor of a corporate state or oligarchy. Both party's power primarily comes from news media (oligarch owned) and from legalized bribery (the richest have the most power), so neither can challenge oligarchic power, because oligarchic power is where their power comes from. The fascist party is currently in the process of giving themselves power by replacing enforcement institutions with loyalists. Once all the people who enforce the law are loyalists, they can decide what the law is, and then it's no longer people with money who have all the power, but people the enforcers of "law" are loyal to.
Neither party can fight oligarchy because to fight oligarchy is to disempower themselves. Bernie and AOC might be the only exceptions.
alabastervlog|1 year ago
I call them Nazis because they claimed the label, about as unambiguously as possible.
briandear|1 year ago
[deleted]
CGamesPlay|1 year ago
The policy decisions aren't why Trump is being called a dictator and a nazi.
[1] domestic abuse arrest warrant not granted https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/controve...
[2] corruption investigation dropped https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-je...
[3] corruption investigation dropped https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
[4] campaign finance investigation dropped https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/31/an...
[5] "credible death threats" https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-congress-politic...
[6] "at least one gentleman who went to prison for making threats" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/republicans-...
[7] "subjected to waves of Maga attacks" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/16/donald...
galimalint|1 year ago
Biden pardoned his entire family. Is he a dictator?
dralley|1 year ago
That is a not even close to exhaustive list of only things that have happened in the past two weeks.
And like fuck it's not like recent history is all that counts. January 6th 2021
hayst4ck|1 year ago
This is much much more dangerous than you realize. When Russia invaded Ukraine, killing people's families and torturing those who resist in Bucha, "russophobia" was the word Putin used. When China does something evil and people rightfuly don't like it, china calls that "sinophobia."
These are words that mean there will be no compromise. It's a word that directly represents a state of war. "It's a sickness, so there is no way to reason, the only thing we can do is use force."
These "sicknesses" are a clever linguistic tool. They flip cause and effect. It frames criticism as irrational hatred so that the accusers can see themselves as victims. It dismisses problems with trump as blind hatred and directly ignores any harms caused by Trump.
TDS is straight out of the Russian propaganda playbook.
galimalint|1 year ago
[deleted]
teekert|1 year ago
mjmcau|1 year ago
hayst4ck|1 year ago
dragonwriter|1 year ago