[pyrophane]

I'm an American. I struggle almost every day with what feels like a betrayal of our republic by so many voters and leaders, and none of the explanations for why it has happened, even when taken together, are wholly satisfying.

It has shaken my faith in democracy, but at the same time, there's nothing else, so I have no choice but to try to fight for it in what ways I can.

[ghugccrghbvr]

Roger that!

I tell everyone the system can handle it. But Schmidt on yt isn’t wrong.

Excellent username

[thrance]

Material forces. The wealthy have a vested interest in dismantling the state, welfare programs, regulations, etc. Just so they can get more wealth through exploiting the workers.

Hence why they spend billions on propaganda tools like Fox News or influencers (Joe Rogan, Tim Pool...) propping up increasingly right-wing presidents. So far they've been successful: Raegan, Bush & cie. have been slowly but surely making things easier for the wealthy and harder for the workers.

Republicans have always used right-wing populism to get their ways (Blaming migrants, blaming LGBT, blaming leftists). Notice how pro-businesss policies are the only consistent trait between GOP presidency.

Trump is a turning point, he is the first one to do right-wing populism for its own sake instead of simply being pro-business. This is fascism. Here is my preferred definition of fascism if you seek one [1].

Trump is no singular phenomenon, you can compare him in some ways to previous or contemporary fascists: Putin, Mussolini... They all have in common a support from the oligarchy, and a hatred of minorities and leftists.

Until we fix the power imbalances of our democracies and rid it of all money's influence (easier said than done), we will suffer through fascism every 80 years or so. The time it takes for new oligarchs to emerge and accumulate the wealth necessary to dictate politics again.

[1] https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/