And supply side econ was never gonna increase revenues. The Clear Skies Act never had anything to do with clearing the skies. It's all garbage, it's what they do, has been all along.
I'm still thinking about this: "The response I usually hear is that the threat of fascism from the right is now so high, that we need an all-in approach, that we can’t be concerned with purity and that after the crisis has passed we can “go back” to traditional political bickering." There are fights I put off picking with *fellow liberals* because of the threat of fascism. Certain tendencies I find annoying that could become something worse. My hackles go up, but then I read about something ridiculous, like Amanda Gorman's poem being banned, or Republicans praising the killing of Jordan Neely, and I put my issues with fellow liberals aside. But they are there, in the background, perpetually unaddressed.
There is one who seems genuine, and that is Steve Schmidt. He speaks and writes like a person who has undergone a personal change. It seems like that to me because it happened to me too, and we are the same age. He is also properly calling this fascism, which we all need to help educate our friends and neighbors about before 2024.
"But the reason we are at such a low point in history, why so many people are under threat by a steadily radicalized Republican Party and conservative movement, is thanks to the decades of evil built by figures like Dowd, who knew exactly what they were doing — they just would prefer it sold with a soft edge like Bush instead of a blunt instrument like Trump."
Exactly right, every word.
There is no 'fascist-adjacent', 'or 'quasi-fascist', or 'just a smidge fascist'.
There are the nakedly fascist, and the camouflaged fascist.
The camouflaged fascist wants the naked fascists to do the ugly work of building the apartheid state through brutality, murder and genocide.
The camouflaged fascist wants plausible deniability, and will be quick to scold about 'not painting them with the broad brush, we're not all like naked fascist who chokes the life out someone who, well, was not really a person who probably deserved to have the life choked out of them'.
The camouflaged fascist wants freedom- freedom from personal accountability, while inciting the naked fascists to greater heights of vicious, depraved atrocities. In code, of course. Defending Western culture and traditional morality and some such.
Deep down, of course, the camouflaged fascist is comforted in the knowledge that somewhere there's a naked fascist prepared to choke the life out someone deserved to have the life choked out of them.
The camouflaged fascist celebrates this. Which is why they do everything in their power to make it happen, while claiming to have no part in it.
I don’t know anyone who has changed their position on other issues just because Liz Cheney has blasted Trump (and unlike those on the left who created this straw man argument) she’s paid a price. You don’t name names but I’ll be glad to see what you come up with in the category of those who have converted to Liz Cheney and her views because of her position on Trump. I can and will acknowledge that she’s right about Trump if nothing else, do you agree or disagree? I’m also perplexed by the idea that Dowd cannot change his mind on gay marriage in the nearly twenty years since 2004 especially since nearly every major democrat had supported DOMA (a truly terrible law in hindsight 25 years later) as a way to head off a constitutional amendment and none of them supported gay marriage until Biden spoke up circa 2011. Every election is close and the Republicans remain stuck on 46-47% and anything that keeps them there is good for our fight. This reminds me of a classic piece by the not so great Charles Pierce about Dowd in which he ripped Dowd’s stand on gun control in 2004. Not acknowledged by Pierce is that Dowds position then was the same as that of St. Bernie of Burlington who apparently is allowed to change his principled mind in 2016 coincidentally while running for president.
Spot on, this has always bothered me. It isn't working together with people, but giving a bunch of Right wing, typically cisgendered, straight, white men a pass for their abuses. I, in fact, know the former chairman of the Washington State GOP. While I do see him as a good guy, who calls himself "politically homeless," I recall very vividly, him repeating what I now see as racist talking points, in regard to automatic voter registration in our state, back in 2003, when I was still a gaslit member of the GOP. He described this as a Democratic-led plot, to cement "one-party rule" and create "automatic Democratic voters." His reasoning, that voting isn't a "right," but a "privilege," one that should be respected by hard work and effort, such as putting in the time and effort to register to vote. He claimed then that the people the "Democratic party attracts," Black, brown, Indigenous, illegal immigrants, queer and transgender individuals, were "lazy," hinting not too subtly that, if they didn't make the effort to register to vote, they didn't deserve to vote. He also claimed the plot was to secure young people (at the time, I was around 19), who had yet to be able to "think for themselves." The not so settle hint was, if they could think, they'd be Republicans. This was the summer of 2003, and it's a surreal moment I have never forgotten. These are the same voices the corporate media wants progressives to "listen to," no thank you! Like my friend, Bob Massie says, these people just need to get out of the way - let the true pro-life progressives, like his generation, mine, and those after us, tear down this extract capitalist apartheid state (non-violently, of course), and rebuild a truly equitable world in its place. We should stop listening to cisgendered, straight, white men, who think the rest of us need to be deprived of our rights, just because we refuse to support their twisted fantasy world.
I agree, and quit using their idioms. Don’t say “guns”, say “assault weapons”. Don’t state “pro choice,” use “force birth. “ When “wages” are discussed, add “company profits”. Make distinctions between unions’ effects vs corporate monopolies/monopsonies. Collective bargaining vs M&As and so on . . .
Absolutely. I don't mind their support but don't give them money. I find Rick Wilson entertaining but I hate his grifting under the disguise of supporting democracy. Dude, you helped create this monster. Notice how none of them ever mention abortion rights. Or how there's an actual war against trans people.
And supply side econ was never gonna increase revenues. The Clear Skies Act never had anything to do with clearing the skies. It's all garbage, it's what they do, has been all along.
Say it louder for the people in the back!!
I'm still thinking about this: "The response I usually hear is that the threat of fascism from the right is now so high, that we need an all-in approach, that we can’t be concerned with purity and that after the crisis has passed we can “go back” to traditional political bickering." There are fights I put off picking with *fellow liberals* because of the threat of fascism. Certain tendencies I find annoying that could become something worse. My hackles go up, but then I read about something ridiculous, like Amanda Gorman's poem being banned, or Republicans praising the killing of Jordan Neely, and I put my issues with fellow liberals aside. But they are there, in the background, perpetually unaddressed.
So in just twenty years we've gone from "compassionate conservatism" to "vengeful fascism" - do I have that right?
There is one who seems genuine, and that is Steve Schmidt. He speaks and writes like a person who has undergone a personal change. It seems like that to me because it happened to me too, and we are the same age. He is also properly calling this fascism, which we all need to help educate our friends and neighbors about before 2024.
"But the reason we are at such a low point in history, why so many people are under threat by a steadily radicalized Republican Party and conservative movement, is thanks to the decades of evil built by figures like Dowd, who knew exactly what they were doing — they just would prefer it sold with a soft edge like Bush instead of a blunt instrument like Trump."
Exactly right, every word.
There is no 'fascist-adjacent', 'or 'quasi-fascist', or 'just a smidge fascist'.
There are the nakedly fascist, and the camouflaged fascist.
The camouflaged fascist wants the naked fascists to do the ugly work of building the apartheid state through brutality, murder and genocide.
The camouflaged fascist wants plausible deniability, and will be quick to scold about 'not painting them with the broad brush, we're not all like naked fascist who chokes the life out someone who, well, was not really a person who probably deserved to have the life choked out of them'.
The camouflaged fascist wants freedom- freedom from personal accountability, while inciting the naked fascists to greater heights of vicious, depraved atrocities. In code, of course. Defending Western culture and traditional morality and some such.
Deep down, of course, the camouflaged fascist is comforted in the knowledge that somewhere there's a naked fascist prepared to choke the life out someone deserved to have the life choked out of them.
The camouflaged fascist celebrates this. Which is why they do everything in their power to make it happen, while claiming to have no part in it.
I don’t know anyone who has changed their position on other issues just because Liz Cheney has blasted Trump (and unlike those on the left who created this straw man argument) she’s paid a price. You don’t name names but I’ll be glad to see what you come up with in the category of those who have converted to Liz Cheney and her views because of her position on Trump. I can and will acknowledge that she’s right about Trump if nothing else, do you agree or disagree? I’m also perplexed by the idea that Dowd cannot change his mind on gay marriage in the nearly twenty years since 2004 especially since nearly every major democrat had supported DOMA (a truly terrible law in hindsight 25 years later) as a way to head off a constitutional amendment and none of them supported gay marriage until Biden spoke up circa 2011. Every election is close and the Republicans remain stuck on 46-47% and anything that keeps them there is good for our fight. This reminds me of a classic piece by the not so great Charles Pierce about Dowd in which he ripped Dowd’s stand on gun control in 2004. Not acknowledged by Pierce is that Dowds position then was the same as that of St. Bernie of Burlington who apparently is allowed to change his principled mind in 2016 coincidentally while running for president.
Exactly what I have been braying about for years. These people are not friends of immigrants, children or pregnant mothers.
Spot on, this has always bothered me. It isn't working together with people, but giving a bunch of Right wing, typically cisgendered, straight, white men a pass for their abuses. I, in fact, know the former chairman of the Washington State GOP. While I do see him as a good guy, who calls himself "politically homeless," I recall very vividly, him repeating what I now see as racist talking points, in regard to automatic voter registration in our state, back in 2003, when I was still a gaslit member of the GOP. He described this as a Democratic-led plot, to cement "one-party rule" and create "automatic Democratic voters." His reasoning, that voting isn't a "right," but a "privilege," one that should be respected by hard work and effort, such as putting in the time and effort to register to vote. He claimed then that the people the "Democratic party attracts," Black, brown, Indigenous, illegal immigrants, queer and transgender individuals, were "lazy," hinting not too subtly that, if they didn't make the effort to register to vote, they didn't deserve to vote. He also claimed the plot was to secure young people (at the time, I was around 19), who had yet to be able to "think for themselves." The not so settle hint was, if they could think, they'd be Republicans. This was the summer of 2003, and it's a surreal moment I have never forgotten. These are the same voices the corporate media wants progressives to "listen to," no thank you! Like my friend, Bob Massie says, these people just need to get out of the way - let the true pro-life progressives, like his generation, mine, and those after us, tear down this extract capitalist apartheid state (non-violently, of course), and rebuild a truly equitable world in its place. We should stop listening to cisgendered, straight, white men, who think the rest of us need to be deprived of our rights, just because we refuse to support their twisted fantasy world.
I agree, and quit using their idioms. Don’t say “guns”, say “assault weapons”. Don’t state “pro choice,” use “force birth. “ When “wages” are discussed, add “company profits”. Make distinctions between unions’ effects vs corporate monopolies/monopsonies. Collective bargaining vs M&As and so on . . .
Absolutely. I don't mind their support but don't give them money. I find Rick Wilson entertaining but I hate his grifting under the disguise of supporting democracy. Dude, you helped create this monster. Notice how none of them ever mention abortion rights. Or how there's an actual war against trans people.
Thank you, Oliver Willis,. People are either fascist or anti-fascist, anybody who is in between is fascist.
A good reminder. Thank you.
AWESOME ARTICLE! Listening to news and fast forwarding thru replays from fox and cnn makes less bullshit and a little more news!
True dat.