...Same as the old boss. President Trump has seemingly stumbled across the obvious of late, raising the possibility that life in these United States might become slightly less terrible in the days ahead. Right about now, slightly less terrible would be a significant upgrade. It should not be discouraged. Trump's recent discovery of bipartisan cooperation—the … Continue reading Meet The New Boss
Tag: Authoritarianism
A Familiar Refrain: Duterte, Trump, Autocracy and the Other
Donald Trump’s enthusiastic embrace this week of authoritarian dictators around the world spiked sufficiently to break into mainstream news media’s consciousness, but it’s really nothing new. It’s more of a continuation of a theme that pre-dates the election. This embrace extends beyond his bizarre and well-documented love of all things Vladimir Putin – his continuing … Continue reading A Familiar Refrain: Duterte, Trump, Autocracy and the Other
Muslim Ban 2.0
(as revised) 5:00 a.m. Today the White House is expected to roll out the Muslim Ban 2.0. I'm going to go ahead and call it the Muslim Ban instead of the media-adopted 'Travel Ban.' After all, that's what Trump called it before the cheap whitewash. A few quick thoughts... Rachael Maddow aired a fairly revealing piece … Continue reading Muslim Ban 2.0
State of the Union – A Tweet Storm
Part I - The Trio of Terribles In Trump, corruption and incompetence merge with malevolent intent to appear as some grand design. A trio of terribles, ravaging in synch. 1/ Part of this troika is illusory, though. Most of it. It is not all some masterminded grand design. Much is simply chaos pulling in synch. … Continue reading State of the Union – A Tweet Storm
The Concept of The Other
It's time to talk again about the 'Other.' The Other, as a tool employed to facilitate an authoritarian's rise to power. It's the 'them' in Us vs. Them. The Other. Because there's always an other. The notion is straight out of the Autocrat's Handbook. It's Authoritarianism 101. And it's useful for us - those of us … Continue reading The Concept of The Other