Politics
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https://www.vox.com/23677654/trump-foreign-policy-revisionist-history-dove-anti-imperial
TL;DR: He assassinated an Iranian general. He killed about 13,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria, as in directly, not this "he didn't stop our ally from doing it," but he did drone strikes that created a little mini-Gaza of his own using US forces. He attacked Syria and Somalia. His war ambitions are different from the standard US imperialist model, but mostly just because they are dumber and less directed. He's fine with war. If you want to talk about what he talked about doing, he threatened North Korea, China, Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.
So you think it's entirely coincidental that Trump talks all the time about what he talks about, and there's all this explosion of violence in our politics?
What about January 6th? Was that 10,000 individual people with some kind of mental illness or unhealthy obsession w/ the election?
This is what I'm talking about, why I am making a big deal of disagreeing with you about this even if I agree that this source is shady. It's Trump. It's always been Trump, and it's a problem. It's not someone with a random mental illness.
Come the fuck off it.
There is evidence. Want me to find some sources that are experts in fascism? Who would you put trust in?
Yes. Both. I talked about some of the flames and some of the gunshots, although not all. There are also some visible bodies that are the result of the problem. Want to ask them about the circumstances, if there is visible indication yet that it is a big deal?
I'm not saying to panic. But I'm saying to treat it as a big deal and start yelling. That's not "emotion," that is the appropriate reaction.
I'm not saying he's anti-imperialist, in fact, that's ridiculous if you take a moment to look at his trade policies. He's absolutely imperialist, just in a "trade war" way instead of an "open conflict w/ our enemies" way. You can absolutely be dovish w/ the military but still have an overall hawkish attitude.
Yes, he threatened, and he even provoked by moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
As for Syria and Somalia, his involvement was a continuance of "anti-terrorism" activities that both Biden and Obama supported. I disagree with it, but I argue it's basically "par" for politicians in the US.
It's likely related, but it's not organized. I think his rhetoric could push someone over the edge into action that otherwise wouldn't, and I think the rhetoric against Trump has a similar potential. I think the Trump campaign has been more inflammatory than the Harris campaign in general, but that doesn't make the Harris campaign's strategy okay.
My take is that there were some organized groups who had planned on causing trouble before going to the rally (there's evidence of a number of people leaving the rally early to prep). I also think Trump knew about those groups, but not their specific plans, and that his aggressive tone at that event was reckless. I also think there's a good chance he committed federal crimes between election day and Jan 6, as well as on Jan 6, but I don't think he was affiliated in any meaningful way with the groups who instigated trouble on Jan 6.
I personally blame the various talking heads at places like Breitbart and Fox News more than Trump, they're the ones pushing a narrative and fanning the flames. Trump certainly has a part in all this, but I highly doubt there's any particular "master plan" here, I think he's just a narcissist that says whatever he thinks will grab headlines.
I'm not sure, but they would certainly need to be separated from the political discourse.
I care more about evidence than the person providing the evidence, so as long as the evidence presented is independently verifiable and they've done a good job of exploring alternative explanations, I'm not too picky on who the actual author is.
One book I liked on this topic is How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, so I guess those are two names. That book looks at various fascists, both old and recent, to draw similarities, and they specifically looked at Trump to see how he measured up. However, that book is 6 years old now, and I'd be interested in a follow-up that takes the events of Jan 6 into account, as well as his actual track record in-office. There are a number of first-party sources they could interview for additional context from within the White House.
I haven't read it yet, but maybe their book Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point is that followup.
That really depends on what you're yelling. If you're yelling facts, I'll be 100% behind you, but if you lean into propaganda in an "ends justify the means" sense, then you've lost me.