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Trying to frame Trump's crusade against the election results as either a con or a coup, one or the other, is a continuation of the same error in logic liberals have been making re: Trump since 2015 at least.
It's both. It's always been both.
It's both. It's always been both.
Fascism is about #winning always and forever no matter what actual reality looks like.
It's a con about a national history that doesn't exist.
It's a con about threats that don't exist.
Fascism is P.T. Barnum with concentration camps instead of circuses.
It's a con about a national history that doesn't exist.
It's a con about threats that don't exist.
Fascism is P.T. Barnum with concentration camps instead of circuses.
Fascism succeeds when we fall for the con.
It fails when we call it out successfully.
Trump's coup is a con that's getting effectively called out, so it's failing.
It fails when we call it out successfully.
Trump's coup is a con that's getting effectively called out, so it's failing.
Lest we forget, Trump's candidacy was a con, just like this coup.
That con backfired on him-- he wanted to frame a 2016 loss as fraud and monetize it, not become president-- but as we learned, that didn't make him any less of a real candidate.
That con backfired on him-- he wanted to frame a 2016 loss as fraud and monetize it, not become president-- but as we learned, that didn't make him any less of a real candidate.
He's aggressively half-assing this coup attempt, because (like his candidacy) he doesn't want it to succeed.
That doesn't make it not a coup attempt, any more than his intention to lose in 2016 made him not a candidate.
That doesn't make it not a coup attempt, any more than his intention to lose in 2016 made him not a candidate.
An allergy to competence and a desire to lose to maximize profit are traits of Trump's opportunism more than his fascism.
His candidacy, presidency, coup, and style of political con are all 100% fascist and very much worth taking seriously, regardless of his intended end game.
His candidacy, presidency, coup, and style of political con are all 100% fascist and very much worth taking seriously, regardless of his intended end game.
As I said earlier, the silver lining is that it's easier to defeat a person who wants to lose, and Trump's presidency has the potential to be a historical inoculation against US fascism if we manage to learn the lessons of humility, early diagnosis, and vigilance from it.
If we still think the con can't co-exist with fascism or its strategies (like authoritarian coup) though, we still aren't learning the right lessons.
Hitler and Mussolini were con artists, too.
Again, fascism is always a con.
Hitler and Mussolini were con artists, too.
Again, fascism is always a con.
The coup is a con, and the saving grace here is that Trump is less interested in formal structural power than he is in monetization of post-presidency grievance.
The next successful opportunistic fascist may very well have different priorities.
The next successful opportunistic fascist may very well have different priorities.
We can't afford to keep making the same mistake.
We can't afford to keep thinking clowns can't be strongmen, that tbe con can't exist with fascistic authoritarianism.
That is how we got President Trump in the first place.
We can't afford to keep thinking clowns can't be strongmen, that tbe con can't exist with fascistic authoritarianism.
That is how we got President Trump in the first place.
