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2020 US Presidential Election

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WelshBluebird

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Facebook has suspended his account until after Biden's inauguration. Can't be long before Twitter follows suit surely?
IMO it is the right move, but one that will stoke the fires of the deluded "social media platforms are biased against conservatives" narrative.
 
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RailUK Forums

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Let's not kid ourselves about the reasons for yesterday.

The US population have been fed a constant stream of lies and conspiracy theories from Donald Trump, "radio shockjocks" and other media outlets, which started back during Obama's presidency (if not earlier), and frankly that has just mushroomed out of control on social media. A sizeable number of people believe the nonsense (such as QANON etc.) without question. That's a real problem for any society to deal with.

Yesterday, quite frankly what we saw from Trump was sedition.

I think you're being a tad disserving to most people's intelligence in your assertion that people think yesterday would be the end of this - I think that most people realise that there is a real problem.

While there is a certain element of US population that is not going to change their view, there is a clear need to focus on those elements of US society that do feel ignored and left behind.

Biden has a hell of a job ahead of him, but dampening down the constant noise and nonsensical rhetoric from the White House has to be a starting point.


It is exactly this same process that brought brex****.
 

birchesgreen

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I don't usually like to draw parallels between Hitler and Trump because its a bit lazy but its notable that last night's Beer Gut Putsch failed miserably too.
 

Typhoon

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I don't usually like to draw parallels between Hitler and Trump because its a bit lazy but its notable that last night's Beer Gut Putsch failed miserably too.
And Hitler was found guilty of treason. There are some interesting punishments for treason in various states in the US.
 

edwin_m

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I don't usually like to draw parallels between Hitler and Trump because its a bit lazy but its notable that last night's Beer Gut Putsch failed miserably too.
But if you're drawing parallels, Hitler didn't exactly fade from the scene over the following decades.
 

Bald Rick

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But if you're drawing parallels, Hitler didn't exactly fade from the scene over the following decades.

Although he did spend most of the latter weeks of his tenure in a bunker. As has Trump, albeit on the golf course.
 
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Peter Sarf

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But if you're drawing parallels, Hitler didn't exactly fade from the scene over the following decades.
I am afraid this nightmare is not gong to go away anytime soon. Watch out for the parallels from history. Trump only has to make himself look like a victim. The burning of the Reich-stag in Berlin was the trigger for Hitlers self righteous use of force and gave him the authority he needed to take over. It is perfectly obvious that Trump is comfortable with the idea of dictatorship and he will steadily dismantle/undermine democracy, if he cannot be stopped, over the next decade or two. Nobody could stand up to Hitler as he dismantled democracy and so far the republicans are too scared, self interested or ignorant to nip it in the bud.
 

overthewater

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The best thing to do is not impeach him for the 13days left, If they try again it will increase tensions.
 

hst43102

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I don't usually like to draw parallels between Hitler and Trump because its a bit lazy but its notable that last night's Beer Gut Putsch failed miserably too.
I think we've all seen a lot of parallels between Hitler and Trump over the past couple of months. Thank God he didn't win the election, who knows what could have happened?
 

Gloster

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The denials of reality are starting, with claims that the rioters were Antifas pretending to be Trump supporters. There have also been events, so far only small scale, in Washington (state) and Pennsylvania.
 

Peter Sarf

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And used the time inside to write Mein Kampf.
Oh yes. Mind you I wonder if Trump could write a book. Oh gosh the parallel nowadays is probably a series of tweets or a facebook page. He could probably afford to buy a whole TV channel - his ego needs a dedicated TV channel !.
 

DynamicSpirit

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I am afraid this nightmare is not gong to go away anytime soon. Watch out for the parallels from history. Trump only has to make himself look like a victim. The burning of the Reich-stag in Berlin was the trigger for Hitlers self righteous use of force and gave him the authority he needed to take over. It is perfectly obvious that Trump is comfortable with the idea of dictatorship and he will steadily dismantle/undermine democracy, if he cannot be stopped, over the next decade or two. Nobody could stand up to Hitler as he dismantled democracy and so far the republicans are too scared, self interested or ignorant to nip it in the bud.

I think there is a big difference: In the US, there's a longstanding tradition and culture of democracy that has been steadily built up over 200 years. I'd argue that culture is precisely why Trump was never going to get his way in terms of staying in power once he'd lost the 2020 election, even though things looked pretty scary for a time afterwards. Judges - even ones that Trump had personally appointed - were, on the whole, never going to accept electoral challenges that obviously had no evidence behind them. Numerous Trump-supporting Republicans in various states from Pennsylvania to Georgia to Arizona made it clear that they were going to respect the votes that they had just supervised counting, no matter what Trump demanded. And the US military leaders have made it amply clear that their loyalty is to the constitution, not to Trump.

On the other hand, in Weimar Germany, there was no such tradition. Democracy had essentially been just imported to Germany after WW1 - up until then, Germany was ruled by what amounted to a fairly authoritarian dictatorship. That would have made it relatively easy for Hitler to dismantle democracy. (I'd argue that's also precisely why people like Putin in Russia and Chavez/Maduro in Venezuela have found it so easy to destroy democracy in their respective countries).

For that reason I wouldn't worry too much about the parallel - although I would certainly be concerned about the possibility of Trump winning another election - he's definitely caused a lot of damage to democracy in the US, and another term would allow him to do a lot more damage.
 

najaB

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For that reason I wouldn't worry too much about the parallel - although I would certainly be concerned about the possibility of Trump winning another election - he's definitely caused a lot of damage to democracy in the US, an
I don't think he could successfully run for office again, he is now damaged goods as far as his backers are concerned. They may well look for Trump 2.0, but I doubt the original will be able to gain power again.
 

Gloster

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I don't think he could successfully run for office again, he is now damaged goods as far as his backers are concerned. They may well look for Trump 2.0, but I doubt the original will be able to gain power again.
Yes, but has anybody told him? And how will he react when he finds out?
 

Cowley

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Yes, but has anybody told him? And how will he react when he finds out?
Hopefully fighting to keep himself a free man will occupy him for a few years and he’s not getting any younger (or healthier)...
 

DerekC

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I think there's a strong possibility he will set up his own party - "Greater America" or something similar - and run for President in 2024 under that ticket. You would like to think he won't get anywhere, but who knows!
 

Bald Rick

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I am afraid this nightmare is not gong to go away anytime soon. Watch out for the parallels from history. Trump only has to make himself look like a victim. The burning of the Reich-stag in Berlin was the trigger for Hitlers self righteous use of force and gave him the authority he needed to take over. It is perfectly obvious that Trump is comfortable with the idea of dictatorship and he will steadily dismantle/undermine democracy, if he cannot be stopped, over the next decade or two. Nobody could stand up to Hitler as he dismantled democracy and so far the republicans are too scared, self interested or ignorant to nip it in the bud.

Another significant difference is that Hitler was 34 at the time of the Beer Hall Putsch. Trump is 40 years older. He won’t be back. Trump v2.0 might.
 

takno

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I don't think he could successfully run for office again, he is now damaged goods as far as his backers are concerned. They may well look for Trump 2.0, but I doubt the original will be able to gain power again.
Apart from anything else, he'll be the same as Biden is now at the time of the next election, and I can't see him looking any more healthy, or bringing on a running-mate you could picture him handing over power to.
 

DynamicSpirit

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I don't think he could successfully run for office again, he is now damaged goods as far as his backers are concerned. They may well look for Trump 2.0, but I doubt the original will be able to gain power again.
I'm kinda inclined to agree. He's definitely lost a lot of support, and the last couple of days have made it much less likely that he would win again. I think the danger (albeit now a smallish one) is that he manages to get the Republican nomination in 2024 on the strength of his rank-and-file supporters, and that Biden/the Democrats become sufficiently unpopular in the meantime to give even an unpopular Republican a shot of winning.

An American friend of mine tells me that her Trump-supporting friends are basically saying that the assault on the Capitol was wrong but Trump didn't have anything to do with it :(
 

Wilts Wanderer

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I think there's a strong possibility he will set up his own party - "Greater America" or something similar - and run for President in 2024 under that ticket. You would like to think he won't get anywhere, but who knows!

I imagine the Democrats would probably benefit from that approach, as it would only split the conservative vote.
 

SuspectUsual

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Apart from anything else, he'll be the same as Biden is now at the time of the next election, and I can't see him looking any more healthy, or bringing on a running-mate you could picture him handing over power to.

Ivanka? He’s treated the presidency like it’s a family firm after all....
 
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