(January 22, 2017 at 5:48 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: This is worrying isn't it!

Yes, it is. This feeling of grandeur more than anything else. He's not your usual idiot, he's lost all contact with planet earth.

(January 22, 2017 at 8:01 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: You have your Hitler.

He's not Hitler. He's a danger on his own merit. And Hitler only lost touch with reality later on. Not right at the start.

(January 22, 2017 at 7:59 am)It_Was_me Wrote: And then....his press secretary says how they're going to "hold the media accountable". Sorry buddy, but the government isn't allowed to dictate what the media can and can't do. I think these people are thinking they're dictators now.

That press briefing was the clearest indication yet of what direction this administration is going to take. It was my like my worst fears had been confirmed. But I was also quite amazed at how driven it was by Trump's ego.

Control of the media will be the first thing they tackle. There are plenty of things that they can do, like freezing out non compliant news sources from briefings, expanding existing rules and making them more ambiguous and open to interpretation in the courts. They will also need to bring about controls about the content that can be accessed on the internet. It sounds completely implausible but many countries already have this and it's growing stronger. The US already has it in some form.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c...ted_States

And the UK has been busy increasing censorship in recent times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c...erblocking

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(January 22, 2017 at 8:28 am)abaris Wrote:

(January 22, 2017 at 8:01 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: You have your Hitler.

He's not Hitler. He's a danger on his own merit. And Hitler only lost touch with reality later on. Not right at the start.

Agreed. Hitler was at least largely competent.

I don't know for sure whether if this is better or worse for the US though. I'm inclined to think better because Trump won't last as long as opposition will only increase over time.

(January 22, 2017 at 8:48 am)Mathilda Wrote:

(January 22, 2017 at 7:59 am)It_Was_me Wrote: And then....his press secretary says how they're going to "hold the media accountable". Sorry buddy, but the government isn't allowed to dictate what the media can and can't do. I think these people are thinking they're dictators now.

That press briefing was the clearest indication yet of what direction this administration is going to take. It was my like my worst fears had been confirmed. But I was also quite amazed at how driven it was by Trump's ego.

Control of the media will be the first thing they tackle. There are plenty of things that they can do, like freezing out non compliant news sources from briefings, expanding existing rules and making them more ambiguous and open to interpretation in the courts. They will also need to bring about controls about the content that can be accessed on the internet. It sounds completely implausible but many countries already have this and it's growing stronger. The US already has it in some form.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c...ted_States

And the UK has been busy increasing censorship in recent times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c...erblocking

---

(January 22, 2017 at 8:28 am)abaris Wrote: He's not Hitler. He's a danger on his own merit. And Hitler only lost touch with reality later on. Not right at the start.

Agreed. Hitler was at least largely competent.

I don't know for sure whether if this is better or worse for the US though. I'm inclined to think better because Trump won't last as long as opposition will only increase over time.

Is it just me or does this have some parallels to Star Wars when Palpatine takes over? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4L_S9K-BkQ

(January 22, 2017 at 8:28 am)abaris Wrote:

(January 22, 2017 at 5:48 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: This is worrying isn't it!

Yes, it is. This feeling of grandeur more than anything else. He's not your usual idiot, he's lost all contact with planet earth.

(January 22, 2017 at 8:01 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: You have your Hitler.

He's not Hitler. He's a danger on his own merit. And Hitler only lost touch with reality later on. Not right at the start.

I wouldn't be sure about that. The man who wrote Mein Kampf was clearly cookoo for coco pops, and that was 1924. And you have to remember Hitler was willing to thrash the German economy to build a "world beating" army the day he entered office, he was willing to thrash the whole apparatus of government to ensure nobody could become powerful enough to challenge him, he was looking to enact the final solution almost from day one and he was massively paranoid, seeing conspiracies against him round every corner.

If anything Trump is probably more stable today than Hitler was on 30/01/1933.

(January 22, 2017 at 9:33 am)Tazzycorn Wrote: I wouldn't be sure about that. The man who wrote Mein Kampf was clearly cookoo for coco pops, and that was 1924.

As compared to his time - no, he wasn't. There were many sharing his thoughts. Not only in Germany, but in the whole world. Also "Mein Kampf" is quite an elaborate piece of propaganda. Hitler designed and reinvented his own biography to suit the overall climate of the time and the region. That certainly wasn't the work of a mad man but a calculated piece of labor.

Same for the first years of his reign. Since he already had plans for invasion he didn't care about debt. The spoils of war would take care of that. He only lost touch with reality in the last two years.

The Guardian has a good take on why the new administration are lying through their teeth

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017...r-own-eyes

Also as pointed out elsewhere, people are now arguing about the size of the crowds rather than the fact that there have been protests all over the world.

(January 22, 2017 at 12:23 pm)Mathilda Wrote: Also as pointed out elsewhere, people are now arguing about the size of the crowds rather than the fact that there have been protests all over the world.

Kind of goes hand in hand. Probably less people at the actual inauguration than at the protests.

Trump will never accept anything to be true that does not serve to glorify him.  In his own mind he is a deity in all but name.  The question is to what degree the Republican Party, which also hardly ever accepted any reality inconvenient for its own political aggrandizement, will go to protect its means to securing 2-3 Supreme Court seats.

In practice, this country no longer accept the existence of, much less the need for, apolitical competence, apolitical expertise, and apolitical facts.

KellyAnne Conway has perfected the complete non sequitur, and has coined the term "alternative facts."

(January 22, 2017 at 5:48 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: This is worrying isn't it!

Not really.