Current events require I say this again

^^^ A new ad by The Lincoln Project.

Trump doesn't even try to hide his Nazism any more. Pro-democracy Americans need to vigorously point out the parallels.

Not long after Trump took office, historian Timothy Snyder wrote a book called On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century. It became a national bestseller. More recently a graphic version was published. Whichever edition you choose, it's an excellent read by one of America's greatest living historians.

I have indeed read it. It's well written and it isn't long. Features of the rise of European fascism in the last century are described and related to the situation in the US in this century. It makes an excellent present – especially for people graduating this year.

Debunking Zionist Myths

“Over the years we have heard time and time again how Netanyahu was an “aberration” from Israel’s alleged democratic and progressive core…

Suddenly, the defenders of the “only democracy in the Middle East” were beseeching people not to lump in the people of Israel with their democratically elected representatives. As if that government formed itself and Netanyahu wasn’t elected as Prime Minister multiple times…

For the liberal Zionist, combatting the perceived loss of Israeli morality and legitimacy worldwide is paramount. After all, it is becoming increasingly difficult to defend Israel and still be accepted in progressive circles.

This is not a uniquely Israeli trait, as we saw a similar phenomenon upon the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. Liberals all over the country bemoaned how Trump’s actions were “un-American”, and were eroding the United States’ moral standing, completely ignoring how Trump was a symptom rather than a root cause of racism and reactionary politics in the U.S. They too, mistakenly believed that removing Trump would solve these issues.

As in the U.S, in Israel Netanyahu was also a symptom, and a deeply racist, ethno-nationalist settler society has always been the root cause.”

most popular YTP of 1942

I've been slowly working my way through MOTHER 3 for the first time in about a decade, specifically with the intent of studying it for my own project, and it's definitely a different experience in my 30s?

Different parts hit different and I see a lot more nuances that I didn't pick up on when I was younger?

Also- Porky is SIGNIFICANTLY creepier to me as an antagonist now that I've actually matured a bit myself? And I don't mean that in a bad way at all, but he's characterized with a very fascinating blend of adult and childish traits that makes him... really unsettling ngl-

That ending with that score. My god. TV does not get any better than this does it?

Homelander being accepted for the piece of shit he is so fucking horrifying.

when they changed homelander's hair they also gave me a terminal illness i will surely die of

It’s pretty terrible if they decided that they’d frame Alicent as the Trump supporting primary villain of this show standing in the way of fearless but oppressed punk princess Rhaenyra, that’s definitely one way to tell the story…but then they chose to make Alicent’s backstory ‘child bride, rape survivor’ and Rhaenyra’s ‘indulged favourite kid’. Those are some choices.

The entire thing is so messy because on one hand we have the acting crew doinv their most, giving deep insight into their roles. And we have show clearly portraying child Alicent as the victim of her father's political game. AND the set up of Larys Strong as a potential source of... well, let's say, chaos (can't wait for more lore on him btw!). BUT THEN. OHHHH THEN. Then you listen in on what the actual writers of the show are saying and it's all just so bland? Black and white? Disappointing and/or plain stupid? The show is trying to say something about class and gender injustice, the treatment of women in the universe, etc. Cool. But then they come up with these kinds of childish statements on par with the way Alicent antis speak of her? My head is spinning lmfao.

You've described the ridiculousness of that comparison perfectly because, in my opinion, that could have made them both equal protagonists in a tragic manner. Rhaenyra is constantly forced to embrace her role as a woman but also her social status still allows her more freedom than Alicent could have ever dreamed of. And I think young Alicent has always been somewhat aware of that, hence why her level-headedness. She has always needed to do more to stay afloat. And that is not her fault! She is not equal to the privileged white housewife dreaming of good ol' America and no gay kids on the streets. The comparison is... just so ridiculous. Westeros is not America, no place in the universe can be simplified to the political standards of the US. Alicent is as much a victim of the patriarchal system as Rhaenyra, some could even agree that... even more than her.

We have seen Alicent being forced out of kindness and into clever political calculations bit by bit and still, up until she learnt that the princess had lied to her, she tried to remain considerate of Rhaenyra's feelings despite their broken relationship.

But no, it's just easier to divide them into two opposite groups instead of pondering on the ways two women can be equally hurt and turned into menaces in entirely different ways. Because defense mechanisms aren't on size fits all and not all of them are girlbossy.

connor would not drop out of the race for mencken (esp assuming he’s started gaining traction which wld be why mencken asked in the first place) but… if mencken offered him a cabinet position…. well

@blinditem

Ok I'm willing to make a deal with Eric Kripke. I'll say goodbye to my hopes and dreams for a redemption arc if he stops with the Trump parallels.

Seriously. The "hooking up with a Nazi who is probably also his biological mother" was borderline, but hey, it's messed up, and messed up is my kink, so I can handle.

Trump analogies though? Stop going there okay. Like just let me sexualize my babygirl in peace alright?

i mean obviously andrew jackson is pro trump because they both love deporting people

SO TRUE

Not to be That Person with a history degree, but the US is (and has been for years) showing a lot of the same signs the world saw of pre-WW2 Nazi Germany and it’s fucking terrifying. The rise of radical voices and fascist views, the stripping of basic human rights, the “othering” of minority groups, the stacking of the courts. This isn’t unprecedented.

It's a Wonderful Leap - May 10, 1958 (1992) dir. Paul Brown

She was only eighteen when we took this... a photo shop down in Atlantic City. I remember the first time I kissed her... it was like breathing in life. 

In a parallel universe, Donald Trump serves his second term as President with new First Lady Stormy Daniels Trump.

Biden-von Hindenburg parallelisms are funny.

Not only the context and political systems of both the USA and Weimar Germany are diametrically different, but it's also a very false equivalency.

No. Joe Biden is not the Paul von Hindenburg of 2024 America. Von Hindenburg was, above all, a reactionary monarchist belonging to reactionary circles who were sympathetic to some aspects of Nazism (Ludendorf, von Papen, von Schleicher). Biden is a (milquetoast) liberal centrist.

The closest modern equivalent to Paul von Hindenburg would probably be an imaginary case of, let's say, Ron DeSantis if he suddenly decided to run against Trump, portraying himself as the last hope and doing his best to convince liberals, leftists and progressives to support him. Just to end up appointing Trump to a high federal position or maneuvering to set him as Speaker of the House.

If you want to look at an equivalent of Joe Biden in Weimar Germany, I'd say Heinrich Brüning (if you want to put him on a negative light) or Wilhelm Marx (if you want to put him on a positive light). Both were centrist liberals who belonged to the Zentrumspartei.