Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Government Of, By, and For Trump (Only): Or "How Democracies Die" In-depth Study

The Study

The Authors

The truth: “… government of the people, by the people, for the people...” – from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
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My Introduction: I can't say with 100% certainty who is behind the careful plan to bring our system to a halt, but the level is distrust in our entire system is the worse I have seen in my life. In short, no one trusts or believes anyone anymore about anything. They have a short attention span and never heard of critical thinking or in depth research.

Only their own doubt and distrust drives them and then that is based on their own opinions and that is based almost solely what the latest snappy TV sound bite, or website blood red headline. 

Truly, the info age is great but only to a certain extent but for those who choose to trust or distrust the truth based on facts and not views or opinions or second-hand guessing.

The post for today: This story says it far better than I can. It comes from Vox.com here in part

Also, this Harvard book and authors review hereextract:

“This is one of Trump’s most underappreciated political achievements of the year: consolidation of power over a party to which he had scant personal or institutional ties.”

And all signs are that if Republicans win in 2018, slavish loyalty to Trump will only grow more ingrained, especially because Trump himself makes no secret that loyalty to him is the key to access, and access is the key to policy influence.

In their new book How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt flag this as a key threat to democratic stability.

Institutions don’t typically collapse under sudden attack. Rather, if a charismatic outsider emerges on the scene, gaining popularity as he challenges the old order, it is tempting for establishment politicians who feel their control is unraveling to try to co-opt him.”

From Mussolini to Hugo Chávez, authoritarians end up winning because these fateful alliances end up leading establishment politicians to collaborate with the demagogue not just on their points of policy agreement but on the demagogue’s desire to dismantle critical institutions.” 

My 2 Cents (as stated above), plus this: Believe it or not what we have seen and heard and know about Trump is this his skilled and time-tested talent…

He demands to get and cling to an absolute one-man rule and control over everything around him.

He gets that primarily by dishing out or buying favors while demanding 100% loyalty from those around him.

If not, they face dire personal attacks and serious consequences – all well-documented to date.

It is always Trump’s version of the facts and truth and always on his terms. He claims to listen to all sides, but he never does in reality – that unpredictable thing he has bragged about and proud of – but, that can only go so far.

In short, facts be damned since he is a skilled pathological serial liar and con-artist above all else and never can lose – those around him can and do and will but not him. 

How to define that “win” for him – well, that’s the $64,000 question isn’t it?

Thanks for stopping by.





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