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Monday, March 07, 2016

Trump, American Authoritarianism and Know-Nothings

A fascinating story in Vox called "The Rise of American Authoritarianism" does much to explain the recent ascendancy of Donald Trump. He's been inaccurately described as a far right conservative and even as a fascist. But what really explains his popularity is his appeal to a group of Americans who are best characterized by a desire for order and fear of outsiders or changes they do not fully understand.

The article concludes by stating we are left with Democrats, the GOP establishment and GOP Authoritarians. I believe that this conclusion is flawed. Authoritarianism is just as attractive to many Democrats and Independents as it is to Republicans. This is why I believe Trump will not only be the GOP nominee, but will be elected president.

Presidential elections usually attract first time voters who are young and usually more progressive than those who vote in other races. But this race is different. There is a real possibility that Trump will bring out many blue collar Democrats and Independents who no longer vote.

The closest thing we have historically to this phenomenon is the Know-Nothing party in the 1850s. As near as I can tell, it fell apart because the only thing holding it together was hate. Abraham Lincoln privately detested the group, but took their votes. In a letter to his best friend Joshua Seed, he explained his disdain:
I am not a Know-Nothing — that is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes and foreigners and Catholics.' When it comes to that I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Unfortunately, we have no Lincolns in our midst.

Or do we?

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

No Lincolns, not even a Ford. The state of the Republican Party in 2016 is just sad. Frankly the two larding candidates, Trump and Cruz are an embarrassment to a nation thought of as the leader of the free world. Neither represents anything good about America.
They both play to the fear, anger and hatred imbedded in all of us. Not are better angels. As Sen. Lindsey Graham has famously said, "My "Party is batshit crazy".

Sad, very sad.

Anonymous said...

Are these Candidates really the best our Country has to offer? Then the comments from ANON 2:58 are "sad. very sad". A candidate is leading the Republican party by slinging mud and insults about women and minorities? Both parties have put up some very shameful candidates. I don't want to vote for any of them.

Anonymous said...

Your topic today is of interest, Bernie!

2016 will go down as one of the most significant years in our nation's history. A dramatically different America begins HERE.

To best encapsulate my own findings and move on, I conclude . . . .


1. There HAS been a high level movement toward global governance and control underway for a very long time. That shift is almost complete.

2. America, as a sovereign nation, HAS been weakened. Consent of the governed is not necessary as our "region" goes forward.

3. We, the American people, have been brought down by DECEPTION and MANIPULATION, rather than military might.


I do NOT expect Donald Trump to be elected President. He's an impediment to the plan and will be managed out of contention.

Fred Windish

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

In case you haven't noticed we have an authoritarian in the White House now. Perhaps the public has acclimated to this type of politician.Another point is that Trump is popular with disaffected Democrats. This spells trouble ahead for Hillary who is kidding herself if she can beat "The Donald" in the fall.
For the record, Trump is my least favorite Republican candidate.

Scott Armstrong

Anonymous said...

I view Trump as more anti establishment. More in line with Andrew Jackson or, more recently, Jimmy Carter. Even FDR used this approach in 1936 when he successfully separated himself from his upper class roots and became the proponent of he masses. This election is also about political correctness, which is something pushed by the media. The rules are confusing. A black comedian can freely use the n word while a white comedians mention of that word brings immediate condemnation and ostracizing. I was once lectured by a minority over my use of the term "black". So, I started using the word, "African American " and was criticized for that, being told that I should use the word Black. I and everyone else is confused. We just want to get along. It is not about hate.

Anonymous said...

"Top national Republicans, and at least three GOP presidential candidates, wasted little time Saturday to say President Barack Obama should not be allowed to name Antonin Scalia’s successor to the U.S. Supreme Court"

Yeah, that Obama, he's an 'authoritarian' all right.

We need to make a Colorform edition of the Constitution so republicans can get their first look....

Anonymous said...

Hillary Clinton wins in a landslide. The sensible people will also come out in huge numbers to stop Trump. Even Republicans are saying they'll pull the lever for HRC.

Anonymous said...

FOX 'news' has spent the last few decades carefully creating a climate of hatred, fear, intolerance and bigotry, and now they sit back looking stunned as all that carefully crafted propaganda rears it's ugly head in the form of 'The Donald'.
'
You reap what you sow, and now you're going to get Hillary.

Ray Nemeth Sr said...

It has been the pattern of those in power to label anyone who resists their power to label them as racist, bigoted, anti someone, it has come to the point of just advocating enforcing the law is now considered racist, The closing of our borders except to legal travelers and the enforcing of our visa system, is present law, it has illegally not been enforced for years. We see the crisis and mayhem in Europe and most leaders on both sides endorse what is going on. Is their objective chaos and a complete breakdown of society or are they just stupid. I am political junkie to some extent. I saw trump say ILLEGAL immigration. I also saw him say Stop Muslims from entering the country, UNTIL they could be thoroughly veted. Which all the experts stated we could not. I watched as they used the question concerning the KKK, to keep asking until he decided not to address it, then claim he endorsed them by not answering again. This was pursued by the media and fellow republicans, non who came to his defense, afraid to be painted by the same brush. Trump most likely will not be president. He will be taken out by any means necessary.

Anonymous said...

Obama the Authoritarian. Hahahaha. No wonder we have Trump. Idiots abound.

Anonymous said...

Just breaking on the Breitbart website is an EXCELLENT description how Donald Trump will be prevented from becoming elected the Republican Party nominee. Written by Jon Fleischman, the plan describes precisely what is now playing out.

Read this piece without party prejudice. Evaluate the scheme only for its ability to NEGATE the meaningfulness of citizen voting. Most should feel worse after reading this potential, but far too many of you will rejoice.

The Republican Party has ALREADY used the Caucus procedure, electronic voting, and proportional delegate distribution to make it extremely difficult for any "outsider" to ever preempt a brokered convention.

There is a reason why a Rubio, a Kasich, etc. are still in the Primary. There is a reason why a Romney suddenly appears in the news. This is about "delegate shaving" leading up to a RNC-MANAGED result. It's about halting a citizen-directed outcome.

The ONLY Republican candidate possible of winning the national election is Donald Trump. Even if you hate the man, you KNOW this is true. If Trump's huge, dedicated mass of followers stay home, NO ONE ELSE HAS A CHANCE TO GET THE WIN.

The RNC is prepared to "take the fall" to protect the present position of its currently-in-office politicians.

Fred Windish

Anonymous said...

FOX 'news' has spent the last few decades carefully creating a climate of hatred, fear, intolerance and bigotry, and now they sit back looking stunned as all that carefully crafted propaganda rears it's ugly head in the form of 'The Donald'.


That's right. In just about every police shooting the past two years, Fox has taken the side of the police, sight unseen. They have painted the victims as "having it coming" and mocked and ridiculed protests like "Black Lives Matter". They don't on Fox.

Anonymous said...

Windish - Breitbart? That's all I need to know. Your opinion is now meaningless.

Anonymous said...

Breitbart? Was The Onion down for maintenance?

Adelson or the Koch's will have Trump assassinated LONG before they will let him into their circle.

Anonymous said...

Nemeth - I think you may need to reexamine your logic and perhaps rethink things. By the way, net immigration is negative and Obama has deported more people than any other President.

Anonymous said...

And that god there are controls in place to prevent dangerous windbags from gaining the Presidency! Hell, it wasn't long ago that the people didn't even elect their Senators. The founds knew the rabble could not be trusted.

Anonymous said...

Trump is winning in open primary states. He's losing to Cruz in closed primary states. The open primary states invite Ds and Is to vote for the R candidate. Disaffected Ds from a party that has moved to the far left are looking for a home. Racism is a hallmark of D party politics from it's earliest days. These converts to Rs are bringing their proud racist tradition with them. LBJ said he'd have those n******s voting D for a hundred years. Woodrow Wilson re-segregated the military and federal government and told upset blacks that they should have chosen more wisely. This is a R party being pulled in a racist direction by traditionally racist Ds. The Know Nothing comparison has validity. It cost Rs any Irish Catholic votes for almost 100 years and continues today. Rs like Charlie Dent are doing all they can to thwart the racists. But it runs deep in their veins and there are lots of them coming in.

Anonymous said...

9:36 -

I would thank you for reading my thoughts, but you don't have the guts to identify yourself and take credit for your heroic slams.

To everyone else, I remind, thorough research involves gathering information from a wide variety of sources. This includes all manner of places. Only a FOOL turns away from dissenting opinion.

Fred Windish

Anonymous said...

Only a FOOL embraces 'opinion' when facts are available. Thorough research involves assessing sources based upon their references to 'facts', and opinions are just that, opinions. They have no worth or merit in a fact based discussion. It's Donald Trump's opinion that most Mexicans crossing the borders are rapists, the actual 'facts' do not support this, and yet, people like yourself continue to place opinion on an even footing with reality and wonder what's wrong with the world.

Anonymous said...

9:42 - Nice try but the racists moved from Ds to Rs 50 years ago. But don't let any sort of historical context get in the way.

Anonymous said...

Windish - Only a fool accepts Breitbart as a legitimate news source.

Anonymous said...

Racism is an ideology, not a party name. It is and always has been a conservative 'value'...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/do-racism-conservatism-and-low-iq-go-hand-in-hand

Anonymous said...

One would do well to recognize that the dynamics of today are quite different than 150 years ago and making comparisons isn't that easy, or be all that enlightening. We now have a populace who expect a Federal government that has grown to gargantuan size to provide for them and fix all their problems. And politicians....Republicans and Democrats....play that to their own advantage. The system's been corrupted beyond belief. But there remains a not insignificant body of voters who are sick to death of it all and are tired of taxation that has reached a confiscatory level.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"In case you haven't noticed we have an authoritarian in the White House now. "

I am no Obama fan, but that is a stretch, Scott.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Racism is an ideology, not a party name. It is and always has been a conservative 'value'... "

Authoritarianism is NOT racism or xenophobia. There is overlap, but they are not the same.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Windish - Only a fool accepts Breitbart as a legitimate news source. "

This is borderline. If you want to insult a reader, you need to sign your name.

Dennis R. Lieb said...

There is another in-depth and well researched opinion on the attractiveness of Trump as a candidate. It is neither an endorsement of him nor a bashing, but a reasoned explanation of how someone like him - under our current national circumstance - can rise to a position that requires serious attention. This is a bit long but well worth a look:

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2016/01/donald-trump-and-politics-of-resentment.html

Hope it is enlightening.

DRL

Anonymous said...

Mr. Lieb -

Thank you for introducing me to a new blog! John Greer writes a mature and cogent viewpoint. I like what I read and will sum it all up like this . . .

"People are pissed and THIS is their moment to let it be known!"

His is a blog I will bookmark. His latest piece has more than 500 reactions to consider! The few I read are quite good.

Here's the key to all the Trump fervor, I believe. If the RNC manages to drive off Mr. Trump with what is seen as trickery, the Republican Party will destroy itself into oblivion. Current Republican incumbents will be slowly picked-off, although they seem to think they are somehow immune.

IF I was the leader of the Republican Party (but, I'm not even a member) I advise that side to FIRST win the election! If, that's really the goal.

Fred Windish



Anonymous said...

Bernie, Not sure anyone actually appreciated the slightly veiled question your article raised. I've wondering the same thing. I'm not supporting trump because I can't support a candidate that "stupid." But, I do wonder if president trump would actually be quite the opposite of candidate trump.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Beats me.

Anonymous said...

As a Republican I will take Trump over Cruz. Trump will bring in Dem's and Independents in November. Cruz turns off Democrats, Independents and a lot of Republicans.

The Party elders are terrified of the base, so they will swallow a loss with Cruz over a victory with Trump. Why? Because they are not orchestrating the victory. The country club is terrified.

Cruz is just an extremist that is too far out there to win any national election.

Anonymous said...

For yet another view on the GOP brokered convention effort, see the Washington Post article posted in its Politics section, as written by Phillip Rucker and Robert Costa.

To me, a Primary Election should be about coalescing around a WINNING plan . . . not about forming the best LOSING strategy.

The dilemma of the Republican Donor Class of influence buyers is this, they can't accept a win by either Trump OR Cruz!

Fred Windish

Anonymous said...

GO TRUMP DESTROY THE ESTABLISHMENT