We’ve had our fair share of tumultuous politics here in the U.K. over the past 8 years, beginning with the vote to leave the European Union and then the Covid years of buffoon Boris Johnson, also a fan of Trump. We had some American friends to stay shortly after 23 June 2016 as we were all reeling from the shock, and like me before the referendum, were in the complacent space of disbelief that people would ever actually vote against their best interests. The phrase ‘the greatest act of self-harm’ we’ve done to ourselves as a nation seems to sum up where America is poised. And like the scoundrels who pushed the Brexit agenda, it was all lies and smoke and mirrors and it’s only now we’re reaping the full terrible costs. Nations gotta do what they’ve gotta do, I guess, but I’m not sure I can watch anymore.
Hear! Hear! Another convergence between us. I paused literature in December to write a series of three essays on Trump, ending the first one on a similar note to your end here. I'll surely write more through the year as well, probably including repeating those three, which I designed to disconnected from the immediate news cycle.
I agree with you, Arnie. I am amazed about how unreasonable and short sighted these MAGA people are. Trump's pronouncements are so eerily similar to those of Hitler, Mussolini, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other populist turn totalitarians that they scare me. I hope he never gets to the White House.
German citizens have a visceral memory of fascism and its horrors. Even the younger generations of Germans have an atavistic sense of their tragic national past and they are powerfully motivated to gather in protest ( I read that as many as 1.5 million people protested recently.) Americans have only flirted with fascism in the 20th century, and until recent books ( Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel” comes to mind ) reminded them of that ugly history, most US citizens knew little to nothing about it.
Hence, a weird, lingering sense of disbelief that anything like an authoritarian regime could ever truly come to pass in the United States. That mindset terrifies me, but I am hopeful that in the coming months the existential danger represented by Trump and MAGA, and the catastrophic deterioration of the GOP as a legitimate party, will awaken this nation from its complacent slumber. Thanks for your eloquent writing, Arnie:)
I don’t believe Trump can win, except perhaps by violence. I worry that I’m wrong to believe and right about the violence.
We’ve had our fair share of tumultuous politics here in the U.K. over the past 8 years, beginning with the vote to leave the European Union and then the Covid years of buffoon Boris Johnson, also a fan of Trump. We had some American friends to stay shortly after 23 June 2016 as we were all reeling from the shock, and like me before the referendum, were in the complacent space of disbelief that people would ever actually vote against their best interests. The phrase ‘the greatest act of self-harm’ we’ve done to ourselves as a nation seems to sum up where America is poised. And like the scoundrels who pushed the Brexit agenda, it was all lies and smoke and mirrors and it’s only now we’re reaping the full terrible costs. Nations gotta do what they’ve gotta do, I guess, but I’m not sure I can watch anymore.
Hear! Hear! Another convergence between us. I paused literature in December to write a series of three essays on Trump, ending the first one on a similar note to your end here. I'll surely write more through the year as well, probably including repeating those three, which I designed to disconnected from the immediate news cycle.
I agree with you, Arnie. I am amazed about how unreasonable and short sighted these MAGA people are. Trump's pronouncements are so eerily similar to those of Hitler, Mussolini, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other populist turn totalitarians that they scare me. I hope he never gets to the White House.
German citizens have a visceral memory of fascism and its horrors. Even the younger generations of Germans have an atavistic sense of their tragic national past and they are powerfully motivated to gather in protest ( I read that as many as 1.5 million people protested recently.) Americans have only flirted with fascism in the 20th century, and until recent books ( Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel” comes to mind ) reminded them of that ugly history, most US citizens knew little to nothing about it.
Hence, a weird, lingering sense of disbelief that anything like an authoritarian regime could ever truly come to pass in the United States. That mindset terrifies me, but I am hopeful that in the coming months the existential danger represented by Trump and MAGA, and the catastrophic deterioration of the GOP as a legitimate party, will awaken this nation from its complacent slumber. Thanks for your eloquent writing, Arnie:)
Every word is true. Every writer needs to join the chorus, now!