Category: MAGA cultists

Trump’s Nazification of the USA

MAGA cultists / Politics / Trump fascism / US Politics6 Comments

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Project 2025 was the MAGA world’s blueprint for turning the USA into a totalitarian state run by President — now dictator in all but name — Donald Trump. But the precursor to Project 2025 was the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933 to ’45. And if you know your recent history, as everyone who cares about the way the world works should, then you will have recognized the clear parallels between what the current MAGA administration has been doing and what Hitler and his administration did in the years leading up to WWII. Project 2025 — with its unsettling commonalities … click below for more ↓

Canadians Vacationing in the USA Are Collaborators

Canadian Politics / MAGA cultists / Politics / Trump fascism / US PoliticsLeave a comment

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The US dictator Donald Trump has consistently threatened Canada’s economy and our sovereignty since his inauguration. His threats to make us the “51st state” have so offended Canadians that it brought stiff resistance from Canadians who responded by boycotting travel to the USA and not buying products and services made or produced in the USA. Let’s be clear: Canadians who still vacation in the USA are collaborators. Canadians who still support Trump are traitors. And that’s clear in the personas of the two most MAGA-loving Canadians: CPC leader and rage-farming Trump mimic, Pierre PoiLIEvre, and traitorous, anti-Canadian Alberta premier Danielle … click below for more ↓

The Troubling Lack of Empathy Among Conservatives

MAGA cultists / Psychology & Sociology / Rightwing claptrap / Talibangelists and pseudo-Christians / What I'm Reading Now9 Comments

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Empathy is a nasty word to conservatives. Elon Musk recently showed his contempt for the very notion of considering another’s feelings, calling it “civilizational suicidal empathy.” And then, to make sure everyone knew his views, the technocrat added in an interview with fellow rightwing MAGA cultist Joe Rogan, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit.” Which means he sees empathy as a weakness he can exploit. Information-warfare.com noted, “Musk’s perspective on empathy aligns with certain ideological frameworks, particularly technocracy and the Dark Enlightenment [DE] movement. These ideologies do not prioritize empathy as a guiding principle but … click below for more ↓

What if Julian Jaynes Was Right?

Evangelicals / MAGA cultists / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US PoliticsOne Comment

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In 1977, Princeton University psychologist Julian Jaynes published his controversial book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Hardly a title that should have captured the public imagination, but it managed to create a stir in the media, among Jaynes’ peers, as well as among other scientists. And, surprisingly for an academic work, it sold out its first printing. It went through new printings in 1990, 1993, and 2000. It was criticized, attacked, and debunked at the time, but also praised, debated and discussed. It still is, albeit not with the same vigour that attended its … click below for more ↓

The Honeymooners: The Imaginary Greatness That MAGA Wants to Return To

Culture / Culture wars / MAGA cultists / Politics / Rightwing claptrap2 Comments

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Ever see The Honeymooners? Unless you’re at least as old as I am, it’s unlikely you ever saw the TV show when it was first broadcast in the mid-50s. It starred Jackie Gleason and, in lesser but crucial roles, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolph. I was young, and today can barely recall seeing it on our TV set at the time; it wasn’t a parental favourite like some other shows, but I have since seen many episodes, most lately through the DVD set of the series. I watched several of them recently because I wanted to look back … click below for more ↓

Rage-Farming Trump Mimic Poilievre Scrambles to Pretend He’s Pro-Canada

Canadian Politics / MAGA cultists / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / Trump fascism / US Politics13 Comments

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The trade war that the racist and fascist felon and Putin asset Donald Trump initiated against American allies Canada and Mexico, as well as against China, Colombia, and other nations has brought out the stark differences between Canada’s conservative parties and our centrist and leftist parties. Suddenly caught like deer in the headlights by Trump’s attacks, the federal CONservatives are flailing to try and convince Canadians that they aren’t really the rightwing Maple MAGA extremists they’ve been pretending to be for the last few years. Instead, they are eager to tell us, they’ve been real Canadians all along. Just as … click below for more ↓

The New Fascists Have Arrived. American Democracy is Dead.

MAGA cultists / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US Politics21 Comments

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I get no satisfaction from saying ‘I told you so’ and ‘I warned you about them.’ But I did, over and over. So did many, many others, all of them far more informed and experienced in politics, reporting, and history than I. They warned about fascism. They warned about racism. They warned about criminal behaviour. They warned about the oligarchs. They warned about Project 2025. But millions of Americans ignored them and elected a convicted felon, a blatant grifter in cognitive decline who openly lied and spread disinformation and Russian propaganda. No one should be surprised that they got what … click below for more ↓

Enemy of the State

MAGA cultists / Trump fascism / US Politics15 Comments

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It was very clear from his first presidential campaign that Donald Trump was adversarial to the very notion of the USA, to its Constitution, to its judiciary, laws, courts, police, military, schools, to its free speech, its allies and trading partners, and its media. It was very clear from the outset that he intended to be a dictator, not a president, and he cared nothing for established processes, laws, and institutions. He intended to rule by himself, for himself. And he did, for four years. He surrounded himself with cronies, sycophants, and incompetent and pliable family members to do his … click below for more ↓

Why Are People Leaving Xitter En Masse?

Culture wars / Internet & Social Media / MAGA cultists / Trump fascism6 Comments

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The exodus from X to Bluesky has happened – the era of mass social media platforms is over. That’s the headline for a piece in today’s Guardian newspaper. People and corporations are turning to other social media platforms because of what Xitter has become since Musk bought it and started using it as his own platform to spread racist hatred, lies, disinformation, and AI fakes, while enabling the far-right extremists to spread their own propaganda. Anyone surprised that users and advertisers are fed up with the toxic, angry, anti-democracy, pro-fascist quagmire that Xitter has become? Me, either. Xitter has been … click below for more ↓

Class Struggle, Slavery, TV, and Trump

MAGA cultists / Rightwing claptrap / Trump fascism / US Politics4 Comments

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Long before Blandings, long before Downtown Abbey, long before Upstairs, Downstairs (both the 1971 original and the short-lived 2010 remake), even long before The Duchess of Duke Street, there was a popular TV show about class, servitude, and servants. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t British (or more properly, English): it was American. That show was called Hazel and it ran for five seasons from 1961 to 1966. It was so popular that it spawned a short-lived competitor on a different network, Our Man Higgins, featuring the British actor Stanley Holloway, which only lasted a single season. While the British shows were … click below for more ↓

Democracy or Fascism?

MAGA cultists / Musings / Politics / US Politics10 Comments

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We are, today, watching the most momentous decision that Americans have had to make in the entirety of their — and my own — lifetimes. Compared to the choice between Harris and felon Trump, all other elections seem almost inconsequential. That’s because never before was the whole fabric of democracy at risk. Never before has an openly racist, misogynist, totalitarian, cognitively-addled felon come so close to winning the presidency. Never before has the entire American experiment been on the scales. The choices are stark: between hope and despair; between optimism and negativity; between unity and division; between inclusion and exclusion; … click below for more ↓

Imagine There’s No Heaven…

MAGA cultists / Politics / Talibangelists and pseudo-Christians / Theocracy / US Politics3 Comments

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The title above is how Imagine, the iconic 1971 song by John Lennon, begins. It is still being played and sung, more than 50 years later. Wikipedia tells us it is “one of the 100 most performed songs of the 20th century.” The song was re-released as a single in 1980 following Lennon’s murder, reaching number one on the UK charts. It was re-released in 1988 and again in 1999. For some listeners, myself included, that first verse was an opening to an atheist anthem to sing aloud: Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below … click below for more ↓

How Did Democracy Come To This Sorry State?

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / MAGA cultists / Musings / US Politics5 Comments

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My wife and I are members of the Boomer generation. That means our parents, their families, and their friends, their neighbours and their communities were impacted by World War II. In our family, our parents  — British and Canadian — fought against the Nazis, fought against fascism, fought to keep the world safe for democracy. They endured six years of hell and deprivation so Susan and I could live a normal life. Many millions who fought for our freedoms died, often in horrible, lonely, and painful situations. In my family alone, I lost an uncle and stepbrother; victims of the … click below for more ↓

Meta Doesn’t Like Me

MAGA cultists / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US PoliticsLeave a comment

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The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,/  Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit/ Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/ Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. That’s how Edward Fitzgerald translated the 51st quatrain of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in his first edition of his book (1859). Fitzgerald might have done that translation differently had he known of our modern social media. Social media firms can “wash out” not just words, but posts, threads, and even entire accounts, turning account holders into an “unperson” in seconds.* This is, of course, supposed … click below for more ↓

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