POTUS BOWL 2020: A MEME IS A WISH YOUR <3 MAKES

Interesting thread but I don’t find the analogy to 1920s Italy very comforting. Sure, eventually Mussolini’s cult of personality collapsed. But he ruled for 20 years, 15 as a dictator. The job should be to stop Trump before he has his moment where the switch flips from tearing down constitutional limits on his power to official recognition of his unchecked authority.

skydiver8 · September 23, 2020, 4:20pm

I think the analogy is used more as a warning than anything…like, this is how Mussolini operated, recognize it so we can not fall into the same trap as Italy did then.

mosdef · September 23, 2020, 4:26pm

But the US is on the exact trajectory that Italy was in the first few years of Mussolini’s Italy. Systematic tearing down of constitutional limits on executive power, establishment of a cult of personality. Italy basically had to wait for Mussolini to make a disastrous error in siding with Germany in WWII. I’m not sure what lesson can be learned there, other than WAAF.

WichitaDM · September 23, 2020, 4:31pm

To address one of her points, people didn’t forget we won the midterms by 8. People just realize winning the midterms by 8 in the grand scheme of things meant virtually nothing.

MonsterJMcGee · September 23, 2020, 4:37pm

yeah, the midterms also didn’t personally involve Trump. Losing the House sucks for Trump but it’s not an existential threat to him like getting kicked out of office would be

MonsterJMcGee · September 23, 2020, 4:37pm

Like for the midterms Trump just tweeted about THE CARAVAN in all caps for a few days. With the election right now he is doing stuff in real life to try to rig it

mosdef · September 23, 2020, 4:38pm

It also overlooks the fact that midterm losses probably don’t bother Trump that much, he’s probably just going to think “what the hell does that have to do with me” and “fuck those lovers, what an embarrassment”. The Presidential election is all about Trump so he’s going to do whatever he can to create a narrative that he, personally, didn’t lose. Why would someone like Donnie Dumb Dumb put that much effort into preventing or dealing with someone else’s loss? He doesn’t care about them.

mosdef · September 23, 2020, 4:38pm

My pony lost the midterms by 8 points.

Riverman · September 23, 2020, 4:42pm

The media is in complete denial. They’re covering this like a normal election when the GOP is openly stating that they’re going to steal it if necessary. Once again, they’re complicit.

On a related note, whats the Democrats’ plan if and when they pull shit like overrulling a state’s voters to send GOP electors? Hope is not a strategy.

boredsocial · September 23, 2020, 4:44pm

I’m hopeful that the Obama admin vets currently figuring out what our response is going to be are smarter than the Trump people. I’m also hopeful that they’ve been talking to the military and laying the groundwork to get this Russian asset out when he loses.

If there’s one thing I’d snap bet my net worth on it’s that the generals want Trump gone more than anyone. What they say in public has absolutely nothing to do with what they are actually planning.

WichitaDM · September 23, 2020, 4:47pm

Corporate media is going to serve their corporate interests. Seeing some type of democratic socialist revolution here is an existential threat to them. That’s exactly why Bernie got the treatment he did by the media in the primary. They win either way in this election so they need to make whatever happens seem as normal and palatable as possible to the rube masses.

They only lose if we have actual change in this country. They have played a huge part in making sure that hasn’t meaningfully happened for decades now.

WichitaDM · September 23, 2020, 4:48pm

You aren’t wrong but generals aren’t going to overturn the ruling of a constitutionally appointed Supreme Court ever.

Riverman · September 23, 2020, 4:50pm

They’re also not going to shoot people when they take to the streets. If Biden clearly won and the Supreme Court tries to install Trump, there will be millions in the streets for months.

JordanIB · September 23, 2020, 4:50pm

Waaaa?

I wish, but no way, sadly.