Sadly, it's become clear that stopping Trump is a clear moral imperative for these people, therefore every single thing they do or word they write will be slanted toward that end. It's disgusting to see them slobber all over Kamala Harris, but it's worse knowing that if she doesn't work out and gets replaced at the convention, the press will pretend fawn over the next candidate as well.
Stopping Trump as a clear (or really ultimate) moral imperative is key. Serving this ultimate imperative excuses a long array of otherwise unthinkable actions. Suppressing speech, spreading misinformation, spying on other citizens, lawfare in all its forms, manufacturing millions of 'extra' ballots, and even assassination. There are no limits to behavior. None. Any vows that have been made, any ideals held, even religious faith no matter how weakly adhered to must serve this ultimate imperative.
Stopping Trump is the transcendent value, the one ring that rules them all. And we probably have to seize that ring somehow and take the subway to Mordor to dis-integrate it.
I think that is true for some, but for others, possibly most, the causality there is backwards. I think the Ruths of the world want to do those unthinkable actions, and need an excuse. They want to suppress speech, lie, spy, control and attack those who they feel oppose them. Trump is just the proximate devil; had he been killed or too injured to continue the campaign they would have found a new devil and continued apace. The end goal isn't stopping one man, the end goal is the license for behavior.
We know that because Reagan was Hitler, Bush was Hitler, Trump is Hitler, Niki would be Hitler. It really doesn't matter, it is all the argument they have. One day they will stop claiming the opposition is Hitler, there won't be any opposition; they will have become Stalin.
Exactly. As Trump says, "They aren't after me. They're after you. I'm just in the way." What they are doing to Trump is how they will rule, and how they are ruling in those districts where they have seized power.
I think you are right. Power is the summum bonum. And pursuit of it needs (in many cases for appearances sake only) a moral imperative. The object of the moral imperative is a null variable in compiling and running the program.
They can never say why, though, can they? It's what is called "the contamination heuristic," which differs somewhat from stigma, because people can live down stigma. The contamination heuristic applies forever to the scapegoat. He's awful, everyone with moral sense knows he's awful, and if you take issue, you'll be looked at as though you're making an argument for pedophilia.
Exactly what has Trump done to be Hitler redux? He had four years. I don't remember efforts to suppress speech. I don't remember concentration camps. I don't remember storming brigands in the streets, not from our side, anyway.
He is perceived as vulgar, hubristic, and bad taste (I don’t necessarily disagree). So he is a new Hitler (I disagree- although I don’t think he’s the saviour either). He is the other side of the same coin, we are being played over and over again with political shenanigans, all candidates are part of the deep state. While I liked that Trump didn’t start any war, I am concerned with his Zionist views.
He is vulgar, hubristic, and in bad taste. On the other hand, Obama is the opposite of that.
I'm a Zionist, and can't understand why anyone who cherishes Western civilization isn't. The Iranians are close to getting nukes, and I cannot imagine we and the Israelis don't have special forces in Iran. Also, I have never yet met an anti - Zionist who isn't really an anti - Semite. Maybe you're the first.
I keep searching for someone who can explain why Jews should be unique among the world's peoples in not having a homeland. This is especially true because of their several thousand year history in that land, as well as because "Palestine" is a fiction. You do know, I hope, that there never has been a state or a Kingdom of Palestine. "Palestinians" were invented as a sensational propaganda move circa 1970, probably by Yasir Arafat.
It's telling that the Arab powers had no interest in that land until Holocaust survivors started moving in. When Mark Twain visited in the late 19th century, he was shocked by the backwater which it then was.
I think it is also called the 'Contagion Hueristic' and I'm glad you pointed this out. Anyone who agrees with the object of their dread is also forever the scapegoat.
Exactly right. In fact, the contamination heuristic can be understood as the child of the contagion heuristic. This is because contagion can be a morally neutral thing, a good thing, or a fun thing, such as Beatlemania.
In many version of that story, the boy who cried wolf ended up getting eaten by the wolf. Here, the boy is cast as an oppressed group and therefore faces no consequences. Until we change that, I'm not confident anything can change. We probably need to unleash the wolf.
You keep writing about her, so I had to go to her website and get more background.
She is an historian by training and specializes in Italian fascism and Italian colonialism.
She's fascinated by "strongmen", so much so that she wrote a book called....Strongmen.
She's a professional opinion libtard at a variety of media outlets and is defending "democratic ideals" at the University of Hawaii. She has all the right fellowships and credentials.
Her supposed expertise in dictators makes her characterization of Trump even more perplexing, particularly in the context of Mussolini. Mussolini was a Communist who became a fascist, an agitator and ideologue with a violent streak and a bad temper, of modest origins. His father was a blacksmith and a Socialist. Mussolini was a dedicated Communist , but was ejected from the Socialist Party in Italy in 1914 for supporting Italian participation in WW1. His initial rationale was to promote the overthrow of the Habsburgs, Ottomans, and other monarchs in the name of class struggle, but then it became about nationalism. Italy didn't become a unified nation state until 1861, with expulsion of the French from Rome in 1870. WW1 further expanded Italian territory and Mussolini had the usual megalomaniacal dictator ambitions to extend Italy's empire along the lines of ancient Rome.
Trump on the other hand is a hardcore capitalist, entrepreneur, real estate developer and mass media star who has never been an ideologue. He's opposed to war, expansionism, and international adventurism. He's friendly to the people whereas Mussolini was all about his secret police. Trump is a family man. Mussolini was more about Mussolini. Interestingly Mussolini's descendants have done well for themselves in Italian society and politics. About the only things Trump has in common with Mussolini is that they are both alphas and their taste is flamboyant in furnishings and interior design, although Mussolini was more of a brutalist/modernist with Neo-Roman overtones and Trump is more into baroque/rococo. Her fascination with strongmen probably derives from some deep seated psychosexual issues, but daddy doesn't care.
So, this lady knows what she's doing. These aren't the efforts of a moron. She's obviously a hard Left commissar. She's a shameless regime adjacent liar who hides behind her credentials and adapts her scholarly endeavors to smear Trump and MAGA while her party commits most of the crimes and shares most of the behavorial traits of the subjects of her research. How often have we seen this pattern already?
Background is good, and she is singularly ignorant in her given field; to be so off the mark as she is in her writings, you have to be it on purpose. She is more or less ignoring Italian and European history, both ideas-wise and material, in favour of her hypothesis of the strongman (which isn't hers, originally, it is an old model from before WW1 even, oft recycled but always proven false - if not Mussolini, then someone else would have stepped forth, but not necessarily identical in policy to Il Duce; that's why the "shoot Hitler"-stuff doesn't work in reality).
If I was to quibble about one thing it is where you state Mussolini became a fascist. In effect, Mussolini invented fascism by wresting control of the meaning and interpretation of communism away from the internationalist perspective, which during his day had come to mean loyalty to Lenin and the USSR: as was later evidenced during the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet-loyal communists cared more about party doctrine than actually defeating Franco, which led to the spanish communists attacking and defeating themselves - in effect, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory: if you haven't read it, I really recommend Orwell's diary from his time as a volunteer in the red anarchist militia.
By adding a nationalist bent to communist doctrine, he could exert far more control and get things done, and in contrast to his northern disciple Hitler, Mussolini's troops and people had zero interest in re-creating a Roman Empire: independence and getting the nation up on its feet was plenty enough for them, as evidenced by their lackluster performance in Ethiopia and surrounding areas, managing to lose against opponents who often lacked firearms.
"She's obviously a hard Left commissar. She's a shameless regime adjacent liar who hides behind her credentials and adapts her scholarly endeavors to smear Trump and MAGA while her party commits most of the crimes and shares most of the behavorial traits of the subjects of her research."
Absolutely, 100% true. I've worked with such technically women, as has my wife. They are horrible humans. I could write a thesis-length paper describing their vile personality, deceptiveness and total lack of shame, capability to feel guilt, or empathy/sympathy. Where a male psychopath will murder yoour body, these women will murder everything about you except your body.
"So, this lady knows what she's doing. These aren't the efforts of a moron. She's obviously a hard Left commissar."
Precisely. It is the height of hubris to consider all of the apparitchiki facilitating the long march, to be idiots.
That village does have its useful idiots and plenty of them, but the commissariat has more than its share of erudition and low cunning.
Having lived and walked among sociopaths and psychopaths for half a century and more, this sort of academic fellow-traveler fits a pattern familiar to me. Much of their erudition is a simulacrum, a hollow shell that leverages the credulity of others, but it is not stupidity.
Why is it always middle aged white women who are the most deeply afflicted with woke mind virus and Trump derangement syndrome? Let me guess, she's also childless.
They’re wind-up dolls. They just don’t know that they’re wind-up dolls. There is no way that any sane person or institution would pay Ruth Ben-Ghiat (and others like her) for her deep thoughts unless doing so served another purpose.
I really don't find her funny at all! I find her very dangerous because democrats that read her tripe believe it hook, line and sinker.
How else could democrats suddenly rally behind a candidate nobody voted for in a primary?
It proves democrats don't care what they vote for as long as there is a D after its name. I give you John Fetterman, Joe Biden and of course Kamala. In my state of PA when Fetterman won, a dead guy won down ballot proving democrats don't even need a warm body.
Ben-Ghiat fuels these idiots with her insidious lies ands needs to be mocked, not laughed at.
"How else could democrats suddenly rally behind a candidate nobody voted for in a primary?" Didn't you know? Chuckie Schumer said the selection was "from the grass roots, bottom up,” referring, I guess, to the Dem's superdelegates.
As a side note, we should be thanking her for calling it what it is, an "assassination attempt on Trump". The rest of the Left is doing all they can to memory hole the event.
Unfortunately that split is axe free cuz I couldn't get past security. They said without ID they won't even let me in the building except on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, whatever the hell that meant.
Yes, that was remarkable. I was even able to read the whole thing, and print it out, absent the normal paywall. But there's possibly some slant against the locals: "Crooks had found a place on the roof that let him see Mr. Trump clearly, but also seemed to keep him somewhat hidden from the Secret Service countersnipers." That sentence follows their claim that the Beaver County sniper who'd gone outside to look for Crooks had returned to his post--the post being the one 2nd floor area of the AGR building that had a complete view of the Building 6 roof below them where Crooks was found dead.
Well maybe someone at the Times understood or was informed that upping Trump's victim status by denying he was shot was only working in Trump's favor with the electorate
“I keep waiting for this dimwitted asshole to find her moral and intellectual bottom…”
Most dimwitted assholes I’ve ever met do not have a moral or intellectual bottom because on those rare occasions when they do stumble on it, they ignore it and just keep digging deeper.
They are dimwitted assholes by choice. They take great pride in being dimwitted assholes, except they prefer the other label, “Intellectual”.
It’s a pity they surely could not survive the shitstorm they are working so hard to initiate.
I was listening to radio in my car last month, was in the lower FM's where the religious and classical stations are...and some public radio stations. I didn't know which I had landed on when the subject of fascism came in my speakers. I instantly thought of the Biden administration and fascism ascendant in the western nations. Had notions it was a Christian radio discussion to that effect. Then after clearly defining the past four years, Biden administration as we've experienced it the voice said Trump was the fascist villain she was describing. I listened in only long enough to get the name of the fascism "expert" to learn the name Ruth Ben-Ghiat. I read up on her when I got home, what a piece of human refuse! Unimpressive background aside from her ability to get accolades from a bunch of fellow Marxist travelers. Just, ick!
Quiz: Censorship, economic intervention, and subordination/suppression of individuals are championed by which political ideologies? (Hint: Two are correct)
I once took the "Authoritarian Personality" test. Results are on an "F-scale." Fascism. I answered every question with the most freedom, liberty-minded answers. Live and let live. Minimal government interference, preserve individual choice, etc. It scored me as bigly authoritarian, very high F-scale. I went back and reviewed my answers to see if I somehow missed the point in the questions. Nope.
Which makes the test and definition of a fascist authoritarian the complete inversion of what it purports to test. A true "freedom is slavery" concept baked in to the results.
I read a little about Fromm, the author of the popular test taught and cited by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. He was a collectivist authoritarian himself, var. Communist. The test was invented after WWII in the struggle between fascism and communism for global dominance. Meant to smear any individualist concept of self-governance as fascistic.
This is what so-called "experts" like Ben-Ghiat are schooled in. They truly believe that to support individual liberty and self-governance is fascism, nazism, Hitler-esque. Their tests tell them so.
You'll be as surprised as I was if you take the test, any online version. "Experts" who are informed by a loathing of true liberty and freedom into a warped, twisted and purposeful reappropriation of the words. How Orwellianism is done.
Took the test after reading your comment. 37% more "authoritarian" than the average.
"The businessman and the manufacturer are much more important to society than the artist and the professor."
The test is pointless bullshit, serving only as an excuse to call someone "fascist" with a basis in "science". It's no different than a 15th century cleric calling someone a withc because their birthmarks form a weird pattern.
Took their "Fascism"-test too:
"You are 51% Fascist, which makes you a Crypto-Fascist."
Hilarious. Especially since I answered "Strongly disagree" to such statements as "The state should be free to commit unlawful acts as deemed necessary" (paraphrasing).
What a complete mind-f*ck that test-page is. I've done /real/ tests, for certain jobs where it was required, and these ladies' magazine-style tests are so far from scientific and clinical, it's revolting.
It is. The term was invented by communist intellectuals in Lenin's day, as a way of guilt-by-association when there was no clear proof; it's a tactic that's been used heavily by various sorts of leftards of all sorts, from liberals to dyed-in-the-wool commies. A sort-of "fascist but in denial about it"-accusation, if you will (the unspoken assumption therefore being only the accuser have the knowledge and ability and right to define you and your opinions).
Yup! Glad you took time to do, it exposes the fraud when you can see what their definition of authoritarian/fascist is. Not the authoritarian/fascist we think of when we see the words. It's why so-called "experts" call constitutional freedom and liberty Patriots "Nazi's." Their own study materials and resources tell them so. It's not just the ladies' magazine-style tests, the actual test Fromm designed produces the same results. Yes, serving only as an excuse for collectivist authoritarians/totalitarians to call someone a fascist with a basis in (pseudo)science.
More people should take the test to see what a farce it is. The entire freedom movement would score "High" authoritarian and fascist. Knowing they're not. Even many of our opponents who "trust the experts" would discover they're "crypto" authoritarians/fascists, too. Would make most of them rethink who they're calling Nazi's. Only the true Marxist revolutionary collectivist authoritarian/fascists would score low on the F-scale.
I don't trust to write my true thoughts about this woman. It is better to believe she's this dumb--but I don't buy it. She thinks we are this dumb. She is the female version of that - whatshisname--couple of fat twin LTCs in the Army--the Ukrainian who 'told on Trump'--VINDMAN!! That evil clown.
She is what Vindman would be as a woman.
They actually believe with every fiber of their being that they are 'right'--that means on the right side of history--so they don't have to be right about the facts.
I thought the gynecomastic Vindmans were transitioning. Maybe just too much soy, but I always think of them as doughboys, especially when stuffed into their uniforms .
I remember how all of Vindman's mates on active duty mocked him because he was a "chow thief". He stole food. He was NOT respected by his contemperaries.
Yeah, they repulse me in uniform. Gross. There are, sadly, more than there should be in the field grades. The DoD sadly creates more bureaucrats than warriors. I wasn't until I retired that a guy was promoted to Brigadier General (State National Guards have one 2-star, and two 1-stars (one Army, one AF) in each state at a minimum--probably even Delaware or Rhode Island) that I wanted to follow without question. The previous 15+ years I was led by flute-playing, ideologically captured clowns.
It's not just the US armed forces; it is all the NATO-and-pals nations' forces.
Today (Tuesday) our armed forces really "took a dump in the blue cupboard" (it's a swedish idiom, meaning total FUBAR) when they published a recruitment-poster in our major daily:
"We'll fight to the last they/them"
In swedish, it's "Vi kämpar till siste hen", "hen" being a made-up fake word denoting either/neither sex. The real saying is, "Vi kämpar till siste man" - "We fight to the last man". If they wanted a gender-neutral term, "We fight to the last soldier" would have done it just as well, but there's an agend behind using "hen".
Bad enough? Nope. When people started telling them to STFU and get real, they responded with an image of a black man watching TV and eating popcorn. Their official X-account got involved in trying to troll using memes.
Wow. What a way to destroy what little respect people had left for the armed forces. As if last year's "We don't march straight"-debacle wasn't bad enough.
I cannot, in good conscience, click 'like' to what you just wrote. It has to be by design. Who controls/influences these people? Has the CCP captured all the senior officers/adminstrators in the NATO countries? WTF did Sweden join NATO in the first place?!?!? Suicide mission?
All of it is insane. There will be a lot of future spilled blood because of these monsters.
You are kidding me. This lady can't be real. A BULLET went a couple of millimeters from Donald Trump's head. Nobody would set that up, risk it, OMG ... can't believe I'm trying to desciribe it. The world has gone off the fricken rails ... it is unbelieveable that ANYONE would be so ... stupid? no .... crazy? no ... ignorant? no ... I will stop with the adjectives and leave it to Isaiah ...
He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Fellow patriots, we are in heavy-duty spiritual warfare.
Pray for the blinded people, and recognize that we are not fighting against them. We are fighting against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. See that there be no wicked way in you, and PRAY for our country. And while you vote for Donald Trump, don't forget that Jesus will be riding the white horse ... not Donald.
Chris, thank you for including a photo of the dimwitted asshole. At first glance, Dr. Ruth looks kind of harmless…but then I noticed her crazy eyes. Yup, she’s batshit crazy.
Sadly, it's become clear that stopping Trump is a clear moral imperative for these people, therefore every single thing they do or word they write will be slanted toward that end. It's disgusting to see them slobber all over Kamala Harris, but it's worse knowing that if she doesn't work out and gets replaced at the convention, the press will pretend fawn over the next candidate as well.
Stopping Trump as a clear (or really ultimate) moral imperative is key. Serving this ultimate imperative excuses a long array of otherwise unthinkable actions. Suppressing speech, spreading misinformation, spying on other citizens, lawfare in all its forms, manufacturing millions of 'extra' ballots, and even assassination. There are no limits to behavior. None. Any vows that have been made, any ideals held, even religious faith no matter how weakly adhered to must serve this ultimate imperative.
Stopping Trump is the transcendent value, the one ring that rules them all. And we probably have to seize that ring somehow and take the subway to Mordor to dis-integrate it.
I think that is true for some, but for others, possibly most, the causality there is backwards. I think the Ruths of the world want to do those unthinkable actions, and need an excuse. They want to suppress speech, lie, spy, control and attack those who they feel oppose them. Trump is just the proximate devil; had he been killed or too injured to continue the campaign they would have found a new devil and continued apace. The end goal isn't stopping one man, the end goal is the license for behavior.
We know that because Reagan was Hitler, Bush was Hitler, Trump is Hitler, Niki would be Hitler. It really doesn't matter, it is all the argument they have. One day they will stop claiming the opposition is Hitler, there won't be any opposition; they will have become Stalin.
Even Stalin had a Trotsky. There is always the boogeyman to fear so that the great leader can protect the people from something.
If it doesn't exist, it will be created.
Exactly. As Trump says, "They aren't after me. They're after you. I'm just in the way." What they are doing to Trump is how they will rule, and how they are ruling in those districts where they have seized power.
I think you are right. Power is the summum bonum. And pursuit of it needs (in many cases for appearances sake only) a moral imperative. The object of the moral imperative is a null variable in compiling and running the program.
They can never say why, though, can they? It's what is called "the contamination heuristic," which differs somewhat from stigma, because people can live down stigma. The contamination heuristic applies forever to the scapegoat. He's awful, everyone with moral sense knows he's awful, and if you take issue, you'll be looked at as though you're making an argument for pedophilia.
Exactly what has Trump done to be Hitler redux? He had four years. I don't remember efforts to suppress speech. I don't remember concentration camps. I don't remember storming brigands in the streets, not from our side, anyway.
He is perceived as vulgar, hubristic, and bad taste (I don’t necessarily disagree). So he is a new Hitler (I disagree- although I don’t think he’s the saviour either). He is the other side of the same coin, we are being played over and over again with political shenanigans, all candidates are part of the deep state. While I liked that Trump didn’t start any war, I am concerned with his Zionist views.
He is vulgar, hubristic, and in bad taste. On the other hand, Obama is the opposite of that.
I'm a Zionist, and can't understand why anyone who cherishes Western civilization isn't. The Iranians are close to getting nukes, and I cannot imagine we and the Israelis don't have special forces in Iran. Also, I have never yet met an anti - Zionist who isn't really an anti - Semite. Maybe you're the first.
I keep searching for someone who can explain why Jews should be unique among the world's peoples in not having a homeland. This is especially true because of their several thousand year history in that land, as well as because "Palestine" is a fiction. You do know, I hope, that there never has been a state or a Kingdom of Palestine. "Palestinians" were invented as a sensational propaganda move circa 1970, probably by Yasir Arafat.
It's telling that the Arab powers had no interest in that land until Holocaust survivors started moving in. When Mark Twain visited in the late 19th century, he was shocked by the backwater which it then was.
Thank you.
I think it is also called the 'Contagion Hueristic' and I'm glad you pointed this out. Anyone who agrees with the object of their dread is also forever the scapegoat.
Exactly right. In fact, the contamination heuristic can be understood as the child of the contagion heuristic. This is because contagion can be a morally neutral thing, a good thing, or a fun thing, such as Beatlemania.
WELL SAID ANGUS!
"He wants the Precious, gollum. Always he is looking for it. But we must not let him have it!"
“Wait! There’s a new guy? Well, good. Kamala was always terrible. But this new guy! He’s the savior!”
ope. They’ll tell us how heroic and patriotic Kamala was for graciously stepping aside to save Our Democracy(TM).
The heart and soul of Democrat strategy and tactics: No enemies to the left.
They never learned the moral lesson of the boy who cried wolf.
They have morals?!!! 😲
In many version of that story, the boy who cried wolf ended up getting eaten by the wolf. Here, the boy is cast as an oppressed group and therefore faces no consequences. Until we change that, I'm not confident anything can change. We probably need to unleash the wolf.
Clear imperative, far from moral.
Name me the last formal Democrat nominee the press *didn't* fawn over.
You now understand how I have felt about dumbocraps since I was a child. They're absolutely disgusting.
Indeed.
You keep writing about her, so I had to go to her website and get more background.
She is an historian by training and specializes in Italian fascism and Italian colonialism.
She's fascinated by "strongmen", so much so that she wrote a book called....Strongmen.
She's a professional opinion libtard at a variety of media outlets and is defending "democratic ideals" at the University of Hawaii. She has all the right fellowships and credentials.
Her supposed expertise in dictators makes her characterization of Trump even more perplexing, particularly in the context of Mussolini. Mussolini was a Communist who became a fascist, an agitator and ideologue with a violent streak and a bad temper, of modest origins. His father was a blacksmith and a Socialist. Mussolini was a dedicated Communist , but was ejected from the Socialist Party in Italy in 1914 for supporting Italian participation in WW1. His initial rationale was to promote the overthrow of the Habsburgs, Ottomans, and other monarchs in the name of class struggle, but then it became about nationalism. Italy didn't become a unified nation state until 1861, with expulsion of the French from Rome in 1870. WW1 further expanded Italian territory and Mussolini had the usual megalomaniacal dictator ambitions to extend Italy's empire along the lines of ancient Rome.
Trump on the other hand is a hardcore capitalist, entrepreneur, real estate developer and mass media star who has never been an ideologue. He's opposed to war, expansionism, and international adventurism. He's friendly to the people whereas Mussolini was all about his secret police. Trump is a family man. Mussolini was more about Mussolini. Interestingly Mussolini's descendants have done well for themselves in Italian society and politics. About the only things Trump has in common with Mussolini is that they are both alphas and their taste is flamboyant in furnishings and interior design, although Mussolini was more of a brutalist/modernist with Neo-Roman overtones and Trump is more into baroque/rococo. Her fascination with strongmen probably derives from some deep seated psychosexual issues, but daddy doesn't care.
So, this lady knows what she's doing. These aren't the efforts of a moron. She's obviously a hard Left commissar. She's a shameless regime adjacent liar who hides behind her credentials and adapts her scholarly endeavors to smear Trump and MAGA while her party commits most of the crimes and shares most of the behavorial traits of the subjects of her research. How often have we seen this pattern already?
Trump/Vance '24
Felon + Hillbilly = 'Murica
Background is good, and she is singularly ignorant in her given field; to be so off the mark as she is in her writings, you have to be it on purpose. She is more or less ignoring Italian and European history, both ideas-wise and material, in favour of her hypothesis of the strongman (which isn't hers, originally, it is an old model from before WW1 even, oft recycled but always proven false - if not Mussolini, then someone else would have stepped forth, but not necessarily identical in policy to Il Duce; that's why the "shoot Hitler"-stuff doesn't work in reality).
If I was to quibble about one thing it is where you state Mussolini became a fascist. In effect, Mussolini invented fascism by wresting control of the meaning and interpretation of communism away from the internationalist perspective, which during his day had come to mean loyalty to Lenin and the USSR: as was later evidenced during the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet-loyal communists cared more about party doctrine than actually defeating Franco, which led to the spanish communists attacking and defeating themselves - in effect, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory: if you haven't read it, I really recommend Orwell's diary from his time as a volunteer in the red anarchist militia.
By adding a nationalist bent to communist doctrine, he could exert far more control and get things done, and in contrast to his northern disciple Hitler, Mussolini's troops and people had zero interest in re-creating a Roman Empire: independence and getting the nation up on its feet was plenty enough for them, as evidenced by their lackluster performance in Ethiopia and surrounding areas, managing to lose against opponents who often lacked firearms.
"She's obviously a hard Left commissar. She's a shameless regime adjacent liar who hides behind her credentials and adapts her scholarly endeavors to smear Trump and MAGA while her party commits most of the crimes and shares most of the behavorial traits of the subjects of her research."
Absolutely, 100% true. I've worked with such technically women, as has my wife. They are horrible humans. I could write a thesis-length paper describing their vile personality, deceptiveness and total lack of shame, capability to feel guilt, or empathy/sympathy. Where a male psychopath will murder yoour body, these women will murder everything about you except your body.
"So, this lady knows what she's doing. These aren't the efforts of a moron. She's obviously a hard Left commissar."
Precisely. It is the height of hubris to consider all of the apparitchiki facilitating the long march, to be idiots.
That village does have its useful idiots and plenty of them, but the commissariat has more than its share of erudition and low cunning.
Having lived and walked among sociopaths and psychopaths for half a century and more, this sort of academic fellow-traveler fits a pattern familiar to me. Much of their erudition is a simulacrum, a hollow shell that leverages the credulity of others, but it is not stupidity.
I bestow Tanto with the title of PREMIER HISTORIAN, and Ben-Ghiat the title of IDIOT!
And now Rikard takes the title! This is a history lesson I never received in high school. (Unless I missed it while ogling Joyce Turk!)
Ruth Ben-Idgiat!
And yet I can’t cash in on this. 😂
But those are facts. As if they matter.
Well, my favorite lefty nickname for Trump is “Mango Mussolini”. I support the guy, but that made me laugh out loud when I read it,
I wonder why she didn't write about Obama.
Why is it always middle aged white women who are the most deeply afflicted with woke mind virus and Trump derangement syndrome? Let me guess, she's also childless.
Does she have cats?
She has one poosy.
Toxoplasmosis.
They’re wind-up dolls. They just don’t know that they’re wind-up dolls. There is no way that any sane person or institution would pay Ruth Ben-Ghiat (and others like her) for her deep thoughts unless doing so served another purpose.
She’s just a regime plant. She probably works for CIA. A lot of the top shills are on the payroll in one way or another .
I doubt she’s just an enthusiastic Commie, although it may be a twofer.
Yes, I realized that after the fact.
Seriously, this is comedy GOLD!
Her, not you.
OK you're funny too. But she's doing it without even TRYING!
We need to have a version of the Razzies for academics and journalists.
It's called the Pulitzer Prize.
Official Thread of the Week - Chris and ok!! 🏆
lol, like
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Not sure we could find a source to produce the quantity of statues needed for that “awards” show.
I really don't find her funny at all! I find her very dangerous because democrats that read her tripe believe it hook, line and sinker.
How else could democrats suddenly rally behind a candidate nobody voted for in a primary?
It proves democrats don't care what they vote for as long as there is a D after its name. I give you John Fetterman, Joe Biden and of course Kamala. In my state of PA when Fetterman won, a dead guy won down ballot proving democrats don't even need a warm body.
Ben-Ghiat fuels these idiots with her insidious lies ands needs to be mocked, not laughed at.
"How else could democrats suddenly rally behind a candidate nobody voted for in a primary?" Didn't you know? Chuckie Schumer said the selection was "from the grass roots, bottom up,” referring, I guess, to the Dem's superdelegates.
Proving that, with dumbocraps, any IQ at all doesn't equate to any level of "smart."
As a side note, we should be thanking her for calling it what it is, an "assassination attempt on Trump". The rest of the Left is doing all they can to memory hole the event.
Except, remarkably enough, for the New York Times, which broke a serious story about the failures in Butler this morning. A split is developing.
A split? Why? They were doing so well with their Campaign of Weird.
Unfortunately that split is axe free cuz I couldn't get past security. They said without ID they won't even let me in the building except on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, whatever the hell that meant.
Election day.
Yes, that was remarkable. I was even able to read the whole thing, and print it out, absent the normal paywall. But there's possibly some slant against the locals: "Crooks had found a place on the roof that let him see Mr. Trump clearly, but also seemed to keep him somewhat hidden from the Secret Service countersnipers." That sentence follows their claim that the Beaver County sniper who'd gone outside to look for Crooks had returned to his post--the post being the one 2nd floor area of the AGR building that had a complete view of the Building 6 roof below them where Crooks was found dead.
Well maybe someone at the Times understood or was informed that upping Trump's victim status by denying he was shot was only working in Trump's favor with the electorate
“I keep waiting for this dimwitted asshole to find her moral and intellectual bottom…”
Most dimwitted assholes I’ve ever met do not have a moral or intellectual bottom because on those rare occasions when they do stumble on it, they ignore it and just keep digging deeper.
They are dimwitted assholes by choice. They take great pride in being dimwitted assholes, except they prefer the other label, “Intellectual”.
It’s a pity they surely could not survive the shitstorm they are working so hard to initiate.
RobMc, you're right, they do prefer intellectual, I figured it out after I saw it popping up on my bottle of Lume.
I’m starting to feel that RBG is like a hair shirt you wear to punish yourself, Mr. Bray. Whatever you have done, it cannot be that bad! 😂😂
I was listening to radio in my car last month, was in the lower FM's where the religious and classical stations are...and some public radio stations. I didn't know which I had landed on when the subject of fascism came in my speakers. I instantly thought of the Biden administration and fascism ascendant in the western nations. Had notions it was a Christian radio discussion to that effect. Then after clearly defining the past four years, Biden administration as we've experienced it the voice said Trump was the fascist villain she was describing. I listened in only long enough to get the name of the fascism "expert" to learn the name Ruth Ben-Ghiat. I read up on her when I got home, what a piece of human refuse! Unimpressive background aside from her ability to get accolades from a bunch of fellow Marxist travelers. Just, ick!
Quiz: Censorship, economic intervention, and subordination/suppression of individuals are championed by which political ideologies? (Hint: Two are correct)
i) Conservatism
ii) Liberalism
iii) Fascism
iiii) Libertarianism
I once took the "Authoritarian Personality" test. Results are on an "F-scale." Fascism. I answered every question with the most freedom, liberty-minded answers. Live and let live. Minimal government interference, preserve individual choice, etc. It scored me as bigly authoritarian, very high F-scale. I went back and reviewed my answers to see if I somehow missed the point in the questions. Nope.
Which makes the test and definition of a fascist authoritarian the complete inversion of what it purports to test. A true "freedom is slavery" concept baked in to the results.
I read a little about Fromm, the author of the popular test taught and cited by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. He was a collectivist authoritarian himself, var. Communist. The test was invented after WWII in the struggle between fascism and communism for global dominance. Meant to smear any individualist concept of self-governance as fascistic.
This is what so-called "experts" like Ben-Ghiat are schooled in. They truly believe that to support individual liberty and self-governance is fascism, nazism, Hitler-esque. Their tests tell them so.
You'll be as surprised as I was if you take the test, any online version. "Experts" who are informed by a loathing of true liberty and freedom into a warped, twisted and purposeful reappropriation of the words. How Orwellianism is done.
Took the test after reading your comment. 37% more "authoritarian" than the average.
"The businessman and the manufacturer are much more important to society than the artist and the professor."
The test is pointless bullshit, serving only as an excuse to call someone "fascist" with a basis in "science". It's no different than a 15th century cleric calling someone a withc because their birthmarks form a weird pattern.
Took their "Fascism"-test too:
"You are 51% Fascist, which makes you a Crypto-Fascist."
Hilarious. Especially since I answered "Strongly disagree" to such statements as "The state should be free to commit unlawful acts as deemed necessary" (paraphrasing).
What a complete mind-f*ck that test-page is. I've done /real/ tests, for certain jobs where it was required, and these ladies' magazine-style tests are so far from scientific and clinical, it's revolting.
Going out on a limb here, but crypto fascist sounds like some made up bullshit.
It is. The term was invented by communist intellectuals in Lenin's day, as a way of guilt-by-association when there was no clear proof; it's a tactic that's been used heavily by various sorts of leftards of all sorts, from liberals to dyed-in-the-wool commies. A sort-of "fascist but in denial about it"-accusation, if you will (the unspoken assumption therefore being only the accuser have the knowledge and ability and right to define you and your opinions).
Yup! Glad you took time to do, it exposes the fraud when you can see what their definition of authoritarian/fascist is. Not the authoritarian/fascist we think of when we see the words. It's why so-called "experts" call constitutional freedom and liberty Patriots "Nazi's." Their own study materials and resources tell them so. It's not just the ladies' magazine-style tests, the actual test Fromm designed produces the same results. Yes, serving only as an excuse for collectivist authoritarians/totalitarians to call someone a fascist with a basis in (pseudo)science.
More people should take the test to see what a farce it is. The entire freedom movement would score "High" authoritarian and fascist. Knowing they're not. Even many of our opponents who "trust the experts" would discover they're "crypto" authoritarians/fascists, too. Would make most of them rethink who they're calling Nazi's. Only the true Marxist revolutionary collectivist authoritarian/fascists would score low on the F-scale.
ii and iii
I don't trust to write my true thoughts about this woman. It is better to believe she's this dumb--but I don't buy it. She thinks we are this dumb. She is the female version of that - whatshisname--couple of fat twin LTCs in the Army--the Ukrainian who 'told on Trump'--VINDMAN!! That evil clown.
She is what Vindman would be as a woman.
They actually believe with every fiber of their being that they are 'right'--that means on the right side of history--so they don't have to be right about the facts.
I despise these people.
bsn
I thought the gynecomastic Vindmans were transitioning. Maybe just too much soy, but I always think of them as doughboys, especially when stuffed into their uniforms .
I remember how all of Vindman's mates on active duty mocked him because he was a "chow thief". He stole food. He was NOT respected by his contemperaries.
Yeah, they repulse me in uniform. Gross. There are, sadly, more than there should be in the field grades. The DoD sadly creates more bureaucrats than warriors. I wasn't until I retired that a guy was promoted to Brigadier General (State National Guards have one 2-star, and two 1-stars (one Army, one AF) in each state at a minimum--probably even Delaware or Rhode Island) that I wanted to follow without question. The previous 15+ years I was led by flute-playing, ideologically captured clowns.
bsn
It's not just the US armed forces; it is all the NATO-and-pals nations' forces.
Today (Tuesday) our armed forces really "took a dump in the blue cupboard" (it's a swedish idiom, meaning total FUBAR) when they published a recruitment-poster in our major daily:
"We'll fight to the last they/them"
In swedish, it's "Vi kämpar till siste hen", "hen" being a made-up fake word denoting either/neither sex. The real saying is, "Vi kämpar till siste man" - "We fight to the last man". If they wanted a gender-neutral term, "We fight to the last soldier" would have done it just as well, but there's an agend behind using "hen".
Bad enough? Nope. When people started telling them to STFU and get real, they responded with an image of a black man watching TV and eating popcorn. Their official X-account got involved in trying to troll using memes.
Wow. What a way to destroy what little respect people had left for the armed forces. As if last year's "We don't march straight"-debacle wasn't bad enough.
Rikard,
I cannot, in good conscience, click 'like' to what you just wrote. It has to be by design. Who controls/influences these people? Has the CCP captured all the senior officers/adminstrators in the NATO countries? WTF did Sweden join NATO in the first place?!?!? Suicide mission?
All of it is insane. There will be a lot of future spilled blood because of these monsters.
bsn
To paraphrase Daniel Lapin, "She single-handedly destroys the myth of Jewish intelligence!"
IDK, she seems to be reinforcing a few of them.
You are kidding me. This lady can't be real. A BULLET went a couple of millimeters from Donald Trump's head. Nobody would set that up, risk it, OMG ... can't believe I'm trying to desciribe it. The world has gone off the fricken rails ... it is unbelieveable that ANYONE would be so ... stupid? no .... crazy? no ... ignorant? no ... I will stop with the adjectives and leave it to Isaiah ...
He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Fellow patriots, we are in heavy-duty spiritual warfare.
Pray for the blinded people, and recognize that we are not fighting against them. We are fighting against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. See that there be no wicked way in you, and PRAY for our country. And while you vote for Donald Trump, don't forget that Jesus will be riding the white horse ... not Donald.
Is there anything dumber than a liberal white middle aged college grad? I’ll wait.
Their professors.
Hat tip to your brilliant line "Nazi Ear". You bring out the inner punk in me: Listen to Nazi Ear by Jace Maxwell on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/jace-maxwell-173761951/nazi-ear?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1&si=1bdadfc9843a45df9120328de6c5a1f3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Chris, thank you for including a photo of the dimwitted asshole. At first glance, Dr. Ruth looks kind of harmless…but then I noticed her crazy eyes. Yup, she’s batshit crazy.
That was my first thought, as well! Those pinpoint pupils...absolute crazy eyes! I shudder...
I find her forced weak smile that appears to have never reached her eyes to also be a telltale giveaway of her hiding inner demons.
So according to princess silly pants, JFK, RFK and MLK were authoritarian tyrants?
Got it.
And that Lincoln guy.
Apparently, you're only a strongman if you survive the attempt. Reasons...
I guess Steve Scalise was also a strongman.
And Lincoln. And JFK.
They didn't survive, so don't fit the model.
The Archduke Ferninand was a strongman, until he wasn't.