There is still a sizable chunk of the population, polling in the double digits last I checked, that thinks COVID was a government hoax to take away their freedom. These people vote.
Oh yes, they do. And that is on top of the 15-20% in every western democracy that has no issue voting for wannabe fascist and totalitarians. The upcoming election cycles will be interesting to watch. And obviously vote in, hoping it kind of makes a difference.
Perfect storms like this don't come around many times in a century and when they do you can have massive fall out. It's pretty weird how we are both on the cusp of massive progress and potentially a massive setback at the same time. I don't recall that being so prominently the case as long as I've been alive.
I don't remember anything like that neither, not that it means a lot but my chiodhood and youth was the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. It feels that democracies are more fragile now for a lot of reasons. The only historical, recent that is, that is comparable seem to be the 30s of the last century. Well, at least I don't wonder anymore how people like Hitler and Mussulini came to power.
Indeed, 'it can't happen here' is definitely answered in the negative. It can happen here, and it probably will happen here where 'here' is anywhere that considered itself to be on the 'good' side during WWII (that is: anywhere other than Japan, Italy and Germany). Italy is already almost there, the United States is flirting with it and may well succeed, the UK is up for grabs for whoever promises the electorate the biggest tax cuts and Russia is currently re-enacting the whole thing to see if they are able to determine if maybe Hitler was on to something.
It is absolutely incredible, the amount of lack of knowledge about history on display. And we can't seem to get the message across either. If Trump should - god forbid - come to power I predict all out war in Europe within the next 6 years.
If Trump wins, he will be president for lif, as will be maybe Ivanka (with the blessing of the GOP) later. That will mean the potential end of liberal democracies in the West. And yes, unless the war in Ukraine is over by then, even a potential land war in Europe, again.
And depending how that goes, who knows what China will be up to regarding Taiwan. Or Indi and Pakistan, once the stops are pulled, it will only be downhill. Or not, part of me still has hope. Not a lot, but still.
Trump makes a lot of promises, but he doesn't follow through very well. He tried to end democracy last time and fell flat on his face. He might even be prosecuted for the crimes he committed in the process. The system does still work, at least for now.
That ice is too thin for my taste. It came bloody close. Much closer than it had a right to. Mike Pence should get some kind of medal, I absolutely abhor his politics but to stand straight in the face of that much pressure is heroic at some level.
