Populist Demagogues

Here's a complete list of characteristics of demagogues according to Wikipedia:     1   Emotional oratory and personal charisma 2.  Scapegoating 3.  Fearmongering 4.  Lying 5.  Accusing opponents of weakness and disloyalty 6.  Promising the impossible 7.  Encouraging violence and using physical intimidation 8.  Personal insults and ridicule 9.  Exhibiting vulgarity and behaving outrageously 10. Folksy posturing 11. Making gross oversimplification 12. Attacking the news media 13. Establishing one-man rule, subverting the rule of law 14. Appointing unqualified lackeys to high office Now, think carefully please.  Are there any of these characteristics that Donald Trump does not possess, and has not exhibited quite consistently in his second terms of office, to a rather high degree.  Any?  Not even a single one?   Correct.  Donald Trump has exhibited every single one of the characteristics of demagogues, every single last one, to an extraordinarily high degree, in his second term of office.  To such a high degree, that he is regularly compared quite reasonably to Adolf Hitler, who also exhibited every single one of these characteristics to  a quite extraordinary degree.  Indeed, Trump has regularly praised Adolf Hitler as one of his role models!  Hey, even Trump never lies, all the time anyway.  Sometimes Donald Trump can be remarkably, and rather charmingly frank about himself, don't you think? Now, to be entirely fair, most politicians do actually exhibit a number of these characteristics, from time to time anyway, there probably is inevitably a certain element of demagoguery in being a successful politician, under any and all circumstances.  However, many, and probably most, do draw the line somewhere.  Most politicians do not generally apply 14, or very rarely, they don't appoint unqualified lackeys to high office, they know this will not work out for them, or for the country, in general anyway.   Most politicians do not apply 13, they do not establish one-man rule, subverting the rule of law, something Trump and Hitler reveled in, of course.   Most politicians do not attack the news media, number 12, freedom of speech is highly protected and valued in the US, according to the US Constitution.  Trump does not care about the US Constitution, or US laws, at all.  Most US politicians, and politicians in democratic societies, do not apply 7, they do not encourage violence and use physical intimidation, Donald Trump has regularly employed ICE and National Guard troops to frighten and assault US citizens and noncitizens alike.  In Minnesota early this year there was the real possibility of Trump instigating a civil war between Minnesota National Guardsmen and National Guardsmen from other states, over the excesses of ICE.  The situation was deescalated by backroom discussions between the different elements of the US military itself, who basically refused to go along with their official commander-in-chief. Now, again, to be fair, not all demagogues are extremely violent, in fact.   No one so far is accusing Donald Trump of having behaved as violently as Adolf Hitler ultimately did, and as he always seemed to have some inclination to do.  This may simply be because the US military culture will not permit him to be as violent as Trump would like to be, or, possibly because Trump himself is not particularly violent, except as a means of intimididation and control.  It's a bit hard to determine the point with certainty.  And, actually, I think by this stage most Americans really don't want to find out just how much like Hitler, Trump might be, under certain circumstances! #hitler #trump #donaldtrump #adolfhitler #demagogues #politics #geopolitics #ushistory #history #germanhistory #philosophyofhistory #demagoguery #usconstitution #law #uslaw #uspolitics #violence #politicalviolence #ice #usmilitary #minnesota #psychology #psychoanalysis