judahmeek 4 days ago

Do you or do you not acknowledge that Trump's authoritarian tendencies are a threat to democratic institutions?

1
tonfreed 4 days ago

The entire American political establishment has been on a worrying slide to authoritarianism for most of my life. I remember the flow over here in Australia after 9/11, and the threats that were made on the public if they didn't go along with it.

Didn't get any better under Obama, we saw a massive increase in the surveillance state under his tenure. It was incredible how quickly the media dropped the journo wiretapping scandal.

Let's also not forget the summer of love riots and the behaviour of protestors storming the congress over justice Kavanagh, they've galvanised the right somewhat. Over here we have a growing right wing movement that came from the COVID lockdowns, where our elites and institutions pretty much burned every scrap of goodwill we afforded them for seemingly no end.

The post war paradigm is dead, and I don't think we have the language to describe the new one that's currently forming yet.

pacomerh 4 days ago

> "The entire American political establishment has been on a worrying slide to authoritarianism for most of my life.

Not like this one. The free speech censorship now is hugely worrying, not to mention the recent inhumane treatment to people for things like a denied Visa. It's pretty bad. I'm not sure people are paying enough attention.