American Authoritarianism: Who is Next?

A couple of days ago late at night on MSNBC either Chris Hayes or Lawrence O'Donnel or Brian Williams (sorry it was late and it all ran together) had on a guest who was a college professor talking about authoritarian tendencies of Trump and the danger to America that posed were he to win in two weeks.

Now he conduced Trump was very likely to lose and there was no real threat of an Authoritarian despot taking over American government. His claim that only HE knows our national problems and only HE can fix them will likely never be tested. His racism and his sexism and his xenophobia will likely never be connected to policies he proposes or actions he takes in the White House. America will have dodged the bullet of the would be strong man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This time.

He said something that has haunted me for a couple of days now: Trump is a terrible politician and his own worst enemy with his mouth and actions that will cause his own defeat. The guy literally manufactures up his own munitions and tests them on himself sabotaging his own campaign over and over and over and over again.

But what happens when the alt-right gets a slicker politician at their head... somebody with the charm and campaign ability of a Barack Obama or John or Bobby Kennedy but with all the same egomaniacal authoritarian tendencies of the wanna be strongman? That person will not be talking about guiltless genital grabbing or women's weight woes or attacking gold star parents. That person will NOT make those sort of mistakes that cause their own self destruction.

And will American be able to stop that person down the road?

This scares me to death and it has nothing to do with the Halloween season and horror movies on nearly every channel. This is truly a frightening possibility.

Do you think this is something we should be concerned about?
Who would be a likely candidate from the right to do such a thing.

And please - if you want to use this thread as a springboard for the usual Obama or Clinton or progressive target shooting - please have the courtesy to start your own speculative thread. Thanks.

the actual "alt-right" as you call them, are a very small minority. the large majority of conservatives do not want and really would not tolerate a totalitarian regime. They will vote for Trump though, because they know Trump won't actually be able to BE your strongman, he doesn't have enough real support for that.

Trump has support because he is an outsider and the Right is tired of the establishment, and because the right dislikes Hillary Clinton every bit as much as you dislike Trump. that is all.

haymarket said:

A couple of days ago late at night on MSNBC either Chris Hayes or Lawrence O'Donnel or Brian Williams (sorry it was late and it all ran together) had on a guest who was a college professor talking about authoritarian tendencies of Trump and the danger to America that posed were he to win in two weeks.

Now he conduced Trump was very likely to lose and there was no real threat of an Authoritarian despot taking over American government. His claim that only HE knows our national problems and only HE can fix them will likely never be tested. His racism and his sexism and his xenophobia will likely never be connected to policies he proposes or actions he takes in the White House. America will have dodged the bullet of the would be strong man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This time.

He said something that has haunted me for a couple of days now: Trump is a terrible politician and his own worst enemy with his mouth and actions that will cause his own defeat. The guy literally manufactures up his own munitions and tests them on himself sabotaging his own campaign over and over and over and over again.

But what happens when the alt-right gets a slicker politician at their head... somebody with the charm and campaign ability of a Barack Obama or John or Bobby Kennedy but with all the same egomaniacal authoritarian tendencies of the wanna be strongman? That person will not be talking about guiltless genital grabbing or women's weight woes or attacking gold star parents. That person will NOT make those sort of mistakes that cause their own self destruction.

And will American be able to stop that person down the road?

This scares me to death and it has nothing to do with the Halloween season and horror movies on nearly every channel. This is truly a frightening possibility.

Do you think this is something we should be concerned about?
Who would be a likely candidate from the right to do such a thing.

And please - if you want to use this thread as a springboard for the usual Obama or Clinton or progressive target shooting - please have the courtesy to start your own speculative thread. Thanks.

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Our most popular presidents have been the most authoritarian. America does want a dictator as long he he dictates what they want, seems kinda counterintuitive to me.

Sorry but, Hillary and Barry aren't exactly non-authoritative.

Smells of fish in here.

WCH said:

Sorry but, Hillary and Barry aren't exactly non-authoritative.

Smells of fish in here.

Click to expand...

There is significant difference between having and using proper authority and being an authoritarian who announces to the nation that only he knows and can fix the problems of the land.

haymarket said:

A couple of days ago late at night on MSNBC either Chris Hayes or Lawrence O'Donnel or Brian Williams (sorry it was late and it all ran together) had on a guest who was a college professor talking about authoritarian tendencies of Trump and the danger to America that posed were he to win in two weeks.

Now he conduced Trump was very likely to lose and there was no real threat of an Authoritarian despot taking over American government. His claim that only HE knows our national problems and only HE can fix them will likely never be tested. His racism and his sexism and his xenophobia will likely never be connected to policies he proposes or actions he takes in the White House. America will have dodged the bullet of the would be strong man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This time.

He said something that has haunted me for a couple of days now: Trump is a terrible politician and his own worst enemy with his mouth and actions that will cause his own defeat. The guy literally manufactures up his own munitions and tests them on himself sabotaging his own campaign over and over and over and over again.

But what happens when the alt-right gets a slicker politician at their head... somebody with the charm and campaign ability of a Barack Obama or John or Bobby Kennedy but with all the same egomaniacal authoritarian tendencies of the wanna be strongman? That person will not be talking about guiltless genital grabbing or women's weight woes or attacking gold star parents. That person will NOT make those sort of mistakes that cause their own self destruction.

And will American be able to stop that person down the road?

This scares me to death and it has nothing to do with the Halloween season and horror movies on nearly every channel. This is truly a frightening possibility.

Do you think this is something we should be concerned about?
Who would be a likely candidate from the right to do such a thing.

And please - if you want to use this thread as a springboard for the usual Obama or Clinton or progressive target shooting - please have the courtesy to start your own speculative thread. Thanks.

Click to expand...

While the Alt-Right thanks in part to propaganda and right wing media seems to be the wave of the future for the Republican Party, as I am sorry to say. I don't think you have to worry about them gaining and holding onto power, at least not in your lifetime, perhaps I will see the day when a candidate such as this becomes President. That's not the direction this country is headed at the moment and it won't be for some time.

What we are seeing is the birth of a new party and perhaps the combination of two of the old ones. I've been thinking since 2010 and the rise of the Alt-Right on the national level, that what we will have in the future is the "authoritarian Party" or old world politics vs the "liberty, or freedom" Party, this is the new world politics/CT politics or rather clickbait politics that has such harmed this election cycle more than any others. There are not that many people my age who truly understand politics, and if they do. They'd be more comfortable in old world politics.

Ironically there is more of a threat to our democracy as a whole from this so-called liberty party due to their inability to accept certain facts about the government. It will be a slow burn though. No nationally recognized politician in either party has the chops (that Trump had) to take that liberty party into the future. He had a HUGE potential to fast track that movement considering the populist wave that is sweeping Europe and other western countries, but it's clear Trump doesn't care and doesn't have the ability to think in those global terms.

You would have to have a liberty party member who is both charismatic and/or selfless who wholly believes in this stuff and would want to make it a national movement. I don't think Trump wants that for himself. Ross Perot was not that guy either, because he only cared about making a platform for himself. You would have to have some libertarian today to start the selfless groundwork, if they can think stately which remains to be seen. If by the time the 2070s come along and we haven't handed our election process entirely to computers than I could see such a figure rise to power.

But for now, there is no chance. Hope that answers your question to some degree.

haymarket said:

There is significant difference between having and using proper authority and being an authoritarian who announces to the nation that only he knows and can fix the problems of the land.

Click to expand...

You haven't been keeping up , have you?

There's a difference between being authoritative and being a dictator.

WCH said:

You haven't been keeping up , have you?

There's a difference between being authoritative and being a dictator.

Click to expand...

Why would you have to make a side comment to then state the same thing I stated just using one different word?

And I would ask you to please refrain from further nitpicking to derail the discussion and instead jump in and actually discuss the OP topic like Moderate GOP just did and did it well.

Hypothetical said:

the actual "alt-right" as you call them, are a very small minority. the large majority of conservatives do not want and really would not tolerate a totalitarian regime. They will vote for Trump though, because they know Trump won't actually be able to BE your strongman, he doesn't have enough real support for that.

Trump has support because he is an outsider and the Right is tired of the establishment, and because the right dislikes Hillary Clinton every bit as much as you dislike Trump. that is all.

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Social / Religious Conservatism is an authoritarian ideology. So don't think most conservatives would not tollerate it.

Hypothetical said:

the actual "alt-right" as you call them, are a very small minority. the large majority of conservatives do not want and really would not tolerate a totalitarian regime. They will vote for Trump though, because they know Trump won't actually be able to BE your strongman, he doesn't have enough real support for that.

Trump has support because he is an outsider and the Right is tired of the establishment, and because the right dislikes Hillary Clinton every bit as much as you dislike Trump. that is all.

Click to expand...

The calculation that we can vote for Trump but he could not actually be the one man strongman that he wants to be has some merit but is flawed because it assumes that all the various checks and balances that might prevent that would remain intact. It also assumes that Trump respects than and will abide by them and not attempt to significantly expand his powers using means that are unforeseen right now.

That is a chance I am not at all willing to take.

haymarket said:

Who would be a likely candidate from the right to do such a thing.

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You completely disqualified this thread from any reasonable, rational discussion with that one overtly biased statement.
Apparently the OP only wants lopsided, pro left participants.
This thread is categorically worthless.

BTW...your signature seems to perfectly reflect your own mentality...ironic indeed. They didn't seem to do much for you

Trump wont be able to do anything without Congress's support. The only threat he poses is to expose the corruption in DC. Thats why both partys oppose him and are doing their best to scare everyone with nonsense stuff like the OP.

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trouble13 said:

Trump wont be able to do anything without Congress's support. The only threat he poses is to expose the corruption in DC. Thats why both partys oppose him and are doing their best to scare everyone with nonsense stuff like the OP.

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True Dat.. That's exactly why I like him, I think he will pull the curtain back on ALL of them.

djl

haymarket said:

there was no real threat of an Authoritarian despot taking over American government.

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This is exactly why Trump is still where he is. Hillary exemplifies everything rotten about career politicians. Anyone who doesn't think she'll be just as authoritarian as Trump is a sucker.

haymarket said:

The calculation that we can vote for Trump but he could not actually be the one man strongman that he wants to be has some merit but is flawed because it assumes that all the various checks and balances that might prevent that would remain intact. It also assumes that Trump respects than and will abide by them and not attempt to significantly expand his powers using means that are unforeseen right now.

That is a chance I am not at all willing to take.

Click to expand...

If we have seen anything with Trump is that he plays inside the rules where his business is concerned and there is no reason to think he would be any different as the President.