I dunno what you want me to say:
A fascist got himself elected president of the United States, did a bunch of fascist shit, and then tried a type of coup known as an autogolpe - a coup to keep a strongman in power anti-democratically. Instead of putting that guy's ass in jail, we're putting him all over our TV under the logic that "he's running for office, so stopping him is anti-democratic."
In many ways, Weimar Germany would laugh at how weak WE are; so the comparison is more than apt.
@AnarchoNinaWrites It really feels like the easiest way to sum up the media attitude is that fascists need to be given a sporting chance to overthrow democracy. Which is kind of an astounding statement on how privileged these people are.
@mhalila on one hand, that is delightfully put and very accurately describes the situation. Otoh, I hate that it's true and I'm terrified about its implications. But you're absolutely right.
@AnarchoNinaWrites I absolutely hate it, and the further we all go down this road, the greater my contempt is for the people who treat this as entertainment or fodder for their particular grifts and scams. I'm genuinely worried for everyone on that side of the pond that I care about, such as yourself.
@mhalila @AnarchoNinaWrites Anything to boost ratings.
Pooka
BooSpectacularly well said Nina..... 
I'd state categorically that former President Trump was also laughing his ass off until the government decided searching his house was necessary to protect our national interests. With the rest of his legal issue he's now just smirking like a chimp (chump).
@AnarchoNinaWrites
At least the Weimar republic managed to put Hitler in jail (not prison) for 5 years following his coup attempt.
@tofugolem @AnarchoNinaWrites I’d like to see tfg get five years in jail, but the impact of his hate won’t be going away once he’s gone. The third of US citizens who now feel embolden to ignore decency and support his brand of fascism are armed and dangerous and I wonder if patriotism, critical thing and kindness will ever return.
@CivilityFan @AnarchoNinaWrites
Normally, I am all for debating things out.
But when a nation is starting down the path to fascism, those sucked in by the fascists will be so hopped up on fear that they can no longer be reached with reasoned arguments.
All you can do is oppose them, and hope you don't have to deal with too many idiots demanding that you be nicer to them.
@tofugolem @AnarchoNinaWrites apparently the 5 years only lasted 9 months though.
@marber33 @AnarchoNinaWrites
Nine months is still greater than zero.
@tofugolem @AnarchoNinaWrites indeed but it didn’t stop the Nazis from eventually taking power.
@AnarchoNinaWrites IMHO, it's still that Trump saw that the GOP had turned itself into a fascist leaning party, and took advantage for his own gain while pushing it all the way over the ledge. He's too lazy, corrupt and incompetent to be any good at being a fascist, but those he surrounded himself with and who enabled him? Oh yeah.
Point being that the problems with the GOP are far deeper than just Trump.
@pyperkub @AnarchoNinaWrites Hitler was an absolute shit leader who made a government that self-destructed with nepotism and infighting. Just because someone's a self-centered power-hungry moron doesn't mean they aren't a thoroughly evil fascist, nor that there's some genius cabal behind them, in fact such nihilistic power-grabs are a defining feature of fascism.
@nbtentaclekitten @AnarchoNinaWrites On the other hand, Mussolini gets credit for making the trains run on time and is the model to really be wary of.
@pyperkub @AnarchoNinaWrites Mussolini was, if anything, a more shit leader than Hitler. The 'trains running on time' is the same sort of mythological revisionism as Hitler's 'German efficiency' and Trump's 'draining the swamp', they are all shit, just good at being populist demagogues and doing worlds of harm in their self-destructive ideology
@nbtentaclekitten @AnarchoNinaWrites I did a bit of research on this, and it seems as if Mussolini may have weathered the great depression which sunk Weimar and enabled Hitler much better than most countries, However, as I was born in Germany, I definitely studied German History at lot more closely.
@pyperkub @nbtentaclekitten @AnarchoNinaWrites
He gets the credit for it, but couldn't actually make it happen.
@pyperkub Sure, I think roughly half of Republicans are that sort of flavor of populist isolationism: protectionist tariffs, skeptical of international institutions like ICC/etc, against international-police-style wars, fear of immigration, pissed about the state of working class jobs. It surged around 2016 due to Syria, and Trump & Brexit rode that wave. Sanders too, maybe?
It isn't useful to call that "fascist" of course, but politics seems to be about nonsense breathless rhetoric, so I'll ignore that for now.
Was it an attempted autogolpe? The sheer number of lawsuits Trump's team filed was indeed over the top, but it is the "front door", so to speak: if that was autogolpe, then you could also argue that Gore in 2000 was attempting an autogolpe, just he gave up way before Trump did. Same with many other losing candidates. That's silly, so this charge of an autogolpe seems similarly absurd.
Put it this way: if autogolpe was the plan, he would have been a lot more careful about the judges he installed: many of *his* judges shut his lawsuits down!
@ech I do think that a lot of the issues with the Republican base is the belief they have embraced that everything is somebody else's fault, and so targeting "somebody else" becomes a panacea for actually solving the root policy problems (which, of course, those who finance the politicians want to stay that way - see build a wall rather than pass immigration legislation). And, of course, that is how Authoritarians everywhere gain power.
@ech Also, thanks for introducing me to the autogolpe term - hadn't heard it before.. It is rather awkward to use in a sentence tho! ;)
@pyperkub sure, human nature to blame the other team. (Just look around mastodon.social etc and see all the blaming of "fascists" or whatever going on here.) And I think you're right, it's maybe a bit going out of your way to be unflattering, but blaming others is sort of what populism is all about, whether it's sanders/warren or trump/tucker.
Yeah, stoking fear is a great way for governments to consolidate power. Both parties play into that, for sure.
"build a wall rather than pass immigration legislation" – I'm not quite sure what you mean here. Both parties built the wall, both parties whine about our collective inability to pass "meaningful comprehensive immigration reform", whatever that means. You see a direct line from those things to authoritarianism?
@ech regarding Build the Wall v Legislation - mostly talking about how Trump's *signature* issue in 2016 was Immigration and the Wall, yet it was the Republicans who controlled both houses of Congress who a) Never passed an Immigration package and b) killed Trump/Pelosi's DACA for Wall Funding deal. As such, I see the GOP Immigration position as "our donors love it the way it is, but our voters hate it, so we'll stoke the hate, rake in the cash, and continue to do nothing but sell more hate".
@AnarchoNinaWrites 
Sad but true
@AnarchoNinaWrites TWW: Humility and generosity. Shield and spear.
I ask you not to seek wealth and prestige, instead always strive for humility and generosity, shield others from danger and be as a spear to their oppressors. *History provides great lessons that I hope will give people some pause before they support corruption for an ideal of an imagined past. As to the question, I would ask you to follow the principles above and stay strong. There will come a day. OWOP
@AnarchoNinaWrites A former President attempts a failed coup to overturn the election --who is also held liable for sexual abuse -- and is treated like a normal Presidential candidate.
Nor have this fascist and his coup plotters faced any criminal indictments.
What the hell are we doing?
It’s 1932 all over again.
Fuck every liberal institution that's still insisting on treating Republicans and their positions as respectable and entitled to business-as-usual treatment. It's agonizing to have, like, this suffocating, invisible enforcement of decorum and pseudo normalcy
@AnarchoNinaWrites Our complacency will be our demise.
@AnarchoNinaWrites "autogolpe" is a new vocabulary word for me! Thanks.
@AnarchoNinaWrites Exactly. Mfer should be getting his rear end busted. Karma is coming for pedo/rapist/traitor/total fuckup!
@AnarchoNinaWrites alternatively, one could argue that it is nothing more than eyeball bait.
TV channels need to make money by pulling in advertisers.
Calm, measured debate doesn't really achieve this. Incendiary figures on the other hand...
Maybe I am cynical but my inclination is always to ask "who pays" and to follow the money. It is easy to dress up dragging in eyeballs and making money under nobler causes such as free speech etc.
@interacter Please, GFY.
@AnarchoNinaWrites It's been noted by people better than me that the only thing that saved democracy from Trump is the fact he's not bright and hires people who will tell him what he wants to hear over actually competent people.
@AnarchoNinaWrites afaik Hitler went to jail after his first attempt. They let him out too eary I suppose.
@AnarchoNinaWrites It’s absurd to let Trump to run for office again. I too want that bastard jailed. That said, the latter hasn’t yet occurred due to (a) obstruction of legal processes by the Roy Cohn-trained Trump & (b) extreme caution by the DOJ because it’s a former president under investigation. (Put another way, a sloppy legal process is precedence for the GOP to indict a Democratic former president for purely political reasons sans evidence.)
@boondocksSherlock Please GFY mate; they are not "crossing all the t's" - that's bullshit collaborator excuses. Go lick boots for an establishment that is FAILING ON ALL FRONTS to oppose fascism, in someone else's mentions you muppet.
@AnarchoNinaWrites I had no idea you were so simplistic, so quick to resort to ad hominem attacks, and such an abusive person. Buy a good book on informal logic & learn it. On the basis of your response, you seem incapable of reasoning your way off a toilet seat.
@AnarchoNinaWrites
Calling Trump a strongman is fanciful, but I take your point.