Philosophy Now Forum

Thomas B. Edsall at the New York Times

'In the weeks immediately surrounding the midterm elections, Donald Trump called for the “termination” of constitutional rule, openly embraced the conspiratorial QAnon movement, pledged support for the Jan. 6 rioters and hosted, over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, the white supremacist Nicholas Fuentes and Ye (once known as Kanye West), both of whom are prominent antisemites.

Okay, as some have noted, of late Trump has been stumbling a bit. And Edsall goes on to speculate about the political implications of that.

But suppose it is just a stumble "here and now". Suppose by 2024 he and MAGA come roaring back. After all, between now and then who knows what events might unfold to make that possible.

Suppose Trump is back in the White House in January 2025 along with a MAGA House and Senate and Supreme Court.

Again, it's not the Proud Boys and the horn helmeted Jacob Chansleys who stormed the Capitol that are likely to usher fascism into America. The stormtroopers are just there in case that becomes necessary.

Instead, it's the political process itself that can be reconfigured into autocracy.

Meanwhile, fascism elsewhere...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/worl ... rests.html

Katrin Bennhold and Erika Solomon

'BERLIN — The plan was to storm the German Capitol, arrest lawmakers and execute the chancellor. A prince descended from German nobility would take over as the new head of state, and a former far-right member of Parliament would be put in charge of a national purge.

'To facilitate the coup, the electricity network would be sabotaged. Satellite phones to communicate off grid had already been bought.

'That is what German prosecutors and intelligence officials say a nationwide far-right terrorist network was plotting before 3,000 police officers and Special Forces fanned out across the country on Wednesday to raid 150 homes and arrest 25 suspected co-conspirators. They included an active duty soldier, a former officer in the elite special forces, a police officer and at least two army reservists.

'Among the items uncovered was a list containing 18 names of politicians considered enemies, possibly to be deported and executed, among them Chancellor Olaf Scholz, people familiar with the raids told The New York Times, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

'This was the latest of a series of plots discovered in recent years of extremist networks preparing for a day the democratic order collapses, a day they call Day X, the subject of a New York Times podcast series last year.'

Again, how seriously to take this? In my view, only to the extent that these fanatics have the support of the actual armed forces. Whether in Germany or here in America. Or the extent to which they are able to be "voted into power" as the Trumpsters are attempting to do here.

Clearly, with the turbulence now embedded in global economy, covid still hovering over everyone and sustained autocracies in Russia and China, not much can be entirely ruled out.