...practically every political campaign I’ve heard (including for dog catcher) since I’ve been aware?The people at Nazi rallies in the 1930s were told their country was going to hell, their leaders were weak, there were forces secretly controlling the govt behind the scenes, and only one man could save them leading a nationalist movement to fight the socialists and communists.
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 18, 2022
Even LBJ ran an ad promising nuclear annihilation if Goldwater won. W. told us Dukakis would release black rapists to come for our women. Nixon promised a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam, which would otherwise end in ignominy and national disgrace if a Democrat (Humphrey or McGovern) was elected. Pat Buchanan gave the speech at the GOP convention in ‘92 that “sounded better in the original German” and nobody in the GOP distanced themselves from it. Gingrich’s Contract on America was all about one folk, one party, one rule. That’s where the real emphasis on governance as exercising a power base rather than serving the country through consensus and compromise took root.
Does no one else remember: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!”?* Or that it was okay for a white man to say that, but no black man in America could be allowed to say the same thing? (The ones who came close were treated as enemies of the people. White people, of course.)
I even remember a lot of prominent Southern politicians who loudly proclaimed the country was going to hell because of the civil rights movement and new civil rights laws. They represented whole states, too, not just a gaggle of dead-enders following the freak show around.
Reports are Trump has about 5 million true believers behind him. That’s roughly the population of the Houston area. If all 5 million of those people voted in lockstep for Beto, it still wouldn’t be enough, alone, to get him elected governor.
Take a deep breath and calm down.
*Goldwater, in ‘64 (or so), if you don’t remember. And yeah, he lost by a landslide. And hardcore conservatives went to their graves insisting LBJ cheated to win that vote. Said the same about JFK (because Lyndon helped him win Texas. Which he did, but not through fraud.) Everything old is not new again, because it’s not even old.
There is indeed nothing new under the sun. 🌞
I’m honestly hard-pressed to understand how that hasn’t been true since Goldwater, either. 🤷🏻♂️ Oh, well.If the only way to prevent the ascent to power of a party led by a mentally unstable autocrat, filled with seditious loons, and staffed by cowards and opportunists is to vote for a party that may be flawed but is not a danger to the Constitution, well, okay, Dan, you got me. https://t.co/MZ2P6TuFoV
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 18, 2022
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