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Trump questioned perception of Portland before approving military plan: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?' (www.kgw.com)
submitted 1 week ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world
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Trump referenced a weekend conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and he alluded to being told by Kotek that the reality in Portland is different from what's being portrayed to him.

"I spoke to the governor, she was very nice," Trump said. "But I said, 'Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening? My people tell me different.' They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place...it looks like terrible."

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[-] WatDabney@lemmy.dbzer0.com 72 points 1 week ago

I've long believed that Trump himself is not a fascist, mostly because his brain just doesn't work that way. He's an ego-driven, sociopathic petty tyrant who just wants his own way, exactly as a four-year-old throwing a tantrum in a grocery store wants his own way. It's not so much that he's not a fascist as that the organized thinking and ongoing attention necessary to hold to any sort of ideology is simply beyond him.

And that in turn would mean that the actual problem is that he's surrounded by sincere fascists (and other assorted opportunists) who are whispering in his ear and directing his limited attention to whatever will serve their interests. And since he's psychologically and intellectually stunted, it generally works.

It's easy to see what happened here too - a woman was nice to him, so he wanted to believe her. It's really just that simple. Like most manbabies, there's nothing that will turn him into mush faster than a woman being nice to him.

Which probably means it's about time for Laura Loomer to pay another visit to the White House.

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 54 points 1 week ago

I’ve long believed that Trump himself is not a fascist, mostly because his brain just doesn’t work that way. He’s an ego-driven, sociopathic petty tyrant who just wants his own way...

A distinction without a difference IMO. Whatever the psychological reasons for the behavior and no matter who he surrounds himself with, the results are the same.

I do agree that just like any malignant narcissist he can be easily manipulated in many situations by people who know how. Putin's a master at it.

[-] Vorticity@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

If it's true that Trump is being lied to by his advisors in order to get him to act the way they want, that means there is a huge weakness in the scheme. If someone could show him definitively that his advisors are lying, it could cause him to turn on some of them.

Maybe he's being fed false information. Given how critical this all is, I could see them commissioning entire fake newscasts to show him. Hell, they could probably just show him AI newscasts given how good he is at identifying fake images.

[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 week ago

He is a particularly incompetent, doddering and dimwitted, fascist, but a fascist nonetheless.

'Sociopathic petty tyrant' with a cult of personality... based on fascist rhetoric and policies.

Fascism just is the political philosophy of dumb idiot bullies from a childhood playground.

Yes, his primary attribute is that is a a megalomanical egomaniac narcissist... but there are plenty of those in American politics (maybe not to the same degree as him) ... but he choose and is sticking with fascist rhetoric and policies.

Umberto Eco's 14 elements of Fascism

The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”

The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”

The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”

Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”

Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”

Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”

The obsession with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged.”

The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”

Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”

Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”

Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”

Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”

Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”

Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

I remember checking this list off as he said increasingly more and more insane shit, back in his first admin, before Jan 6th.

Back then people were calling me a paranoid lunatic for pointing out he'd hit at least half of them, by around the time Covid hit ... and that Q Anon was actually more than just 'a conspiracy theory', it was acting like a religious cult based around Trump.

So uh, welp, then we got Jan 6th, and this all got kicked into hyperfascistoverdrive mode.

He was not always as pudding brained as he is now.

But he has for a long time been an overt fascist, from just an objective, political science analysis.

There's... a reason why nearly all of the US's top experts and scholars on fascism fled the country months ago.

[-] EightBitBlood@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Fascism, by design, is just what a child thinks is the best governement: give power to strong adult.

People who pursue that politically, are mentally still that child. Usually though an upbringing completely insulated in money. But also from a complete lack of education too.

So that's to say, Trump isnt uniquely stupid as a fascist. The stupid is very much part of Fascism. Trumps just the stupid one doing it this time.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

Somehow I don't think that you could whisper different things in his ear and magically have a liberal four-year-old, ego-driven, sociopathic tyrant.

A person is a fascist if the things they do are fascist. Has nothing to do with what he believes himself to be.

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"Doddering old fool watches "Backdraft" and calls 911. News at 11."

this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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