Rachel Maddow has this theory...........

[postman]

You cling to your racism. It will one day be used against you.

It's not racism, it's demographics. No different than the Chinese will take over as the worlds largest economy in another decade. That's just economics

 

[SeaMajor7]

For 30 years Limbaugh pounded away at the "lamesteream media". Meaning the mainstream media. Look how people on right automatically sweep aside anything they don't like from any of the major news outlets except FOX.

Look at where they get their "news". Even here, an obviously right leaning message board (with quite a few open white supremacists I might add) there is a "fake news" button. I bet that wasn't here 10 years ago.

It's perfect setup, really. It has become impossible to present anything to them they don't want to hear.

Don't like an election? It's RIGGED! Don't like a court case? It's RIGGED. They are literally willing to throw our entire system under the bus based the word of One Man over any evidence to the contrary because it must be the "lamestream media" or "fake news".

Irony meter overload, especially considering the thread subject

 

[berg80]

When Trump is re-elected I'm guessing that you and Rachel will be a little bit upset.

If he is re-elected the American experiment in democracy will be irreparably harmed.

 

[Calypso Jones]

I don't think it's necessary since the vast majority of RWM sources have been complicit in them.

that's what i thought....right. wing. media... which was nonexistent prior to the internet. and even then took a while to grow. THe lies are laid by LWM/Gutter Media. We can't discuss this unless you can be honest.

 

[Father O'Blivion]

he ever dreamed that millions would start rejecting elections just because they didn't like the outcome.

No kidding. Who knew Dems would finally stop fellating commie Russia, after 100 years,
just because that was the only possible way Hillary could lose?

I rest my case.

 

[j-mac]

For 30 years Limbaugh pounded away at the "lamesteream media". Meaning the mainstream media. Look how people on right automatically sweep aside anything they don't like from any of the major news outlets except FOX.

Look at where they get their "news". Even here, an obviously right leaning message board (with quite a few open white supremacists I might add) there is a "fake news" button. I bet that wasn't here 10 years ago.

It's perfect setup, really. It has become impossible to present anything to them they don't want to hear.

Don't like an election? It's RIGGED! Don't like a court case? It's RIGGED. They are literally willing to throw our entire system under the bus based the word of One Man over any evidence to the contrary because it must be the "lamestream media" or "fake news".

You could have summed that up by saying, “Why doesn’t everyone think like me!”

 

[postman]

Okay. So RWM lies about liberal policies stoked the anger. Specifically which lies?

Start with labeling it an "open border".

 

[Rogue AI]

If he is re-elected the American experiment in democracy will be irreparably harmed.

Hardly, you folks will whine for four years, the sky won't fall, and the rest of the country will move on.

 

[SeaMajor7]

Start with labeling it an "open border".

Ooooo, gaslighting.
The border is secure, and these are not the droids you are looking for.
* waves hand *

 

[Father O'Blivion]

You could have summed that up by saying, “Why doesn’t everyone think like me!”

That's true of almost every post here. Including yours.

 

[konradv]

1964 and 1966?

1968

 

[rightwinger]

why do we even care what she says. I hardly think her area of expertise gives her any credibility on the topic. She's a political hack. period.

Maddow is a Rhodes Scholar and holds a Doctorate in Political Science from Oxford University

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Putting aside the source of the frustration, Trump certainly has exploited it. But not for the sake of making people's lives better, for the sake of assuming more power for himself.

Power Trump will use to further attack and undermine our democratic institutions and foment the tyranny of Republican minority rule.

 

[the other mike]

If he is re-elected the American experiment in democracy will be irreparably harmed.

General Flynn's DOJ is already prepping.

 

[konradv]

So you agree with Maddow's theory. Can you identify what has been brewing since the 60's? BTW, thanks for the on topic reply.

The split between those that internalized the ethos of the 60s and those who didn’t. You see it in the women’s movement. You see it in military matters. You see it in race matters. You see it in environmental matters.

 

[dblack]

The Trump movement is blowback from "social engineering" and liberal attempts to "transform" America. Turns out a lot of people don't like being transformed..

 

[konradv]

The Trump movement is blowback from "social engineering" and liberal attempts to "transform" America. Turns out a lot of people don't like being transformed..

America has been transforming since the day it was born.

 

[dblack]

America has been transforming since the day it was born.

So what? We're talking about state directed social engineering. That's not what government is for.

 

[SweetTea]

There was rioting, flash mobs and shoplifting during the Trump administration.

And you believe it was white Republicans that were doing that? Yeah, ok.

 

[skews13]

.......that I thought would be interesting to discuss. Boiled down to its essence it is that Trump is not the essential element animating Trumpery. Trumpery being defined (by me) as the rise of nativism, the advent of power concentrated in the hands of the nation's leader, challenging the prior constitutional order, an isolationist bent, targeting minorities as being responsible for a variety of societal ills, and sloganeering as a substitute for nuanced policy.

She recently did a town hall style meeting with Chris Hayes during which he asked her why it is, in her opinion, that some authoritarian figures in history fail to gain support while others succeed. IOW, can success or failure of these figures be predicted. Her answer was the country, any country, has to be previously receptive to the message being projected. That no one can start from ground zero and orchestrate an authoritarian movement unless citizens in the country, some of them at least, are ready for it.

Probably the best example of this being Germany before Hitler (I'm not comparing Trump to Hitler). The seeds for being receptive to fascism were planted by the onerous terms Germany was forced to submit to after WW I.

So what was happening here that allowed for the sublimated acceptance of, if not desire for, autocracy to bubble to the surface? Technological advances bringing about economic instability? The "browning" of the country causing anxiety among certain factions?

Or is Rachel's theory just wrong?

She’s right. But without the history, it comes off as opinion. After WW1, Germany had to agree to crushing reparations for the cost of the war. There was no way they could recover from that. The next 20 years of a depression level economy, made the citizens vulnerable to any government, or strongman that could make their lives better.