(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



How DeSantis can Become "Fuehrer" and How it can be Prevented [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-01-22

Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A Ron DeSantis presidency is our worst nightmare. It’s not something I really wanted to write about. But I can see how his strategy and the GOP’s is taking shape and that he is a much more dangerous foe than Trump. He may not be stopped given the current toothless Democratic strategies.

Our Electoral System is Broken

The bias inherent in the electoral college added to the edge Republicans have in State gerrymandering and the wide scope of racism and white supremacy that has been reinvigorated in recent years, make it a distinct possibility. While this is by no means certain, I’m better understanding the long-term effects of what the Republicans are up to and how it could, if successful, create a perfect storm for the Republicans to capitalize on in 2024.

Ron DeSantis has studied the fascist play book.

You have to understand what drives the MAGA crowd to fully appreciate the danger. Even after all of Trump’s political failures and criminal transgressions, large swathes of Americans remain driven by their pathological racist/white supremacist tendencies and world view as a basis for whom they vote for.

DeSantis Could Win

Combine that with misogyny, homophobia and a patriarchal dependence on authority figures and I could see these masses anointing DeSantis with the role of savior and Fuehrer. Other critical factors include stupefying political ignorance and a national media which normalizes fascism and fails to identify the upper class and corporate links to this Republican movement that has been objectively fascist for some time. It casts a spell on voters who lack the ability to apply critical thought to their lives, race, country, religion, the environment, the planet, and the universe.

Fantasy Becomes Reality

The Politics of Madness.

In short, the Republicans have created a fantasy world, like most patriarchal religions have, which suspends reality and logic. It excites many Americans to believe that a MAGA form of government might agree with and mimic their own prejudices, fears, and ignorance.

The conditions that give birth to fascism actually have been with us for thousands of years and have long infected the human race. With the advent of industrial capitalism, it got its present name. It rises and falls as it will always do, but modern technology means that it reigns for shorter and bloodier periods. It has never been destroyed at the roots and rebirth is always a possibility. It has developed in both advanced capitalist countries like Germany and agrarian ones attempting to build socialism like Russia and Thailand.

Fascist Strategy

2023 Republican Politics

Only by understanding where fascism arises from, i.e. from sectors of the masses and peasants themselves, can we ever hope to defeat it. It feeds of off mass ignorance, patriarchy and a dependence on authority figures to think for them.

Recent Republican strategy has been to destroy the reputation of government, blame it on the Democrats, create an economic crisis, worsen inflation and get enough Americans ready to elect an authoritarian dictator who will “restore order” i.e. the fascist version. Republicans establish “order” of course means a super corrupt dictatorship. The Republicans no longer can govern in any other way, but they are very accomplished at making trouble and fanning the flames of all that’s wrong with America today.

A Failure to Indict

Might as well be a Republican.

Legislative means to resist fascism has been badly weakened by the lack of timely prosecutions by the Justice Department against dozens of Republican measures and actions taken to undermine and negate both our laws and democracy itself. Each day the chances of any meaningful indictments of major offenders become less and less likely. Soon if not already, they will be too late to matter. With extremist control of the Supreme Court, the legal options have been further compromised.

The Democratic leadership has been and is still fighting with one hand tied behind its back, partly by their own passivity. The Republicans also have media cover, with gives them another huge advantage. It’s very possible that the war to place blame for the destruction of our credit ratings by House plans to block raising the National debt ceiling will not be attributed to the Republicans but placed on the backs of the Democrats. This will be the primary way they prepare the country to accept the rule by a fascist like DeSantis. By creating chaos and runaway inflation.

7 Ways to Undermine Fascism and Prepare for 2024

1 — Respond daily to selected Republican lies in creative manners during the same new cycle if possible. I don’t think Republican craziness and House incompetence and destructiveness is enough to run on given the extent of corporate media bias, although they are issues to exploit for sure. The White House can force news coverage and get their message out to millions of people, just as the Republicans do. I didn’t particularly like Bill Clinton’s politics, but one thing he did right was respond almost daily to the Republicans in a way which forced media coverage.

I don’t think Republican craziness and House incompetence and destructiveness is enough to run on given the extent of corporate media bias, although they are issues to exploit for sure. The White House can force news coverage and get their message out to millions of people, just as the Republicans do. I didn’t particularly like Bill Clinton’s politics, but one thing he did right was respond almost daily to the Republicans in a way which forced media coverage. 2 — Wage class war on the GOP over the debt ceiling. It is where they are most vulnerable. Something the Democratic Leadership has often avoided in the past due to their own connections to the Wall Street crowd. But political survival may soon depend on a departure from past strategies. Class War should include both a defense of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid along with a plan to increase S.S. benefits and rescue the national decline of functioning hospitals and criminal reduction of beds in America. Government should not be used to feed the pockets of Wall Street and the Democratic leadership needs to break from their own slavishness toward arguing that Wall Street capitalism can cure all our ills.

3 — Put as much pressure as you can on the special prosecutor and the JD to hand down indictments on the major January 6th conspirators.

4 — Encourage mass demonstrations. Less we forget, Biden’s presidential margin was enhanced by thousands of demonstrations aimed at supporting Black Lives Matters and voting Trump out of office. Don’t cede the national stage to the MAGA crowd. Stop fearing demonstrations.

5 — Make the 2024 election about bread-and-butter issues and expose the intentions of the Republicans and what misleaders like DeSantis stand for — i.e. nothing but division, hatred and turning one American against another.

6 — Have a Plan B for who will run in 2024 in case some health issues preclude Biden. The plan should include a much younger and eloquent V.P. not named Kamala Harris. I don’t think she’d make an effective president if something would befall Biden. It’s probably already too late for anyone else to consider running for the presidential nomination and have a realistic chance.

The plan should include a much younger and eloquent V.P. not named Kamala Harris. I don’t think she’d make an effective president if something would befall Biden. It’s probably already too late for anyone else to consider running for the presidential nomination and have a realistic chance. 7 — The Supreme Court should be attacked more openly as it was a non-electoral victory for the Republicans which has an immense dark side. It has become little more than a poorly concealed extension of Republican extremist politics, which I would also emphasize along with the fact that they openly cheated to gain it.

One Last Point: Follow a 50 State Strategy

The Supreme Court. Unelected and controlled by the Republicans.

I have no idea what resources and funding will be available for 2024. But it appears that it may be our last chance to prevent a fascist take over if things go badly.

I urge all concerned as much as humanly possible to enact a popular 50 State strategy. It doesn’t mean we can win all of them, but it will go a long way toward undermining the fool’s gold Republicans have been selling to the American people.

It should be part of a scheme to reach Americans who only watch right wing news and haven’t a clue how badly they are being scammed and manipulated.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/22/2148452/-How-DeSantis-can-Become-Fuehrer-and-How-it-can-be-Prevented

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/