• acargitz@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago
    1. Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.

    Timothy Snyder, Twenty Lessons on Fighting Tyranny from the Twentieth Century, October 3, 2018

    • Aneb@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I read the Left Behind series after a religious spat in 2016 and immediately pegged DJT as an Antichrist figure. The amount he wants personal devotion to himself, as if to say he’s equal or better to the big G god. And all the goddamn Christians do is worship Trump and his agenda.

  • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The old tactical whiskers.

    Sherman kept his beard short because the confedrate generals kept their’s long, and he’d be damned if someone mistook him for a southern general.

  • saltesc@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    It’s exceptionally unusual for a citizen of a republic to do it. But they could be anti-republican; which I believe is called a “Republican” in the US.

  • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The operatorist operator to ever operate. Operationally. Think I just grew a third ball from the sheer force of testosterone radiating off this perfect specimen of manliness (in his own mind).

  • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    When you’re such a tough guy you need to beat up on the helpless and defenseless to look big. Oh. And have large accessories to compensate for your lack of equipment. Sheesh.

    • Lodespawn@aussie.zone
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      3 days ago

      Now, you know it’s up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Or… well, like Brian, for example, has thirty seven pieces of flair, okay. And a terrific smile.

  • IHeartBadCode@fedia.io
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    3 days ago

    It’s that allure of “might makes right”.

    That guy, he believes that ends justify means. He’s likely been told about how bad crime is, about how there’s no one left but him on this planet to save this nation, and that there will be a golden day one day ahead when his actions will be what makes the country better.

    But that ignores the lie that might makes right. Might removes opposition that there is none. Might takes away discourse and reason. Might takes away justice and law. Might serves but one end, to make those who wield that might the ruler over all. There is no golden days ahead, just more requirements for might, more violence, more suppressing dissent. It doesn’t save a nation, it tears it apart. It give no voice to those who oppose the regime, gives them no other avenue but violence to seek redress.

    Might has never made right. Might has always been upheld by the lie that without difficult action there would be no order.

    But this man, behind those eyes are just a goal. Just some idealized peace far off in the distance that just seem ever inches out of reach. For him, there’s no low that he will bear that his hope is that his children will not bear. For him, he has to be the one that does the things that others will not. And that false hope of peace, of bearing the burden, of being the one that fights. That will drive him to do things other would not. That will cause him to turn a blind eye to things others would recoil at. That will cause him to see fellow humans and citizens as less than his ideas.

    This man isn’t there to uphold the law. That man is there to show you his might. Because he believes that everything this nation was built upon, law, order, civil service, discourse, freedom, justice, are all weakness.

    • laranis@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      “We’re gonna have peace no matter how many men, women, and children I have to kill to get it.”

      Might over justice… our tragedy.

    • WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Seems he’s right. The rest of you don’t seem to be doing anything about it. Every time I mention this I’m told, “we’re just helpless little babies and the fascists are so strong! What do you want me to do, get in TROUBLE?”

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      What’s that have to do with it? He’s working for the executive branch, reporting to the President.