I couldn’t get through this article, and I’ve read some crazy stuff. You must read both sides, even when your opposition has become unspooled. But this is downright low for Politico to publish this after an assassination attempt. The publication posted that Trump is like Mussolini in using such attacks for political gain:
Opinion: An authoritarianism scholar explains how Mussolini used assassination attempts on his life to gain power — and how Donald Trump could do the samehttps://t.co/fPjakWNHoY
— POLITICO (@politico) August 3, 2024
You don’t hate the corrupt media nearly as much as they deserve. They are evil. https://t.co/ekF9Rrj5OT
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 3, 2024
It hasn't even been a month since the assassination attempt. https://t.co/Nj0CcPifLS
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 3, 2024
In April 7, 1926, Fascist leader Benito Mussolini gave a speech to a conference of surgeons, and then began walking with his aides through the streets of Rome. When he reached Piazza del Campidoglio, an Irish-born British pacifist named Violet Gibson stepped out of the crowd and shot him.
The bullet grazed Mussolini’s nose and Gibson tried to shoot him again, but her gun malfunctioned, and police quickly detained her. Mussolini was whisked to safety, but a few hours later he appeared in public to reassure his fans — and posed for a photograph with a big white bandage on his nose.
[…]
The comparison between Mussolini and Trump can be overstated, and for one thing, Trump is not in power at the moment. He is an aspiring strongman, but we can’t know for sure how he would have reacted had the shooting occurred when he was in the White House, and whether he would have used it to crack down on critics or expand his authority.
What is clear already is that the assassination attempt has made Trump’s personality cult more robust and more powerful for his followers. His claims of being a victim targeted on their behalf are now more credible and his persona cemented as an indomitable fighter. And he knows it.
[…]
Trump also has already vowed to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters if he’s elected, just as Mussolini pardoned his blackshirts. Trump would also be able to use the Justice Department to easily quash the series of criminal prosecutions facing him. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has conferred sweeping immunity powers to the president, ensuring Trump would see few guardrails.
Just as Il Duce refashioned government to support his ambitions for absolute power exactly a century ago, Trump could do his best to follow suit.
And the assassination attempt potentially strengthens his hand.
In this light, Mussolini’s bandaged nose and Trump’s bandaged ear both speak to how autocrats can use adversity to strengthen their power at democracy’s expense.
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It’s never us that’s the problem. It’s astounding that after the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, there was a rush from liberals, who have been fanning the flames for years, that we needed to tone down the rhetoric. No, it’s you people, liberals. You needed to dial it down many notches before someone put your unhinged commentaries into action by trying to assassinate a former president. If they’re going to post stuff like this, it’s entirely within our right to blame Democrats, the media, and Joe Biden for trying to kill Trump. They’ve said for years that the former president is a threat to the country, a fascist, and it’s either Biden (now Kamala) or death.
Biden is the worst offender since he has the most powerful pulpit to promote such nonsense. No explanation is needed for this trash article, folks. You already know. We don’t hate our media enough.
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