Trump's Alt Right Storm Troopers - dumped.
As
the dust begins to settle after the political pantomime that was the American
election, the big question here at Quantum Non-Linearity is this: Will Trump mellow
and eventually settle down to be a more measured and reasonable mainstream president than
the promise of his campaign? Of course, this may well be wishful thinking on
my part. The recent scenes at the above Alt-Right rally where Trump supporters
call out "Hail Trump" and give Nazi salutes (see above) has horrified
many people. It is easy to see this rally as evidence that our worse fears of
an impending fascist nightmare are starting to take shape. However, I try to
keep a track of the news and watch how things are developing: Here are some
relevant links:
According to this BBC news item Trump disavows the Alt-Right
According to this BBC news item Trump disavows the Alt-Right
But here's a quote from Wiki on "Breibart news". This links the Alt Right via Breibart News to Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon.
[Breibart News was] conceived by Andrew Breitbart during a visit to Israel in summer 2007,
with the aim of founding a site "that would be unapologetically
pro-freedom and pro-Israel" Breitbart later aligned with the European
populist right and American alt-right under Bannon's management and Bannon
declared the site "the platform for the alt-right" in 2016. The New
York Times describes Breitbart News as a "curiosity of the fringe right
wing", with "ideologically driven journalists", that is a source
of controversy "over material that has been called misogynist, xenophobic
and racist", and was a "potent voice" for Donald Trump's
presidential campaign.
Here's some more background on Breibart:
How's Trump going to explain all that? But then Trump isn't an idealist; I read him as the sort of guy who is unlikely to be bothered by theoretical consistency and nuance; he's first and foremost a showman who primarily deals in spectacle and theatre.
Trump's attack on his worshipful Alt-Right supporters smacks a just little bit of Hitler's night of the long knives:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
The Alt Right are no longer any use to Trump! Another parallel is that Hitler exploited the German Christian taste for law and order, but underneath he regarded them with contempt.
Trump's attack on his worshipful Alt-Right supporters smacks a just little bit of Hitler's night of the long knives:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
The Alt Right are no longer any use to Trump! Another parallel is that Hitler exploited the German Christian taste for law and order, but underneath he regarded them with contempt.
Reports are surfacing of a softening of Trump's climate change position:
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-hints-at-re-think-on-climate-change/ar-AAkEfv3?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=UP97DHP
...add to this the great disappointment of some of Trump's vindictive followers that he's not going to pursue Hillary Clinton with charges of corruption. Is Trump becoming part of the empowered establishment already?
Trump's anti-idealistic pragmatism may well save us from the idealistic nightmares of fascist and evangelical fundamentalism. Perhaps the uncompromising fascist, libertarian and Christian evangelico-fundamentalists who voted for Trump are already getting their just deserts for their misplaced trust in Trump to implement their extremist views; They should have realised that they couldn't put their trust in Trump's promises. There's poetic justice here: Some of those Christian fundies are now finding themselves in bed with ruthless atheistic social Darwinian "libertarians"!
However, it's early days yet and it's a great trumptation to see light at the end of the tunnel when it's not actually there; there is still plenty of time for things to get a lot worse - see the following joker in the pack: Trump and Biff Tannon:
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/movies/christopher-lloyd-stunned-by-back-to-the-futures-trump-prediction/ar-AAkzfyo?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=UP97DHP
...add to this the great disappointment of some of Trump's vindictive followers that he's not going to pursue Hillary Clinton with charges of corruption. Is Trump becoming part of the empowered establishment already?
Trump's anti-idealistic pragmatism may well save us from the idealistic nightmares of fascist and evangelical fundamentalism. Perhaps the uncompromising fascist, libertarian and Christian evangelico-fundamentalists who voted for Trump are already getting their just deserts for their misplaced trust in Trump to implement their extremist views; They should have realised that they couldn't put their trust in Trump's promises. There's poetic justice here: Some of those Christian fundies are now finding themselves in bed with ruthless atheistic social Darwinian "libertarians"!
However, it's early days yet and it's a great trumptation to see light at the end of the tunnel when it's not actually there; there is still plenty of time for things to get a lot worse - see the following joker in the pack: Trump and Biff Tannon:
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/movies/christopher-lloyd-stunned-by-back-to-the-futures-trump-prediction/ar-AAkzfyo?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=UP97DHP
NOTES:
See this link on Breitbart which is entitled "Vanity Fair: Trump succeeded because of Breitbart"
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/11/23/vanity-fair-trump-succeeded-breitbart/
But set against the claims of that article are these articles by right-wing Trump supporter Denyse O'leary:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/the-alt-right-popular-media-and-darwin/
https://www.mercatornet.com/features/view/the-alt-right-donald-trump-and-oddly-enough-darwin/19049
O'Leary's article, of course, denies the link between Trump and Breitbart:
The term “alt right” is thrown around a lot these days to account for Donald Trump’s winning the U.S. presidency. Mainstream media, blindsided by results they should have been able to predict, are deflecting blame. Many conjure a vast, shadowy, menacing group that propelled Trump to power in hidden ways. A more accurate story is more complex—and far more of a problem for the generic worldview of current mainstream media.
O'Leary is probably right about the reality being more complex. Also notable in O'leary are the comments about the link between the Alt-Right and "Darwinism". The ironies are coming in thick and fast!
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