Very interesting column, Graham. I don't agree with your assessment of communism. In my view there are NO Communist governments on Planet Earth now, nor have there ever been. As long as the "leaders" garner wealth and luxury for themselves which all of them do, including Lenin, Stalin, Putin, and Kim Jong Un. They, like fascists are dictators - very little different from the monarchs of old.
Also trump is not popular among Americans. There are 345 million of us plus or minus. Of that he has maybe 80 million max of hardcore followers. There has been a very long build up to trump's form of dictatorship, beginning, in my opinion, (not factual) in the 1850's.
On the subject of fascism we are on general agreement.
"there are NO Communist governments on Planet Earth": you're right, and in fact I made the point that, outside of a commune or an aboriginal society, communism has been at best an aspiration. Mea culpa: I confuse my own terms - NK is communism "as applied" and not "as conceived" by Marx.
There is probably not much appetite for tracing back the developments leading to Trump's form of dictatorship, in that it is what it is. The simple answer would be to say it all started in 1626 when the Dutch bought Manhattan for 60 guilders; the uncharacteristic thing about that is that there was actually a payment.
You're there and have more of a feel for this. My impression is that the protest that is being raised is sporadic, and the forces of law and order, parliament and large swathes of the press are basically behind - or afraid to contradict - the measures now being enacted. One poll I saw put Trump's popularity at 52 per cent, but that changes daily. Still, it's healthy.
Very interesting column, Graham. I don't agree with your assessment of communism. In my view there are NO Communist governments on Planet Earth now, nor have there ever been. As long as the "leaders" garner wealth and luxury for themselves which all of them do, including Lenin, Stalin, Putin, and Kim Jong Un. They, like fascists are dictators - very little different from the monarchs of old.
Also trump is not popular among Americans. There are 345 million of us plus or minus. Of that he has maybe 80 million max of hardcore followers. There has been a very long build up to trump's form of dictatorship, beginning, in my opinion, (not factual) in the 1850's.
On the subject of fascism we are on general agreement.
"there are NO Communist governments on Planet Earth": you're right, and in fact I made the point that, outside of a commune or an aboriginal society, communism has been at best an aspiration. Mea culpa: I confuse my own terms - NK is communism "as applied" and not "as conceived" by Marx.
There is probably not much appetite for tracing back the developments leading to Trump's form of dictatorship, in that it is what it is. The simple answer would be to say it all started in 1626 when the Dutch bought Manhattan for 60 guilders; the uncharacteristic thing about that is that there was actually a payment.
You're there and have more of a feel for this. My impression is that the protest that is being raised is sporadic, and the forces of law and order, parliament and large swathes of the press are basically behind - or afraid to contradict - the measures now being enacted. One poll I saw put Trump's popularity at 52 per cent, but that changes daily. Still, it's healthy.
Thanks for the discourse, as usual!