Torching the republic (Mitch’s nuclear option)

Burning democracy down requires more than one person. In our constitutional republic it actually requires more than one branch of government. Donald Trump only controls the executive branch, which in theory leaves the other two branches to keep him in check.

The thing is, we didn’t lose control of the White House first. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell started the fire in the legislative branch, before Trump was even elected. When (I’m optimistically saying “when” and not if”) America recovers from this, people need to remember who started this fire. It wasn’t President Trump, it was Mitch. He is torching democracy to seize control of the Supreme Court, and for now at least, he’s getting away with it.

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The fourteen principles of fascism, explained

It’s important to remember that the war is against fascism. The Nazis were a particularly (if only briefly) effective group of fascists, but when looking for signs or common features of fascism, just from the 20th century alone it’s important to consider Italy, Spain, Central and South America… and so on.

In 1995, Umberto Eco wrote an essay describing what were, in his view, the fourteen common principles of fascism. His full essay is available online at the New York Review of Books, but this summary should be useful for future reference, to keep watch:

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