“We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Donald Trump said this past November, in a campaign speech that was ostensibly honoring Veterans Day. “The real threat is not from the radical right; the real threat is from the radical left … The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within.”

What immediately leaps out here is the word vermin, with its echoes of Hitler and Mussolini. But Trump’s inflammatory language can overshadow and distract from the substance of what he’s saying—in this case, appearing to promise a purge or repression of those who disagree with him politically.

Trump himself has changed, too—the old Trump seemed to be running for office partly for fun and partly in service of his signature views, such as opposition to immigration and support for protectionism. Today’s Trump is different. His fury over his 2020 election defeat, the legal cases against him, and a desire for revenge against political opponents have come to eclipse everything else.

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  • squiblet@kbin.social
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    6 months ago

    He’s been very clear that a second term would be based around revenge against everyone he can think of who opposed him, including broad swaths of society (all liberals, certain states, black people Democrats) plus violence and torture of races/ethnicities he hates (black people Democrats and non-white hispanics, of course), plus of course women. Pure fascism. Someone said something to me today like “people might vote for Trump because they know Biden isn’t good but Trump’s plans are unknown” which made absolutely no sense to me. We’ve had years of his bullshit in and out of office, and he’s made it very clear what he would do if put back in office.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      black people Democrats

      Not sure if you used the strikeout because you think he only hates black Democrats or because you realized he doesn’t consider blacks to be “people” and forgot to add a comma. If it’s the former, you’re probably being over-optimistic…

      • squiblet@kbin.social
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        6 months ago

        The person harassing me about “citations” was whining about how it’s not ALL black people and I said “certain states” and couldn’t cite that Trump intends to harm all black people.