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Response to "Trump: America's Last President?" by Lily Wobbe

Response to "Trump: America's Last President?" by Lily Wobbe

The U.S. will not be a fascist dictatorship anytime in the foreseeable future, good job, go team! I agree with this premise expressed in "Trump: America's Last President?" on Lily Wobbe's blog "Fakes vs Facts", but I must respectfully disagree on some key points made in the post. Let's start off by stating that I do not believe Trump will be America's last president. I don't understand how someone could think that. However, it seems to me that Trumpism and its rhetoric is a clear sign of the decline of western democracy, whether a symptom or a cause. 

Lily states that "(Trump) is not "destroying democracy" like some people argue", but I would have to say he, slowly but surely, absolutely is. Trump's reckless and callous disregard for the fine balance of institutions that keep our nation running is dangerous to democracy at the very least. The most blatantly obvious example of this from the J&C wing would be his countless assaults on the free press. Even though the American people may be desensitized to it now as this absurdity has become routine, the current President of the United States of America has repeatedly called the media "the enemy of the people". I shouldn't need to tell anyone reading why that is a textbook definition of destroying democracy. Trump lost the popular vote by over three million votes, but he denies this fact and falsely claims he won if you don't count illegal votes. Our president's campaign had a meeting with representatives of a hostile foreign government seeking to influence the race for president and interfere with the democratic process. These are just a few examples of a plethora that could be called upon to show how Trump has fueled the degradation of democracy as we know it. I would love for someone to show me exactly how this hasn't weakened our republic, but unfortunately, I doubt that anyone can.
           
Of Lawrence Britt's Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism, each and every one is present in the U.S. today. By my count, Trump has worsened every last one of those symptoms. Certainly, we can all agree that Trump has brought a heightened sense of nationalism, protected corporate power and given the military a "disproportionate amount of government funding" despite "widespread domestic problems" Lily points out that Trump only has a little over two years left. She makes it sound like he couldn't feasibly have a second term, but it is quite possible he has six years and four months left. Anyway, I don't mean to sound alarmist, but I do mean what I write. We have checks and balances, but our system isn't foolproof. Our systems and institutions take time to decay, but they will without proper care. Nazi Germany wasn't built in a day, a foundation of hatred had to slowly be built up first before the seemingly sturdy Weimar Republic could be torn down. It could happen here. Trump certainly isn't Hitler, his supporters absolutely are not nazis. No, Trump will not be the last president. However, many of his actions are a potent threat to our as of yet unfailing democracy. 

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