With that kind of context, it's really no wonder there's support from the right for an authoritarian leader. They honestly just think they're playing the democrats game and playing it better.
It _is_ a bit odd there's a complete lack of reflection on some of these moves though, but I suppose so long as the current executive branch veers away from changing the second amendment and manages to carve out enough exceptions for their most ardent supporters, all's good from their standpoint.
I saw this coming years ago. The rhetoric on both sides was never going to end up in anything remotely resembling healthy. Both sides are too busy pointing fingers now to really want to do anything about it.
The full effect that disinformation has had on Americans is probably impossible to measure, but with evidence like the Mueller report, you cannot deny that it has had some tangible effect. With Russia's efforts and the outcome of the 2016 election, I would be surprised if they did not continue and even ramp up their efforts in subsequent elections.
Well yes. it was. This was avoidable, but not by those fooled with fear from lies. It came from the rational people who felt their vote didn't matter, or that fell for obvious distractions as if somehow Trump was better because their aligned candidate wasn't the perfect progressive.
>Both sides are too busy pointing fingers now to really want to do anything about it.
if you only focus on the radicals, it's not surprising you become radical yourself and cast aside the grand majority of moderates. That both sidesing narrative is also a trick.
> some people literally think _every_ one of them is a literal, actual Nazi
I've never heard that. Can you give an example?
I think much of what you say comes from the right-wing disinformation machine - it's their talking points, and doesn't reflect anything I've experienced. Can you provide some evidence for any of it?
Here we are again. It seems to be the default mode for anything that doesn't match the mainstream narrative. Perhaps you've never heard of it because you haven't been misidentified with the right before? As a centrist, it happens a lot, and there have been plenty of instances where I was called a Nazi.
Of course it's impossible for either one of us to prove how regularly this happens. However, it seems silly to be surprised that someone on the left is unaware of it. Of course, they are. It's completely logical, just like someone on the right being completely unaware of how the right often treats left-wing individuals.
"some people literally think _every_ one of them is a literal, actual Nazi"
If that's true in any significant way, there should be plenty of public examples.
Instead of engaging in a serious discussion, you resort to changing the subject, and (effectively) disinformation about me. I take that as a signal that the rest of what you say is equally baseless and only repeats the right-wing talking points.
They love being told what to think.
It's scary just how cult-ish this pattern is.
I’m not saying two wrongs make a right and I’m not justifying the current administration. But if we look to how we got here, that’s a lot of why, if not mostly why.
Also, you can't compare their power to a US president, congressional majority, and Supreme Court justices. How many people live on campuses and how many are in the country? And finally, they didn't seek to take power from others, but to empower them - whether or not you like to see that happen or their strategies.
We are past the point of "everyone has their perspective on this" right and left have their own version of this etc. The system that protected people's right to have different opinions is being dismantled.
Free speech is understood as the ability to express yourself and your beliefs without consequences from the government, it has never meant to practically anyone that it means that as a culture no individual or organization will take action against you. This is personal responsibility in action, you must be prepared to shoulder the consequences of what you say and do.
People losing their jobs in universities and otherwise for expressing certain beliefs is not somehow unique to the American political left of the preceding decade, and it is strange that people have been misled into thinking that it is. Of course it is regrettable that some people may have lost their jobs engaging in good-faith reasoned expression of their beliefs, but you cannot argue that this is somehow the result of "the left".
I intentionally make no judgment here on whether I believe the climate that existed on American college campuses during that time is something desirable, but people doing things that you do not like is not "being actually authoritarian".