I can’t say I’ve personally seen much (if any) of this demonisation of Trump and Brexit supporters that Bruno and Sufi are talking about in the media
Cripes, sorry, popped out for a mo after posting that.
All I'm saying is that they are not crazed rabid evil beasts, there are clever people involved who believe that they are rational and ethical. Trump is not Satan just as Obama was not actually Jesus. A bit of cool analysis of what just happened is more helpful than frothing at the gash.
yes, i do.
there is no parallel between a seventeen-year military regime led by an unelected dictator and a democratically elected president in a country with a free judiciary and separation of powers. there is no parallel between locking up political opponents, torturing and disappearing people and stifling legitimate opposition and trump, who has threatened none of those things.
if anything he has more than earned his win by undoing the trans pacific partnership, a secretive, corporate-backed takeover of media, pharmaceuticals and more that would have killed net neutrality and put affordable generic drugs off the shelf, to name two things that would have impacted chile. it remains to be seen how he governs, however the idea that trump is in any way comparable to pinochet is absurd and frankly insulting.
Democracy was pretty dysfunctional before Trump arrived.
Not that Trump is particularly a threat to democracy, so much as an unfortunate and rather embarrassing expression of it. If anything he's a threat to liberal norms that constrain democracy.
i addressed these points in the other thread. of course it's not necessary to have a dictatorship to undermine freedoms, american democracy is proof that a system can be co-opted and become undemocratic in subtle ways while maintaining the title. having said this, i think anyone with a taste of real authoritarian/repressive government will tell you that the american system, while far from perfect, is infinitely preferable.I posted this on the other thread, but in response to your comment:
"Trump's threatened to imprison political opponents, offered to pay legal fees for violent supporters, seemingly asked supporters to murder anyone trying to 'take away' guns, threatened to restrict press freedoms, proposed restrictions on religious freedom, jail people for flag burning (protected under the 1st amendment) and asked for political opponents to be hacked. Maybe these things were said in jest or for rhetorical effect, but these are not the actions and opinions of a president in a healthy democracy."
Someone doesn't have to be Pinochet for them to undermine democracy and for it not to function properly.
perhaps, but you have to give him credit for being all-out against it from the start. which is why all the major corporations and banks were behind hillary, not trump.Oh - and just to point out TTIP was killed by EU activism prior to Trump's declaration.
i think he changed his mind on that, thankfully, as mattis is against it.torture (which he advocates of course).
Is he going to have Hillary arrested now then? or what?