Thursday, October 25, 2018

Much More At Stake


Yesterday, Alexander Soros, George's son, published an op-ed in the New York Times, titled "The Hate Among Us." He wrote:

My family is no stranger to the hostilities of those who reject our philosophy, our politics and our very identity. My father grew up in the shadow of the Nazi regime in Hungary. My grandfather secured papers with false names so that they could survive the onslaught against Budapest’s Jews; he helped many others do the same. After the war, as the Communists took power, my father escaped to London, where he studied at the London School of Economics before embarking on what ultimately became a hugely successful career in finance.
My father acknowledges that his philanthropic work, while nonpartisan, is “political” in a broad sense: It seeks to support those who promote societies where everyone has a voice.

Soros has been branded, by some, as an enemy of democracy. The irony is -- of course -- that those who see him as an enemy of democracy are working hard to tear it down. The younger Soros admits that those people have always been there. But, in 2016, something changed:

With Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, things got worse. White supremacists and anti-Semites like David Duke endorsed his campaign. Mr. Trump’s final TV ad famously featured my father; Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve; and Lloyd Blankfein, chairman of Goldman Sachs — all of them Jewish — amid dog-whistle language about “special interests” and “global special interests.” A genie was let out of the bottle, which may take generations to put back in, and it wasn’t confined to the United States.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán launched an anti-Semitic poster campaign falsely accusing my father of wanting to flood Hungary with migrants. This included plastering my father’s face onto the floor of trams in Budapest so that people would walk on it, all to serve Mr. Orbán’s political agenda.
Now we have attempted bomb attacks. While the responsibility lies with the individual or individuals who sent these lethal devices to my family home and Mr. Obama’s and Ms. Clinton’s offices, I cannot see it divorced from the new normal of political demonization that plagues us today.

Yesterday,  a line was crossed in the United States. Bombers are nothing new. But bombers who threaten to imprison and kill political opponents is new. And those attacks have been praised and encouraged by Trump.

Trump may hold the title of president. But, by now, it should be clear to everyone. Trump is a public menace: a clear and present danger. There is much more at stake than his presidency.

Image: The Wire

8 comments:

The Mound of Sound said...


I can't see this being settled with words, Owen.

Owen Gray said...

That's my fear, too, Mound. They're headed for an explosion down there.

the salamander said...

.. I continue to wonder why the powerful & extremely influential 'religious' faction in the USA is actually Trump and the GOP's main electoral bulwark - without that vote he's toast & the GOP with him. I believe it was Robert Reich who suggested 7 or 10 actions not to take.. to humble Trump. HIs 'ignorant' electoral faction is exactly that.. uninformed ignorant folks who love a good fight.. just look at the Trump rallies.. they fill arenas and many are diehard groupies who travel from rally to rally whenever possible.. hardly folk who are highly respected in their community or neighborhoods.

So I am looking more and more at the religious and evangelicals that comprise what I believe are the huge weak spot in the realm of the extreme malignant narssissist pus sack president Trump. Nothing permeates or percolates into his vanity, mendacity and perceptions more than the threat of being disempowered.. or as I suspect, falling into ill health.. seeing & feeling his onrushing end and not being able to 'take it with him'.. to wherever he thinks he'll go besides 6 feet under.. without doubt in a golden (but veneered) sarcophagus..

So in my view as a nasty guerilla strategist.. I am thinking more and more about going after the mixed bag of religious voters in North America & shaming them.. Trump and the GOP are just collateral damage then.. burnt and salted ground, infamous losers, cheaters, even traitors. I don't have any real problem with god fearing folk, with their head on straight and their heart in the right place.. but the Bible ! ! It may be more consequential than 'Hillary ! The emails ! !

Somewhere lies a key or keys to get those folks out of their dazed 'trust' or misplaced loyalty to Trump & the GOP. If they are that foolish and so flagrantly and easily misled.. to let their beliefs, morals and actions blend happily with destructive political mallfeasance, deceit and corporatism.. then surely they can instead embrace realities and/or the leadership of actual exemplars.. or at the very least, the teachings of their lord & saviour.. as spelled out in The Holy Bible .. AMEN !

FYI - I draw no distinctions between a distorted greedy American like Pat Robertson or a Canadian like Arthur Hamilton. Nor a difference between a Jason Kenney and an Alex Jones.. a twit such as Sara Huckabee Sanders or a Faith Goldy, nor a twisted Rush Limbaugh or an Ezra Levant, a Nigel Wright or Ted Cruz. These are not 'well people' .. By design ? Or by happenstance ? And does it really matter ? All are diehard partisan political parasites.. Does the Bible teach that they must be honored and showered with endless wealth ? Really ! ? Which of the 10 Commandments have these ethical feebs not broken consiststantly ? Shalt not Steal? Covet your neighbor's teenage daughter ? Shalt not bear false witness.. Trump arming Saudis for oil $$ to help kill helpless people in Yemen ?

Deary me.. this is fertile ground.. and in the field of opportunity its ploughing time again..

Owen Gray said...

One can always hope that hypocrisy will eventually lead to shame, sal. But the truth is that some people -- particularly Mr. Trump -- are utterly shameless.

Jay Farquharson said...

Assassination attempts on two Presidents, a former Secretary of State, a former Attorney General, a former CIA director, 2 members of Congress, a major cable news organization, a prominent Jewish philanthropist and a two-time Oscar winner is just a 'minor event' now in the New Reich.

Owen Gray said...

Yesterday it became clear just how far the country has followed the Mad Hatter down the rabbit hole, Jay.

e.a.f. said...

I thought it would take another 2 years, min. to get to this place. I woke up and found out how wrong I was. It was business as usual for Trump and his ilk. He went out that night to another of his "rallies" and went on as usual.

Trump is the root cause of all of this. In his position of President, he has given permission for people to be vile, to be bullies, to hate, to kill. Trump's comments at his rallies where he encouraged violence against the media, protestors, etc. says its O.K. to hurt others because you don't agree with them.

if what happened in the U.S.A. had happened in Canada or any number of other countries, it would have brought the country to almost a stand still to deal with the crisis. In the U.S.A. it was like it hadn't happened.

Soros Jr.'s op ed. it correct. having had parents who lived through the Holocaust, and studying history I know Hitler and the Nazi's just didn't spring up out of no where. IT WAS a concerted string of events. It was a process to divide, make people insensitive to the human destruction. The U.S.A. is on its way and almost there, so it too can be classified as a fascist country. democracy will be dead.

I think its a good thing Canada has accepted large numbers of refugees in short amounts of time, The experience we gained will be needed again, when people start to flee the U.S.A. We can expect the first to be the LBGTQ community with Trump's decision to pass legislation to rule out gender fluid people or transgender people. He is suggesting there will be legislation stipulating you're either male or female depending upon the genitals you have when you are born.

If the marchers from Central America reach the American border don't be surprised if Trump orders the military to open fire on the marchers, and that fire will go into Mexico, causing an international crisis. Most people don't know but China does have a base in Argentinia. Its for studying the moon's other side, with 400 acres.

The most dangerous country on earth right now is the U.S.A. because in part we know who and what Russia and China are. The U.S.A. is still pretending they're a "decent" country, but they're not much better than Saudi Arabia. of course the men of the U.S.A. do seem to have a real need to control the bodies of women and we will see these wierdos bring another case before the Supreme Court, and Roe vs. Wade will be gone. With the American military might, things will not go well and we're just sitting north of them.

Owen Gray said...

The United States is well on the way, e.a.f., to becoming yet another failed state.