pacino wrote:Wikileaks dominated FB's hot topics during election

Doll Is Mine wrote:I keep hearing how the strong institutions in the US will prevent Trump from being an authoritarian. I'm not buying it. Trump will do whatever he wants. Who will stop him?

My fear is a police state.

“I’m a Leninist,” Bannon proudly proclaimed.

Shocked, I asked him what he meant.

“Lenin,” he answered, “wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Bannon was employing Lenin’s strategy for Tea Party populist goals. He included in that group the Republican and Democratic Parties, as well as the traditional conservative press.

Doll Is Mine wrote:I may be wrong but didn't Lenin hate capitalism?

JFLNYC wrote:This echoes my fear stated a couple of times previously here: Sometime not very long after the inauguration -- and after a new, conservative Supreme Court justice has been added -- there will be a terrorist incident. Trump will use that incident to declare martial law and suspend civil liberties. The only institutions who could challenge that declaration are Congress and the Supreme Court. Those Republican institutions will acquiesce to Trump. Any protests, whether from the press or the people will be put down, by force if necessary. Enemies of Trump, Bannon, etc., will be enemies of the state. After that, any horrific scenario you can imagine will be possible.

slugsrbad wrote:Speaking of hypocrisy, I know it's fun to make fun of Trump for saying same sex marriage is settled law, but abortion rights are not; however, I fear that it might just push Trump into saying "fuck it" and pushing for the overturn of both.

td11 wrote:mainstream republicans seem completely unperturbed that their party has been taken over by breitbart and the alt-right

td11 wrote:mainstream republicans seem completely unperturbed that their party has been taken over by breitbart and the alt-right

td11 wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:Speaking of hypocrisy, I know it's fun to make fun of Trump for saying same sex marriage is settled law, but abortion rights are not; however, I fear that it might just push Trump into saying "fuck it" and pushing for the overturn of both.

they have more or less stated that going after roe v wade is one of their goals

Soren wrote:

td11 wrote:mainstream republicans seem completely unperturbed that their party has been taken over by breitbart and the alt-right

You're assuming the "take over" doesn't reflect the mainstream of the GOP

Peter Brimelow, who runs the white nationalist site VDARE, praised Bannon's hiring, saying it gives Trump a connection to the alt-right movement online.

"I think it's amazing," Brimelow said of Trump's decision to tap Bannon. "Can you imagine Mitt Romney doing this? It's almost like Trump cares about ideas! Especially amazing because I would bet Trump doesn't read online. Few plutocrats do, they have efficient secretaries."
Brimelow added his site would continue to focus solely on their hardline position on immigration, saying he expects American whites to vote their interests similar to other minority groups.

"To the extent that the 'alt-right' articulates that interest, it will continue to grow," Brimelow said.

Brad Griffin, a blogger who runs the white nationalist website Occidental Dissent using the pseudonym "Hunter Wallace," said he thought Bannon's hiring showed Trump would be held to his campaign promises.

"It makes sense to me," he said. "Reince [Priebus] can certainly get more done on Capitol Hill. He will be an instrument of Trump's will, not the other way around. Bannon is better suited as chief strategist and looking at the big picture. I think he will hold Trump to the promises he has already made during the campaign. We endorse many of those promises like building the wall, deportations, ending refugee resettlement, preserving the Second Amendment, etc. There's a lot of stuff in there on which almost everyone on the right agrees."

Griffin added, "We're most excited though about the foreign policy implications of Bannon in the White House. We want to see our counterparts in Europe — starting in Austria and France — win their upcoming elections. We're hearing reports that Breitbart is expanding its operations in continental Europe and that is where our focus will be in 2017."

Jared Taylor, who runs the site American Renaissance, echoed those comments, saying Bannon would help hold Trump to his campaign rhetoric.

"There has been some waffling on some of candidate Trump's signature positions: build the wall, deport illegals, end birth-right citizenship, take a hard look at Muslim immigrants, etc," he said. "I suspect one of Steve Bannon's important functions will be as an anti-waffler, who will encourage President Trump to keep his campaign promises."

Chairman of the American Nazi Party, Rocky J. Suhayda, who wrote a post after Trump's election night victory celebrating it as a call to action, said he was surprised at the pick of Bannon, but said it showed him Trump could follow through on his campaign promises.
"I must admit that I was a wee bit surprised that Mr. Trump finally chose Mr. Bannon, I thought that his stable of Washington insiders would have objected too vociferously," Suhayda wrote in an email. "Perhaps The Donald IS for 'REAL' and is not going to be another controlled puppet directed by the usual 'Wire Pullers,' and does indeed intend to ROCK the BOAT? Time will tell."

Richard B. Spencer, the president of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, wrote a series of tweets on Sunday evening saying Bannon had the best position as chief strategist, allowing him to not get lost in the weeds and could help Trump focus on the big picture of setting up his agenda.

"Steve Bannon might even push Trump in the right direction. So that would be a wonderful thing," he told CNN on Sunday before the announcement, adding that he hopes to push Trump in an increasingly radical direction."

Matt Parrott, a spokesman for the Traditionalist Worker Party, said Bannon was a "civic nationalist" — someone who sees an American identity not based on race.

"Steve Bannon has never been a white nationalist and it's kind of tiresome how the important distinction, everyone needs to learn them now that they're relevant. There's an important distinction between a civic nationalist and a white nationalist," Parrott to CNN. "Steve Bannon's entire career, and if you look at Breitbart, like, he's accusing the other side of racism. That's something that wouldn't happen out of an actual white nationalist of course because we don't see being for your race as a negative thing. Yeah, Steve Bannon's a civic nationalist and that's much better than what was in Washington before. We're hopeful about the whole thing."

Parrot added, "We in the alt-right are going to be just as vicious in trolling and attacking the Republican Congress as they try to obstruct Trump's reforms as we were against the left."

drsmooth wrote:Just spitballing here, but I'm not so sure sufficient military heft is fully on board with dumbass's shitshow to make such a takeover possible