[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

The Cold war didnt end it was won, it is now kicking off again against China

I would argue the Cold War wasn't won by any nation state, it was ended as a result of many factors beyond the control of the participants. The Americans engaged the Russians in an arms race that greatly contributed to the economic crisis the Soviets would face, but it was the Soviets' foray into Afghanistan and the three consecutive crop failures in the 80s that really caused the end of the Cold War. And don't think for a second the United States won the Cold War. The effects of that arms race is still being felt by the country as Reagan spent those trillions of dollars on the country credit card with 18-21% interest. The impact of that spending will be felt for generations to come and continues to be a drag on the nation. Just like America's incursion into Afghanistan to aid the fight against the Soviets resulted in long term blowback (Al Qaeda), so to does the spending that Reagan engaged in. The Soviet Union crumbled under the weight of the Cold War, but America opened Pandora's Box and still may feel the weight of that period contribute to her own failure.

My point was that US history has every aspect of German history as well, their is nothing about the US that a good demigog couldnt use to bring on fascism

Completely agree with this. If a demagogue with brains, meaning someone other than Trump (sorry peter12, Trump is an incompetent idiot), was availed this following, America could be turned in a heartbeat. Pulling on the heart strings of "patriotism" can pull America together in a New York minute. If Trump had any brains he would have picked a paper tiger nation, like North Korea, and run a false flag attack against an American asset, with moderate casualties. That would have been his 9/11 moment and he could have got the whole nation whipped into a frenzy and behind him, giving him the greenlight to remove all their civil liberties and really raid the treasury. Fortunately, Trump is an idiot and surrounded himself with idiots, so we only had to out up with the later, but could you imagine Trump with the American support Bush had after 9/11? Terrifying.

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Yes, there is a vocal minority who would love nothing better than to have Trump as supreme leader forever, but they are the vast minority and can easily be outnumbered by the rest of America.

71 million say otherwise. I don't think we appreciate how close we are to the edge of the cliff. When I observe what the military and intelligence communities are saying, there is a great degree of alarm in those conversations and the concern is real. They see it, and they see all the warning signs. I am always uneasy about the population of this country because they are so easily hoodwinked and subject to propaganda. I see a vast majority that could be swayed by certain means, and that is a scary proposition.

Be careful of the picture that the media presents of the population. It's far less extreme than you think it is on the whole.

I dunno Cali. I think you may be a little off here and need to get out around your state a little more. After living in Florida and exploring all it has to offer, there are some really backwards parts of that state and they are proud of that backwardness. This extends all across the nation. Yes, the cities are very cosmopolitan and open, but the rest of the nation - the majority of the nation - is still rural and backward. These are the people that concern me the most as they embrace the very xenophobia that fascists rely upon to build that nationalist belief. Having been across the country multiple times (46 of 50 states) I can see the potential there. The city folk might be harder to convince, but those country folk? I think they are low hanging fruit there for the picking.