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Originally Posted by Jim in CT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim in CT
I think Trump, on balance, is an awful human being. Awful.
But a record-number of Americans polled in 2020, said they were better off after 4 years of his presidency. Never before had that many Americans said they were better off after 4 years of a president (Gallup does this poll every 4 years). Which is why I say that even though he's personally bad, the policies he advocated for, are things that Americans liked.
I would not want to live in a country where Trump was a dictator, for sure. Then he'd potentially be dangerous. In our country, with the checks and balances, he's not really metaphysically dangerous.
You didn't read the memo, did you?
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...8-eastman-memo
I don't recall Trump's justice department flagging people as domestic terrorists who express opinions at Board of Ed meetings. Bidens DOJ is doing that. That’s not dangerous?
First of all, the current DOJ is investigating threats to public officials serving in both school and public health positions. A threat to kill or harm is not expressing your opinion in a public forum.
The Trump administration perpetrated widespread abuses of power (including potential criminal acts) both within the Department of Justice and throughout the executive branch. Career staff were co-opted into participating in many of those abuses (although many also pushed back). If there is no internal accountability, the same lapses will happen again – and everyone knows it. The Department, primarily under Attorney General Bill Barr’s leadership, acted several times to aid President Trump politically, interfering in ongoing criminal prosecutions to favor Trump allies, using the power of the Department to target Trump’s perceived enemies and critics, making improper public statements, giving illegal orders to and illegally deploying federal law enforcement officers, being less than completely forthright with courts, enforcing a human rights-violating policy of separating families at the southern border, and generally acting to represent the personal interests of former President Trump rather than those of the office of the presidency and the country (and this is by no means a comprehensive list).
I don't recall Trumps IRS being used as a club against people who disagree with his politics. Obama's IRS did that. That’s not dangerous?
No, He used the DOJ
I'll judge Trump, like I do everyone, based on everything they do. I don't ignore the good (if the potus is in the other party) or the bad (if the potus is in my party).
Nightfighter, was it a good thing Trump did, when he donated his jet (when the airlines refused to do so) to fly that kid across country?
Was that a kind act, yes or no?
That's one |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim in CT
that’s the best rebuttal you’ve got?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
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Why you would praise Stalin and a third of Russians still do:
1. Stalin transformed a fairly backwoods and largely illiterate peasant country into a world superpower(with Nuclear and Space capability) in a matter of 30 years. This is a monumental achievement. For example, a lot of people know about the legendary T-34 tank that was both innovative and simple enough to produce in large numbers. But take a moment and think that producing a tank(or any other complex machinery) requires thousands of parts. There needs to be a ball bearing factory and an engine factory and munitions factory. Not to mention all the raw materials and fuel. Russian Empire had a very limited industrial capability and all of this had to be created from scratch. It’s a huge logistical and organizational challenge.
2. Quality of life. The quality of life for the 90% of Soviet population improved dramatically. Before revolution there were famines roughly every five years. Majority of population was illiterate and had practically no access to healthcare. Child and mother mortality rates were very high. Living conditions were horrid. All of this saw huge improvements and for the first time in centuries there were no more semi regular famines.
3. Pragmatism. Works of Marx and Lenin(to an extent) are all theoretical and have never been applied in practice. Stalin had an ability to shape and interpret them in a way that allowed practical application of socialism in Russia.
4. Humbleness. It’s a well known fact, that after Stalin died, the only material goods that he left were few old uniforms and boots(and some money in the bank from the publication of his works)
The important thing, though, is that all of this happened not because of the meticulous planning, but because of the unprecedented cruelty. Collectivization, propaganda, slave labor of the prisoners, repressions — and the list goes on. In a way, one could say Stalin took the USSR by force. Monumentalism, which was expressed both in architecture and governance, was a distinctive feature of Stalin’s times. It is unacceptable to forget at what cost did the nations of the Soviet Union make these grandiose changes, but it’s also good to know that some of them have turned out to be useful.