Donald Trump: America Should Consider "Closing the Internet Up In Some Way" (dailydot.com)
Patrick O'Neill writes: Hours after Donald Trump suggested the U.S. ban Muslims from entering the United States, the leading Republican presidential candidate said America should also consider "closing the Internet up in some way" to fight Islamic State terrorists in cyberspace. Trump mocked anyone who would object that his plan might violate the freedom of speech, saying "these are foolish people, we have a lot of foolish people ... We have to go see Bill Gates," Trump said, to better understand the Internet and then possibly "close it up."
To be fair, while he hasn't proposed concentration camps yet, neither did Hitler when he was first rising to power. I have a feeling the German people would have rejected "let's kill all the Jews and everyone who disagrees with me" if he led with that idea. Instead, he began with smaller ideas. You are suffering (which Germany was and which Trump supporters seem to think America is) and it's all these people's fault (putting the blame on another group - be they Jews, Muslims, or Mexicans). Then, since it's all their fault, they should be identified (star on their clothes or a national Muslim database) and segregated from "normal society." Then, you need a task force to deal with these undesirables (Trump's Deportation Force might not be as bad as the SS on paper, but I doubt the SS on paper was exactly what they became).
No, Trump isn't Hitler, but he's stoking the same xenophobic flames, is proposing clearly unconstitutional ideas without care as to their legality, and doing so while his supporters seem to say "We don't care if it's legal or not, those people need to be 'taken care of.'" History has shown us where this path leads and it's NOT a nice place. It's certainly not anywhere that I'd want America heading towards.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Many people make fun of Donald Trump or don't take him seriously. What most don't realize is that he is represents the pinnacle of what the Republican Party has become. All that he says is little more than populist slurs and factually incorrect statements, barring any context. He is extremely anti social, anti socialist and very pro industry and military. He resents using government money for social programs but has no problems spending the same taxpayer money for military projects. His world view is an immature outlook where the US is at the center and the rest is a nuisance or a playground for the military. He willingly and knowingly misleads the public using fear, uncertainty and doubt tactics. When he's on television he revels in the attention and uses it to entertain people with outlandish rants and to polish his public image as an anti-establishment rebel, while saying absolutely nothing of consequence. He is the kind of person that can only appeal to, for lack of a better word: white trash and its scary that it has come so far that he reaches mass appeal in the US. Abraham Lincoln must be turning in his grave from what his party has become.
I'd be happy if we could close up Trump in some way.
How the hell is he still leading the field on the Republican side? Is this some vast right wing conspiracy to get Hillary elected so they can have 4 more years of 'shredding the Constitution' and 'destroying America' rhetoric?
Signed,
A registered Republican who votes for sane candidates... when there are any.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
You know, I have a theory.
I think Donald came into this thing, as a lark...running for president would get him a lot of attention and when he dropped out after a good showing, he's have more demand for him thereafter on news, etc.
I think, this long term support as nominee has surprised even HIM...who likely didn't want to really be president, just to run and get some "credit"....
I think with his marks in the polls, it is scaring even HIM that he could get the nomination, and therefore...is amping up the "crazy" to be able to get out of being nominated, yet still never have to voluntarily drop out, etc.
I think theres a possibility he got into this never meaning to win...and is maybe scared shitless he might really do it...?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I recently read a book called "The Narcissist Next Door" which details narcissistic personality disorder. Although the book was written years ago, it specifically mentions The Donald as a possible sufferer of the disorder. And based on the symptoms they described, it seems quite likely to me. If so, that would adequately explain all of his behavior that we've seen. In effect, all this isl about drawing attention to himself (which actually is the motivation of any troll.) And if he happens to get elected as President, that's just gravy (for him.) That said, as a narcissist, he would fully believe that he's the best person for the job. So he would believe that he should be elected.
I recently saw program where a commentator observed that unlike other politicians, Trump "doubles down" on anything stupid that he says. For example, the more that people point out that there is no evidence of thousands celebrating in New Jersey when the twin towers came down, the more he pushes the idea.
According to the book, a narcissist - in the clinical sense - is incapable of admitting he's wrong. So, whenever that gets pointed out by someone, it must be the fault of an external party. In this case, he can blame the media for misreporting the "facts" or whatever: he's never, ever, ever, simply "wrong."