Archived copies of the article: ghostarchive.org archive.today web.archive.org
About the only way we’re going to actually have a democracy is if they consistently lose elections. That’s going to mean volunteering, donating, and actually turning out to vote
Fair enough, but none of that means he wasn’t being sarcastic. Merriam-Webster defines that as “a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain”, which this clearly was. That is of course not a get-out-of-jail-card for being a dumbass, but he doesn’t intend to abolish (his twisted idea of) democracy.
I mean suppose for a second, just for arguments sake, that the Democratic party did indeed steal the 2020 election and you would have to re-evaluate things like January 6th being an insurrection, because violent resistance against somebody undermining a country’s constitution is legitimate. Which is a stance you might have to take yourself sooner rather than later, especially if Trump wins again.
On a side-note, as a German growing up on copious amounts of Nazi history in school and some TV channels running 24/7 documentaries about them it seems rather clear to me where these MAGA people are headed. Already was in 2016. It’s fascism. But it is important to remember that such movements aren’t as monolithic as they might seem from the outside. There are many people in them who are just high on their own supply of bullshit, and you don’t do yourself any favours by misinterpreting them and fielding arguments which are then easily refuted, doubly so if you are fighting against their confirmation bias.
To be fair though, the article in the OP seems to make that very same mistake.
The comment I replied to was:
What this implies is, because the speaker said it a certain way, he doesn’t really mean he wants to destroy democracy. I’m saying, no, he clearly does, in the second half of his CPAC speech he describes destroying democracy.
His joke in the first half of the CPAC speech was he said “this is my plan”, listed stuff the Democrats have done, and then the punchline was Democrats have already destroyed democracy. It doesn’t matter how he said it. Many MAGA support believe the Democrats have done those things or that the beneficial things the Democrats have done are evil. He does intended to abolish Democracy as do many MAGA supporters.
If you have an argument that can refute this and demonstrate that the fascists in the Republican party are not trying to build a christofascist dictatorship please share it.
See my reply to you up-thread.