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This is, of course, weapons-grade nutbaggery. But maybe we need to take it seriously, because something genuinely odd (and disturbing) is happening on the right.

Ideas that would have been unthinkable just moments ago are now being normalized and, if anything, the drift toward authoritarianism seems to be accelerating. This includes the explicit embrace of the idea of an American dictator — an American Caesar. Literally and seriously. (This is not a parody.)

As I’ve mentioned before, the publication that unironically calls itself American Greatness likes to think of itself as the “intellectual” home for MAGAWorld.

Despite its dalliance with raw racism, and a fetish for sedition, American Greatness’s roster of contributors includes such right-wing luminaries as Victor David Hanson, Seb Gorka, David Harsanyi*, Conrad Black, Roger Kimball, Mark Bauerlein, Josh Hammer, Ned Ryun, Dennis Prager, and Salena Zito.

It recently published an endorsement of military coups by a retired military guy with close ties to TrumpWorld.

But now its fetish for coups has morphed into a yearning for even more robust measures. “To survive today’s leftist threat,” argues author Christopher Roach, “we need to be committed to acquiring and using power in the service of a counterrevolution.”

This new “Great America” agenda means that we should be more like Portugal.

In an article titled, “The Salazar Option,” the magazine celebrates the decades-long reign of Portugal’s fascist-adjacent dictator António de Oliveira Salazar....

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:25 am Who is truly the intellectual right these days? What’s their agenda? How much power do they have?

From conservative commentator Charlie Sykes....

Pwns wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:30 am I think many in the GOP base are starting to realize the GOP establishment DGAF about a lot of things they care about or even work against things that matter to them...gun rights, border security, getting strategic supply chains back, being able to voice your opinion about culture war issues without feeling it could ruin your life, etc. If it's a choice between the Republican establishment and Democrats that pretend to be the Waffle House party but are really the Whole Foods/Hollywood party, they're going to keep trying to blow things up with more Trumps.

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:41 am

Pwns wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:30 am I think many in the GOP base are starting to realize the GOP establishment DGAF about a lot of things they care about or even work against things that matter to them...gun rights, border security, getting strategic supply chains back, being able to voice your opinion about culture war issues without feeling it could ruin your life, etc. If it's a choice between the Republican establishment and Democrats that pretend to be the Waffle House party but are really the Whole Foods/Hollywood party, they're going to keep trying to blow things up with more Trumps.

Yeah...b/c that's how you resolve issues, by burning down the house.

UNI88 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:00 am

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:41 am

Yeah...b/c that's how you resolve issues, by burning down the house.

Unfortunately both sides have shown that they're willing to burn it all down if they don't get their way.

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:58 am

UNI88 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:00 am
Unfortunately both sides have shown that they're willing to burn it all down if they don't get their way.

It's becoming the American Way. I'm dubbing it - Veruca Salt Syndrome.

UNI88 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:03 am

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:58 am

It's becoming the American Way. I'm dubbing it - Veruca Salt Syndrome.

Kalmy might like to highlight the alt-right's tenuous embrace of authoritarianism and coups but is strangely silent on the ctrl-left's openness to similar options/steps.

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:38 am I thought The Bulwark went out of business after it didn’t have Trump to kick around any more. This piece read like a rehash of any Bulwark piece from before the 2020 election — and it probably was.

Sykes is what I call a “JSO conservative.” Meaning: not really.

Baldy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:25 am

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:25 am Who is truly the intellectual right these days? What’s their agenda? How much power do they have?

From conservative commentator Charlie Sykes....

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:10 am

UNI88 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:03 am
Kalmy might like to highlight the alt-right's tenuous embrace of authoritarianism and coups but is strangely silent on the ctrl-left's openness to similar options/steps.

Plenty of that here already. I’d just be piling on. Although I HAVE been fairly outspoken on woke culture and corporate influence. The left needs to up their coup game I guess...

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:13 am

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:38 am I thought The Bulwark went out of business after it didn’t have Trump to kick around any more. This piece read like a rehash of any Bulwark piece from before the 2020 election — and it probably was.

Sykes is what I call a “JSO conservative.” Meaning: not really.

Right. So I’ll go back to my original question. Who represents the intellectual arm of the Republican Party? Who will put the insurrectionists genie back in the bottle like the corporate Dems are doing with the progressives?

Pwns wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:30 am I think many in the GOP base are starting to realize the GOP establishment DGAF about a lot of things they care about or even work against things that matter to them...gun rights, border security, getting strategic supply chains back, being able to voice your opinion about culture war issues without feeling it could ruin your life, etc. If it's a choice between the Republican establishment and Democrats that pretend to be the Waffle House party but are really the Whole Foods/Hollywood party, they're going to keep trying to blow things up with more Trumps.

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:13 am

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:38 am I thought The Bulwark went out of business after it didn’t have Trump to kick around any more. This piece read like a rehash of any Bulwark piece from before the 2020 election — and it probably was.

Sykes is what I call a “JSO conservative.” Meaning: not really.

Right. So I’ll go back to my original question. Who represents the intellectual arm of the Republican Party? Who will put the insurrectionists genie back in the bottle like the corporate Dems are doing with the progressives?

UNI88 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:19 am

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:10 am

Plenty of that here already. I’d just be piling on. Although I HAVE been fairly outspoken on woke culture and corporate influence. The left needs to up their coup game I guess...

Then step up your game and speak out against other steps toward authoritarianism / silencing minority opinions like getting rid of the filibuster, stacking the court, etc. You'd be pointing them out if the Republicans were considering them.

Winterborn wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:26 pm

Pwns wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:30 am I think many in the GOP base are starting to realize the GOP establishment DGAF about a lot of things they care about or even work against things that matter to them...gun rights, border security, getting strategic supply chains back, being able to voice your opinion about culture war issues without feeling it could ruin your life, etc. If it's a choice between the Republican establishment and Democrats that pretend to be the Waffle House party but are really the Whole Foods/Hollywood party, they're going to keep trying to blow things up with more Trumps.

There is a big difference in RINO's and those of the general public that vote R (talking generalities here). Every person that I know that votes R, is doing that only because of what you mentioned above Pwns. Voting D is a none starter ever since that they have gone full Marxist and voting Libertarian would be an option if they ever got their crap together.

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:41 am

Pwns wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:30 am I think many in the GOP base are starting to realize the GOP establishment DGAF about a lot of things they care about or even work against things that matter to them...gun rights, border security, getting strategic supply chains back, being able to voice your opinion about culture war issues without feeling it could ruin your life, etc. If it's a choice between the Republican establishment and Democrats that pretend to be the Waffle House party but are really the Whole Foods/Hollywood party, they're going to keep trying to blow things up with more Trumps.

Yeah...b/c that's how you resolve issues, by burning down the house.

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:30 pm

kalm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:13 am

Right. So I’ll go back to my original question. Who represents the intellectual arm of the Republican Party? Who will put the insurrectionists genie back in the bottle like the corporate Dems are doing with the progressives?

*GASP*


Is that what the Dems are doing?

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:39 am Klam still hasn’t answered my question. Now there’s a big frigging surprise. Out of ammo again.

AZGrizFan wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:03 pm

Ibanez wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:30 pm

*GASP*


Is that what the Dems are doing?

Good lord, no shit. The squad runs that fucking shitshow. Pelosi is clinging to what little power she has left….

kalm wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:09 am

Ivytalk wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:39 am Klam still hasn’t answered my question. Now there’s a big frigging surprise. Out of ammo again.

Relax, there skippy. Not all of us have the time to watch Lawrence Welk reruns over a glass of Oban. I was busy tending to the garden and practicing Arlo Guthrie on the guitar.

Honestly, I struggle to come up with counterparts on the left. Liberal voices (both classical and progressive) seem to be shouted down by corporate media. I’m more interested in reading who you listed or listening to comedy (perhaps the one true remaining bastion of truth telling in our culture) than anything else.

The only names I can come up with at the moment are Nathan Robinson of Current Affairs and Brian Grimm of the Intercept.