Babies in cages were no ‘mistake’ by Trump but test-marketing for barbarism
It is easy to dismiss Donald Trump
as an ignoramus, not least because he is. But he has an acute
understanding of one thing: test marketing. He created himself in the
gossip pages of the New York tabloids, where celebrity is manufactured
by planting outrageous stories that you can later confirm or deny
depending on how they go down. And he recreated himself in reality TV
where the storylines can be adjusted according to the ratings. Put
something out there, pull it back, adjust, go again.Fascism doesn’t arise suddenly in an existing democracy. It is not easy
to get people to give up their ideas of freedom and civility. You have
to do trial runs that, if they are done well, serve two purposes. They
get people used to something they may initially recoil from; and they
allow you to refine and calibrate. This is what is happening now and we
would be fools not to see it…
Fintan O’Toole: Trial runs for fascism are in full flow
Published
Loki is the Philosopher King 