authoritarian regimes legitimate themselves by providing higher living standards to either a developing working class or a social bloc that has the ability to militarily back them up radical Trumpism does not do either - ThreadSky

sharonk.bsky.social • 62 days ago

authoritarian regimes legitimate themselves by providing higher living standards to either a developing working class or a social bloc that has the ability to militarily back them up

radical Trumpism does not do either

Reposted from denise♨️

i don't think people get that most authoritarian regimes exist because they convince the people that the alternative is either worse or not worth fighting for. china, rwanda, russia, even assad used this exact playbook. people in 2026 will soon be far worse off than in 2022! not good for trump!

Comments

digitaldesert.bsky.social•62 days ago

But, is Trump the head of a regime or a personality cult? If the latter, then living standards would be superfluous, and the social bloc would already exist in the cult members.

economymedicine.bsky.social•62 days ago

The plan was giant tax cuts for the boat dealership inheritor class paid for by service cuts to everyone else but they are doing the cuts and wrecking the economy first

thecoastalelitist.bsky.social•62 days ago

the social bloc is in the making no?

nikolajbill.bsky.social•62 days ago

Exactly. There’s a reason we have a Putin instead of a line of democratically elected presidents in Russia. He brought stability. Yelstin was associated with turmoil. Also see Peru and why the Fujimoris are still popular with a large part of the population.

clementmangin.com•62 days ago

No, but it does offer many scapegoats to a brainwashed, sadistic, bloodthirsty crowd, and that could be enough

forceholy.bsky.social•62 days ago

Counterpoint: most of the electorate consists of illiterate, fairweather voters who think Trump will still push the "low prices" button, but the "deep state" won't let him.

It helps that they have the media on their side.

regimecpa.bsky.social•62 days ago

At least I’ll be poorer forever.

potato2112.bsky.social•62 days ago

I suspect it's the crypto bros as the empire and with it, the dollar, collapses. Gold boomers along for the ride.

potato2112.bsky.social•62 days ago

Essentially crypto NEETS suddenly have access to power and "respect"

sharonk.bsky.social•62 days ago

Assad's regime legitimated itself via its relationship with ethnic minorities who were armed

The Chinese government legitimates itself via local elections mixed with a social compact to keep growth high

chuckrudolph.bsky.social•62 days ago

The American regime legimates itself with cheap car juice and eggs………….

cyclismo37.bsky.social•62 days ago

Trump ain’t bringing down the price of eggs anytime soon

chuckrudolph.bsky.social•62 days ago

No Mandate of Heaven for him then

chocomingo.bsky.social•62 days ago

I'm guessing Marcos Sr. from the Philippines fits into the latter, right? From what I've seen, despite losing popularity during his 2nd term, he somehow had martial law be in effect for almost a decade. How would he fit into this?

(Ironically enough, his son is their current president)

berdee.bsky.social•62 days ago

The pardoned Jan 6 felons view themselves as an aggrieved minority. They're armed and pissed. Trump inc signaled to all such people that they are patriots to his governance.

overrrrrrr.bsky.social•62 days ago

a big thing as well is that assad held power through the civil war by painting the opposition as dangerous islamists who would persecute those minorities. it fell apart when HTS did a sudden pluralist neolib turn and put it into practice (successfully) in idlib, making a viable alternative to assad

mariojuggernaut23.bsky.social•62 days ago

People are going to rebel.

dissenterbedamned.bsky.social•62 days ago

Considering the trump base does not live in objective reality, I don't think it's a good idea to trust that reactionary politics will naturally spell the end of the right wing takeover of the US. Why wouldn't they just double down and say that the only reasons trumps plans aren't working is because

dissenterbedamned.bsky.social•62 days ago

not enough people are being subjugated?

6pnonethewiser.bsky.social•62 days ago

Right, I don’t think they really have a plan there. There’s no infrastructure to support making eggs cheaper for white people but not everybody else, for instance

csilverandgold.bsky.social•62 days ago

Well I mean the notion is that this regime will legitimize itself with a psychic rather than material wage, which has not exactly been a flop throughout American history.

zecat123.bsky.social•62 days ago

It was a flop for 48.3% of voters in 2024 in a terrible environment for democrats

csilverandgold.bsky.social•62 days ago

(By which I mean, it’ll fail, but only insofar as anti-Blackness has weakened and anti-immigrant / anti-trans sentiment probably aren’t strong enough to replace it.)

csilverandgold.bsky.social•62 days ago

Misogyny probably would be but you know women are the majority of voters so there are sharp limits there.

1t2ls.bsky.social•61 days ago

Trumpism has successfully convinced a lot of heavily armed people that the alternative is a communist state in which infanticide is legal, thoughtcrime exists, and the schools force sex-reassignments on your kids. It's not higher living standards, but it's a motivator.

lastnpcalex.com•62 days ago

the one thing trumpism does enable is crypto scam wealth. i am a little concerned the allure of the digital casino might be enough instead of actual wealth

shaggnar.bsky.social•62 days ago

The problem is crypto only exists for speculative nonsense. No one really uses it for anything, I don't even think you can get those alpaca wool socks anymore.
If it can't be exchanged for real money it's all worthless

singlefemalelawyer.bsky.social•62 days ago

Not for anyone with a mortgage. Maybe for Gen z men though.

lastnpcalex.com•62 days ago

ya. agreed

regimecpa.bsky.social•62 days ago

It’s not, don’t worry about this for a second.

lastnpcalex.com•62 days ago

enough people make it, and everyone who plays thinks they might make it. concerning

jfjord.bsky.social•62 days ago

thinkin bout those buckets.... @colinzwirko.bsky.social

basedranchdressing.bsky.social•62 days ago

how long does it take for that to become apparent to a critical mass is the question imo

renegadesci.bsky.social•62 days ago

"No society is more than three meals away from revolution".

Three missed mortgage/rent payments.

repetitiveuser.bsky.social•62 days ago

Fico in Slovakia is an interesting case because he's currently very vocally freaking out and screaming at Ukraine *because* they very correctly shut off Putin's gas pipe to Europe, meaning Fico the Putin bootlicker isn't able to "deliver" cheap natural gas (how he got elected).

ddelony.bsky.social•62 days ago

Don't give him ideas!

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