(05-24-2019, 11:31 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Wow, I wouldn't go THAT far, but it is really an incredible tissue of lies and false compliments. I've heard Pence say these things. He is really sucking up to his master, and I'm sure it's because he wants to inherit the Trump mantle, broken as it may be; but that doesn't matter because he can't even see the cracks.
My theory remains that Trump is the actual reincarnation of Benito Mussolini. It is arguable either way, but there's enough similarity to support the theory. Mussolini was the master-mind of the fascist movement, embodied the cult of personality worship for a tyrant, and Hitler took it over and applied it to the German situation. But Mussolini's favorite slogan, don't forget, was "Make Italy Great Again!" He may have been more effective as a leader than Drumphead, but the personality similarities are notable.
This notion gained traction after Trump quoted Mussolini in a tweet and defended himself for doing so.
Trump has also been suggested as the reincarnation of Nero. He may be the soul of a long line of similar leaders.
Bad leaders need suck-ups. Good ones don't. I cannot say that in the same position that Trump is in that I would be a good leader -- but I would certainly surround myself with learned people capable, if necessary, of dissuading me from doing something that gets horrible results. I know the limits of my learning and experience, Nobody can know everything, although there are plenty of fools who think that they know more than do the experts.
From most accounts, Mussolini was an intelligent man -- but utterly amoral.
This said, if I lead America I cite Lincoln or FDR -- not Mussolini, Hitler, or Saddam Hussein.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.