Trump is much more of a Communist than any leftist politician...

[AntiFascist]

He admires President Xi and wants the US to become more like Communist China, with authoritarian control over the populace and the government alone determining a corporation's policies.

He writes love letters to Communist Leader Kim Jong Un and wants to parade his military showing the same affection toward their dear leader.

He applauds Putin's attempt to rebuild the Communist Soviet Union while imprisoning and murdering any opposition and repressing all opposing discourse.

The branches of government no longer act with any checks or balances and must answer to the one Party that holds all the power. If you are not a Party member, then you have no pathway to the ruling elite, just as with the Communist Party.

As Karl Marx has predicted, Trump is selling the rope with which to hang capitalism by making it so corrupt that the only option will be to revolt against it.

Perhaps he should be tried for treason.

[leftstreet]

1. I don't think that word means what you think it means n/t

[AntiFascist]

3. I understand the attraction of the ideals of Communism...

I'm just referring to the modern realities of how Communist societies operate and how the Soviet Union operated. If Marxist prophecy comes true, it will be at the hands of those oligarchs who are corrupting capitalism.

[leftstreet]

4. LOL n/t

[markodochartaigh]

2. Communism

consists of an authoritarian political component and a socialist economic component. The Republicans don't have a problem with the authoritarian political component, it is the egalitarian socialist economic component that they abhor. Lots of Republican politicians and business leaders supported the Nazis before the war, and some even during the war. This was because they identified with the authoritarian political component which Nazism shares with communism. After the fall of the Soviet Union the socialist economic component was destroyed, but Putin brought back the authoritarian political component. It isn't surprising to see Republicans support Putin over the US Democratic party.

[AntiFascist]

5. Has the egalitarian socialist economic component ever been fully realized?

Hasn't it always been corrupted by those who are at the top?

I don't have a problem with socialists who want to dedicate their lives to public service, or artistic endeavors, or to simply survive in comfort; rather than participate in a for-profit system with monetary incentives. I've always felt there is room for both and they don't have to be exclusive of each other.

[markodochartaigh]

6. I think that the corruption is usually by outside forces

I don't think that the egalitarian socialist economic system has ever been fully realized. Certainly in a country like Western European states where capitalism competes with socialism it would be difficult for the entrenched capitalist powers to be completely overturned in favor of the less wealthy socialist powers in a country. In the formerly communist Eastern European countries certainly the corrupt authoritarian power structure was not optimal for the realization of the egalitarian socialist economic system. But that was because of the authoritarianism, not the socialism. It is much same in the US today. The social safety nets are stripped to provide tax cuts and other benefits for our oiligarchs. And state assets such as NASA, federal lands, anything of value will be sold off to oiligarchs for pennies on the dollar. But that is because of authoritarianism, capitalism simply makes the privatization of the commons more efficient.

[AntiFascist]

7. I agree with your post...

The main problem I have with Marxism is the conclusion that capitalism will always, necessarily lead to corruption that will then bring about revolution. It's the lack of regulation and oversight that brings about the corruption and this is what needs to be fixed. I see Mamdani and his youthful supporters as a force to bring about these fixes, and to resist the greedy impulses that older politicians often succumb to. I think it's ridiculous to think that NYC will ever become communist, but these fixes are necessary.

I also strongly believe that a more democratized form of capitalism is badly needed...

[Polybius]

8. That's what Moonshine just said earlier today

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220434196

[AntiFascist]

9. I saw that after I posted! n/t