Obama Breaks Silence on Trump’s ‘Unimaginable’ Presidency - “Imagine if I had done any of this,” the former two-term president said.

[u/Quirkie]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-breaks-silence-on-trumps-unimaginable-presidency/

[u/atriaventrica]

I saw someone say that this was Obama saying he wasn't treated fairly. That's not the point. The point he's making is that what's happening is unconscionable, illegal and unconstitutional no matter who does it. Forcing the right wing to consider how they would feel if Obama had done what is happening is an attempt to force them to reconcile what is actually happening with their limitless support for Trump.

[u/calf → u/atriaventrica]

Then Obama is failing to make that point. More generally, I disagree on a certain view that is all too common on the center-left. Mainstream Dems calling out "Double standard!!" -- with Obama's remarks being the latest variation on this (we saw other examples last year with Kamala Harris' campaign, etc.) -- are actually missing the point in a deeper way: we already know that the fascists are evil, so there's no point in making them confront any of this. It's like telling Darth Vader's minions "imagine if the Galactic Council did any of this", it's a pointless comparison. They're already evil, both the leadership and their electoral demographic, so why continue act as if they're capable of any further rational thought? In fact, it actually proves Democrats still can't conceptualize and so are just preaching to the choir. Fascist reactionaries do not believe in fairness, so pointing out some kind moral-ethical-consistency appeal is not something that will ever connect to their mental conception of the world: this proves that Democrat discourse either lacks a theory of mind of right-wing ideology, and/or the Democrats are just wasting words talking to ourselves, which just serves to obscure deeper issues, such as how capitalist democracies inherently brings about fascism, etc.

[u/atriaventrica → u/calf]

Cool. Solution?

[u/calf → u/atriaventrica]

I just said it, Democrats need a better theory of mind of the enemy. They need to stop this discourse and get off their Brahmin privileged worldview. Stop capital-splaining issues. They need people like AOC and Bernie to do the leadership, not the Democrats beholden to lobbyists or who capitulate to those interests. All of this is commonsense, but a huge faction of the center-left won't give up what it takes. This is commonsense, there's lots of ideas on the ground, I shouldn't have to spoonfeed every little bit.

Also, people like you need to stop with the tactic of "Cool, what about the solution"? That's actually a type of nonsequitur, in educated discussions, this move actually shows you aren't skilled or interested in rational debate, because it is a type of deflection. Don't demand a solution from when I've described the problems for you. You wouldn't ask that of your teachers, would you? It's really basic, we all have the power to figure things out. You wouldn't tell a feminist describing misogyny for a solution, would you? Which ought to be a sign to check your own biases and prejudices. That would be a start.