Politics

TL;DR: He assassinated an Iranian general. He killed about 13,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria

I'm not saying he's anti-imperialist, in fact, that's ridiculous if you take a moment to look at his trade policies. He's absolutely imperialist, just in a "trade war" way instead of an "open conflict w/ our enemies" way. You can absolutely be dovish w/ the military but still have an overall hawkish attitude.

Yes, he threatened, and he even provoked by moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

As for Syria and Somalia, his involvement was a continuance of "anti-terrorism" activities that both Biden and Obama supported. I disagree with it, but I argue it's basically "par" for politicians in the US.

So you think it’s entirely coincidental that Trump talks all the time about what he talks about, and there’s all this explosion of violence in our politics?

It's likely related, but it's not organized. I think his rhetoric could push someone over the edge into action that otherwise wouldn't, and I think the rhetoric against Trump has a similar potential. I think the Trump campaign has been more inflammatory than the Harris campaign in general, but that doesn't make the Harris campaign's strategy okay.

What about January 6th?

My take is that there were some organized groups who had planned on causing trouble before going to the rally (there's evidence of a number of people leaving the rally early to prep). I also think Trump knew about those groups, but not their specific plans, and that his aggressive tone at that event was reckless. I also think there's a good chance he committed federal crimes between election day and Jan 6, as well as on Jan 6, but I don't think he was affiliated in any meaningful way with the groups who instigated trouble on Jan 6.

It’s always been Trump

I personally blame the various talking heads at places like Breitbart and Fox News more than Trump, they're the ones pushing a narrative and fanning the flames. Trump certainly has a part in all this, but I highly doubt there's any particular "master plan" here, I think he's just a narcissist that says whatever he thinks will grab headlines.

Who would you put trust in?

I'm not sure, but they would certainly need to be separated from the political discourse.

I care more about evidence than the person providing the evidence, so as long as the evidence presented is independently verifiable and they've done a good job of exploring alternative explanations, I'm not too picky on who the actual author is.

One book I liked on this topic is How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, so I guess those are two names. That book looks at various fascists, both old and recent, to draw similarities, and they specifically looked at Trump to see how he measured up. However, that book is 6 years old now, and I'd be interested in a follow-up that takes the events of Jan 6 into account, as well as his actual track record in-office. There are a number of first-party sources they could interview for additional context from within the White House.

I haven't read it yet, but maybe their book Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point is that followup.

I’m not saying to panic. But I’m saying to treat it as a big deal and start yelling.

That really depends on what you're yelling. If you're yelling facts, I'll be 100% behind you, but if you lean into propaganda in an "ends justify the means" sense, then you've lost me.