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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3507 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 6, 2026

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I see Twitter throwing a fit over AfD winning or almost winning in Germany. Can somebody please loop me in about the drama of it all?

As I understand, AfD is the only non-woke, non-pro-civilizational-destruction party in Germany, and the only one with chances of winning something in Western Europe in general. Which of course makes them literally Hitler, as anything that threatens woke powers is. Every single Republican candidate has been literally Hitler since literally Hitler, and every non-woke European party will get the same treatment. Especially one that has any chances of winning any votes. This is just how it works.

That said, it's only one state, and they didn't even get the majority - they are the largest party, but only 39 out of 83 seats. I am not sure what could they do with such setup - likely, a lot of heat but not sure anything could change. Most of Germany's problem will need federal policy change, as I understand, and a plurality in one state does nothing.

Every single Republican candidate has been literally Hitler since literally Hitler,

Was Eisenhower ever accused of this? His, uh, "punching Nazis" bona fides are effectively unquestionable. I'd buy it for every other one, though.

From Grok: From communists and the far left: This is where associations with fascism occasionally appeared. East German Communist leader Wilhelm Pieck in September 1952 attacked Eisenhower’s call for a “crusade against communism” (in a speech to the American Legion) as repeating “the program devised by Adolf Hitler” and using “the language of Hitler and Goebbels.” U.S. Communist Party materials from the period sometimes warned that the Eisenhower administration represented a “sharpened war and fascist danger,” linked McCarthyism and anti-communist policies to fascist tendencies, or framed the Republican victory as heightening fascist risks.

So yeah, same same. The center libs were too circumspect to accuse Eisenhower of fascism directly, but the far left wasn't.

I'll go further and say neither you nor I will ever see a Republican candidate for important office anywhere, ever, who isn't called a Nazi/Fascist/Hitler. Nor will we ever see such a candidate fail to garner some vague rape claims, often by large numbers of anonymous women. The only question is how far toward the center believing such things extends.

Nor will we ever see such a candidate fail to garner some vague rape claims, often by large numbers of anonymous women.

One exception on this point: Romney.

Pre-Trump, pre-Me Too, back when the Dems controlled all messaging and could win an election based on lying about someone's taxes rather than their rape record.

I suppose you're probably right on a literal level here, but it seems like there needs to be some level of notoriety to the claims, or it's almost trivially true of any public figure. It's probably true for every member of Congress. It might be true for most city council persons nationwide, even.

"We called every Republican a Nazi and Hitler Hisself for a century, but Eisenhower was a difficult lift because he just kinda....beat Hitler and Nazism so we left that particular slander to our pet commies" isn't the defense of establishment liberalism you want to pin your hat on.

Ken Paxton doesn't seem to be accused of any of this stuff- he's receiving perfectly accurate accusations(that he's an adulterer who takes bribes) instead.

Ken Paxton isn't a nationally important race, he has other baggage, and it's Texas. If he were up for the presidency, he'd be Hitler Hisself. Nearly all politicians are adulterers who take bribes, you might as well call just him a politician.

Ken Paxton isn't a nationally important race,

How do you feel about Talarico's chances? It'd be nationally important if the Republicans lose control of the Senate by a losing seat in Texas, of all places. Paxton's odds feel much worse than Cornyn's would have been, and the decision to primary a long-time incumbent with someone of Paxton's, uh, moral character seems at least a potential own-goal.

I don't know enough about state politics there to have a good opinion. Single party states are always wildly corrupt and it damages the party in power. Talarico strikes me as deeply weird with a raft of opinions that would make him absolutely toxic to anyone with real religion, plus a carpetbagging "How do you do fellow Bar-B-Q enjoyers?" that seems very inauthentic as a presentation. I don't trust polling to be within forty points of the election. I don't trust someone of Paxton's "moral character" to not have some dodgy electioneering strategy. Uneducated guess, Talarico goes the way of Beto and we never hear from him again. Paxton is indicted a few years after winning.

I would give a slim edge to Paxton. If democrats are going to win a statewide race in Texas, it will be this one. But they haven’t done that in 40 years. Talarico’s, uh, controversial statements are just now starting to air, and we don’t know how voters will weight them versus Ken Paxton’s history of corruption.

But they haven’t done that in 40 years.

Ann Richards won the 1990 governor election, which isn't quite 40 years ago, and there were a few other statewide offices through the mid 90s that Democrats won. Texas hasn't been a red state, much less a very red one, as long as most people seem to think.

This is what I was thinking, but I'm sure someone at the Texas Tribune has called him a fascist or whatever.

Honestly, that's half the problem with mass social media. Claims like "never see X that isn't called Y" just don't mean what they used to.

"Die a corrupt adulterer or live long enough to become Hitler?"

The normal corruption is easier and thus a more common tone, but it's still present.

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