American Politics the 2016 edition

Thing is...how is Trump gunna do that? I fear his methods to try and eliminate Isis will, like most US foreign policy, make the situation worse. 

I am not saying this for hyperbolic effect. This is a legitimate concern I have based off observations I think most would agree with. 

Trump may trigger something cataclysmic. 

Isis wants a fight. Literally. They want a war, they believe in this Clash of Civilizations thing and ready to die for it. They want Muslims dead too. Mainstream (moderate, normal whatever the hell you wanna stick to em) Muslims are as much the enemy as the West. They're also in the way of ISIS and more of them have been killed in terrorist attacks than Westerners. 

Enter Trump who is looking for a fight. Funny since pre 2015 he seemed to be vaguely non interventionist, or at the very least people should pay us for our help, as penned in a full page ad he took out in 1987 (guess he does have some consistent views) but new Trump seems ready to brawl. He may be trying to pick a fight with a group that wants a fight. Keep in mind, two major positions in his administration are held by Mike Flynn and now Steve Bannon. Flynn is obsessed with Iran and believes, through public statements, Islam itself is the problem, a cancer. Bannon we dont even have to get into, but he also believes in the clash of civilizations, that we need to protect ourselves from barbarism at the gates. 

At the least, he will keep the cycle of terrorism going and likely make it worse. At worst....not sure I wanna think about it. 

I've officially become very scared. This guy is dangerous and insane. He's compared himself to a Leninist in that he too wants to tear down the state. He seems, my interpretation, to want to rip down the whole system and rebuild it, Tyler Durden style. I can't quite figure out what he believes the new system should be, but it seems he's a "true" free market believer libertarian. Ironic he rails against crony capitalism since I believe that type of rigid ideology would to an Oligarchy, whatever state there is being own and run by corporate giants. Which we currently are on track for so yeah, all according to plan!

More disturbing is his style of rhetoric, and his views on the world itself. He has said publicly the West is at war with Islam for its survival...which is apparently Christian limited government capitalism that spreads well being to all and shuns cronyism, like I said typical confused libertarian thinking. He clearly has no care for Democracy, which will get in the way of people like him and Peter Thiel (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-steve-bannon-peter-thiel-214490) or Rex Tillerson and wealthy people like Betsy DeVos. His rhetoric is scary, and if Breitbart is any clue (and comments about media sources add to this) he wants an all favorable, exclude non favorable, media serving the movement. Alternative facts will balance the mainstream lies which are just elitists out to keep us down. 

This guy has a lot of power now. 

on Jan 26th Hitler decreed the "Deutsches Beamtengesetz" (German civil-service law) which forced German civil servants to be loyal to the NSDAP. is it just a coincidence that exactly (and I mean exactly) 80 years later Donald Trump replaces hundreds of top civil servants with people who are loyal to him? the method may be different, the result is the same.

mark that it is by no means standard procedure that a new government replaces civil servants. the bureaucracy is usually kept intact, simply because it works. clumsily at times, but it works.

when I read of this action of Trump all my alarm bells started ringing. changes are not made at the very top, whatever any government may believe. the civil servants are the ones who have to apply the changes. replacing them with loyal followers assures that whatever Trump comes up with will be executed. these Mitläufer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitl%C3%A4ufer) are the people that will follow any order, no matter how atrocious it might be.

ceterum censeo principiis obsta

I did notice your post (agreeing) and said nothing bc I am refraining from any opinion anymore , being a scholar of the NSDAP and therefore, a target for unending challenge. Whatever. The point made is that political polarization is becoming increasingly strident, as Trumpf continues his march by first creating chaos and then claiming to restore order. Boooooooring: history books are full of similar examples, from Caesar to Khomeini . When the civil servants become obedient not to the state but the current power holder, its time to start getting really really worried....

Well, it is because I would like some form of market based economic rules to remain (at a broad international level and not necessarily at the level of different nations which may choose their own policies) that I dread the coming elevation of China.  They haven't yet demonstrated that they believe in either (a) democracy or (b) fair competition.  Maybe I am biased here coming from an Indian perspective because we do have democracy and historically too India has been more Westward oriented and quite blindsided to the East.  But with all its lies, contradictions, hypocrisies, I would still prefer the openness of a USA to the secrecy  of China.  Of course, I don't broadly disagree with you in the sense that if it's gonna happen, it will happen indeed.  But I wouldn't welcome it unlike some of the more anti-US denizens of the third world waiting with bated breath for the collapse of the American empire.  Yes, of course, a Russian led world order may be even worse but perhaps we are already living in one. 
 

We all know about the Mosque shooting in Quebec that killed 6 and hurt 8 others. The shooter is in custody.

Despite some sources originally claiming it was 2 Moroccansturns out it was actually a French Canadian...One who's made statements supporting National Front and criticizing feminism, foreigners and Islam

That, is no questions about it, domestic right wing terrorism.

Current reports indicate he was normal and displayed no radical tendencies, until the rise of Le Pen, and he also was supportive of Trump. Beyond the memes, sh*tposts, trolling and silly debates about nonsense THIS is the danger...just like how a Muslim can become radicalized, so can a Christian, Jew, Buddhist or vaguely conservative white person. The anger being stirred up, violent rhetoric and "normalizing" of such dark things is having real impact.

Sad thing is, there is no god damn clash of civilizations....just extremists who seem to want there to be one, and actions like this fan the flames