Andrew Hall Productions

The Fascist Playbook #3 - The language of dictators. Back in the 2016 election, Trump talked about using the U.S. military to secure the border against migrants. In the final months of this 2024 election campaign, Trump is now talking about using the military against "the enemy within". Turning the U.S. military against the domestic population, is what dictators do. Trump claims it is because the U.S,. is "occupied", that migrants have taken over places in Colorado and elsewhere. The strategy is to convince Americans that democracy is failing, that a strongman is needed to fix things, and that he can fix it. The American media obediently report these outrageous claims and the political class seems to be mute in response. The soul of America is in peril.

The Fascist Playbook - Go outrageously big with your lies. In the vice-presidential debate, JD Vance led off by claiming that President Trump had "saved" Obamacare while Trump was president. Nothing could be further from the truth. Trump tried literally dozens of times to end Obamacare, or gut its provisions for pre-existing conditions. When the COVID pandemic began, Trump ignored advice and avoided taking action and the result was that within one year the United States had a rate of deaths two and a half times higher than a roughly comparable country - Canada. Over half a million Americans needn't have died.

The situation is no different in Canada. The loss of local news is having a major impact on civic engagement and just plain awareness of what's going on.

How the Collapse of Local News Is Causing a ‘National Crisis’ The loss of local news coverage in much of the United States has frayed communities and left many Americans woefully uninformed, according to a new report.