i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
Because the thing is, this is real but also, it's not real. This image reflects the reality that Trump *wants* a total state in which he is the unquestioned leader, but we do not actually live in that state, at least not yet.
We do.
There's a sort of grim symmetry to the four years that Biden spent providing the illusion we still lived in a normal functioning democratic country, that if he just provided good government and adhered to norms the fever would break and people would vote for sanity and responsible choices.
Then sadly you would ignore the ugly underbelly of American history. Joe himself spoke about corn pop after George Floyd blatantly admitting he needed the votes of white men. The same men not giving a fuck about the health of women.
American white supremacy is literally eggshell white for how fragile it is. The silent rise of neonazism owes itself to the fact that after the southern strategy whiteness became universal.
Neonazis and Nordic pagans wanted a continued WASP hegemony only the foot soldiers were more often than not loud drunk boors who couldn't be entrusted with anything clandestine .
This is why some on the fringe turned toward kaczinsky and Orbán because both have redneck voter bases and both Poland and Hungary largely Lack gated communities so they meet their voters.
Project 2025 was like s godsend teaching the GOP how to reconnect in messaging with the soon to haves. This is why they go after Garcia. Also why their rage is selective.
They let the flag burning veteran go not because they suddenly went woke they let him go to keep up fash morale that the military is still a darling. Also why the full honors for Ashley babbitt.
There are likely hundreds of former east Germans who could probably tell you by heart their school was named after which martyr border guard and what the values of pioneers and the FDJ is.
And it should have worked. I wish to god it had.
The illusion was pretending that the political class should not be held accountable, that the voters will just intuitively know and respond appropriately with justice at the ballot box and ignore the massive psyops waged against us with our own money and data.
It was always just a stay of execution
He’s setting the stage, i.e. beginning the normalization process.
Just like the plastic “gold” stuff that has overtaken the Oval Office.
Plus this simulacrum which exists in the real world, recorded by a real person and camera, depicts a poster informed by the zero-soul quality of AI composition AND the poster literally reads ME FIRST which is not even the regular fascist message, which 'elevates' The People!!
But that is his way of world-building: Hyperstitions. It's all fake until it's not.
Cuz fuck that guy
Yes, and fascism is the aesthetic performance of politics without the democratic power implied in politics
Some of us do.
"The spectacle that falsifies reality is nevertheless a real product of that reality, while lived reality is materially invaded by the contemplation of the spectacle and ends up absorbing it and aligning itself with it."
For those who, like me, had to look up this quote, it’s from Guy Debord and can be found at paragraph 8 here (page 12 using the PDF pagination): files.libcom.org/files/The%20...
So....Baudrillard was right about everything? We should sell hats. I hadn't seen it this way, thanks for pointing this out. I took it literally and I think you are right to not do so.
This is a point on the curve between repeating the lie and believing the lie. And we’re heading the wrong way.
We're all situationists now
Makes me think of a quote I heard regarding military strategy, "half of all power is the projection of power."
Until the painted egg cartons fall off your poorly maintained tanks RR.uzzia nailed the posturing first three day phase of their military operation
"The simulacrum is never what hides the truth - it is the truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true."
Source: Guy Debord, “The Society of the Spectacle” www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obri...
Been a long time since I read that but I was just thinking, did Bouie just quote Debord?? Was about to go searching for that quote-thanks for saving me the trouble.
Put another way, it's as if someone made a real life version of AI-slop in an effort to align reality with the slop.
That’s exactly what it’s like.
The indulgence of incompetent power. You could be describing a cybertruck or a movie with a big mechanical spider...
Interesting to me the portrait of him with the word 'First' illustrates his obsession with winning. He does not, and cannot win in fact or policy. We all know the wins he has are cheats. Sad but comical his desperation, an attempt to ram down throats of all who see this the idea that he is a winner.
I do wonder if people watching the rise of prior authoritarian regimes said the same sort of thing. “Oh, they’re just trying to copy the glory of Rome. Kind of sad” they say as the Blackshirts goosestep through the town square on their way to beat up some labor organizers.
Only if you leave out how to stamp out concurrence Mussolini hunted the mob and in Albania hunted vendetta which is why so many went along with it.
Sure—Trump targets immigrants and minorities for the same reason.
When mussolini went after the mob, again for selfish reasons to stamp out concurrence, he actually went after hard criminals. It would be correct to point that was also bigotry against southern Italians.
This is why the mob in America changed. Where in the 1916-1919 mafia wars were framed by sicilian control over the American assets the subsequent second war during prohibition was marked by Italian Americans wresting control
This allowed for cooperation with the outlet under Meyer lanski, a cooperation unimaginable in Europe. Once RFK turned onto the mob the importance of Sicily grew again and lasted until the 1990s
If you pretend you have already won, the onus shifts to others to defy your narrative
I think this is going to be a trend, and not just in Trumpist politics. We won't be able to recognize quality anymore.
I've seen "cargo cult authoritarianism" referenced here a bunch of times and "plastering your leader's face on buildings" is a textbook example of it
Where’s the uproar from the “taking our jobs” crowd?
These guys all follow the same “authoritarian playbook.” Is there a book? How to they all manage to check the same boxes? Even down to the garish and filigreed decor?
Speaking of Hyperreal Simulacra... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewvR...
Many such cases of reality aligning with slop
Really so much to process here but yea... agree
If enough people believe this is true, then it functionally becomes true to them and people can act off of it. Even though, it's completely false.
It matches his decorations in the white house.
It's a cargo cult.
Donald’s dressing for the authoritarian state he wants to make his dreams a reality.
That describes every right-wing/conservative/fascist brain worm ever. Complain about problem, create said problem, "solve" said problem.
I think it works because of the nondescript cars in the photo, I always look to that for dating purposes (also helpful with AI) but the timing/framing in this shot is perfect in that sense
Mutilating my hands so the AI likes me more
Baudrillard would have a field day with this
Baudrillard's increasing relevance is not in any way unsettling, nope, not at all
He won, man. The intellectual of our time
fwiw, i think this every time i see gavin newsom’s face in a tiktok these days, too
imo AI slop sounds a lot like Azerbaijan's PR campaign too, except that they've payed actual marketing companies for it. There's been coverage at that other site, which I haven't been checking in to lately. Recent news, minus the revolving door on the WH press releases www.unilad.com/news/politic...
Right. It's called "propaganda".
The presence of National Guardsmen who mostly seem bored fits that nicely. The terrifying and the banal.
The troops standing around in front of huge portraits of Bashar al-Assad also looked bored when I saw them in Damascus.
Until they actually had to fight…
It's Vonnegut's "In the long run we are all what we pretend to be, so we must be very careful about what we pretend to be," only writ large and stupidly.
Factamundo
this from @lioneltrolling.bsky.social summed things up pretty succinctly www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-cracke...
I'm thirding the two earlier endorsements. Thanks for the link. "fascism, that overdose of a strong referential in a society that cannot terminate its mourning." Fuck, man.
Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting reading
I feel a bit smarter after reading that, thank you for sharing.
It's fascism via the way long-running media franchises eventually only reference themselves and no longer say anything
Guessed with the mention of *simulacrum* the spectacle quote was Beaudrillard, but looks like a contemporary of his, Guy Debord www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/1....
as @jessehawken.bsky.social pointed out yesterday, it's also extremely Alex Garland Civil War
It’s insane how much Garland is vindicated this year
For… calling that we were going down the authoritarian rabbit hole? Like that didn’t take any sort of genius. And the biggest sin that Civil War commits is that it fails to actually *say* anything about the country. Nothing about why we get there, nothing about what we could have done differently.
The “impartiality of journalism” is so thoroughly embedded in this movie that it forgets to say anything else, or justify why that is even good. How the fuck is he vindicated?
It's one of those movies that is more concerned with -feeling- like a movie with something to say than having something to say. Takes the trappings of modern events and better movies and pretends there is something behind it.
in a word: pretentious.
In the actual sense of the word, yes.
Why the fuck did he have the young next generation journalist shooting black and white 35mm instead of livestreaming on an iPhone. Fucking stupid boomer shit. The movie is supposed to be about journalism and he's like "kids love film"
i know he was trying for an aesthetic with the camera's viewfinder on screen, but at least the reporter guy should have been getting video while they were running around b/c it's not like he was writing stories. i mean weddings these days usually have a videographer and a photographer together
I love black and white film photography but Getty isn't going to buy her photos for publication. And I doubt she's a Magnum photographer yet. She's just out there doing it for funsies.
Civil War is a film about what happens when America treats America like it treats the rest of the world. I can assure you it’s all pretty obvious to anyone outside the borders.
I’d believe that if it ever bothered to distinguish between American soldiers, the civilian militias fighting with them, and the civilian militias fighting each other
You are so fucking close to getting it
If you think those are all the same thing you're a lot dumber than you think you could be
I know the point you’re trying to be witty about and it breaks down because it just wound up being Some Guys shooting at Some Guys and they all suck and that’s pretty fundamentally different from “These guys came in, rained death, deposed our government, and shot anyone who looked at them wrong.”
Yeah, it all is pretty stupid
I bet Trump just watched that movie and thought huh I should try that
Temu Muammar Gaddafi over here.
I love your analysis. Reading your content never fails to broaden my vocabulary!
Shorter Janelle: Fake it til you make it.
If I hadn't known it was real, I absolutely would have thought it was AI.
Life will imitate art
You stuck the landing. Well said.
a perfect summation of our present moment
So you're saying he's manifesting? One also wonders if he only sees things as real when they are in the media. It would explain a lot.
This is a brilliant analysis.
Nails it
This is why public acts of mockery, contempt, silliness, and other aesthetic counter-displays are a valuable form of political organizing right now Nothing busts this spectacle up like a bunch of weirdos dressed in funny clothes prancing around yelling "King Trump! King Trump!" and throwing glitter
That was the purpose behind the court jester in Renaissance times--to keep the king from getting too many big ideas of himself. King Trump would never allow such a thing in the WH.
My prayer for today: May the jesters gather outside the White House; may they put on silly costumes and dance; may they surround the White House with multicolored toilet paper
Luvin' it
This banner is up there alongside one of Teddy Roosevelt. Both say “workers first” which I don’t think is true for either man??
That kinda sounds like what meta, Google, and quite a few others are trying to do with their platforms and GenAI. Or maybe they’re just helping a whole larger project
Even Hitler was not so vain as to put his image on his banners.
this is not exactly mentioned in your bio -- but -- why should we pass it up ? it's either really really bad or really really good -- or bad bad good. maybe even good good bad. and i enjoy your posts. response not necessary, especially if you got sad from it ... here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N0K...
The reality show president doing what he does best, creating PR illusions that people are supposed to think are real to help transform reality, just like how The Apprentice gave him money and power well beyond what he had at the time and how they portrayed him.
🎯🎯🎯
I will never forgive Mark Burnett may every single Yiddish curse happen to him and his descendants for generations.
They’re actually saying what a fucking disgrace.
How do we know it’s tRump? I don’t see his poxxed hand
Yes, it's all a simulation but the intent is to win over, by conditioning, the weaker minded amongst the occupiers. Slowly they turn, inch by inch, step by step...
And sometimes not all that slowly!
Yup. The speed at which they're moving is oftputting. I just had to get in that line from the Niagra skit.
Niagara. Just to be particular.
He hired nothing but media creatures like himself. Even if this is Hesgreth staging a Fox News shoot, he’s only there because Trump is there weaving the reality show around himself like he always does while everyone else rushes to execute their most racist, sexist, pro-slavery policy of their dreams
Agreed!
With the prompts inspired by reality television. Lots of reflection on the reality TV aesthetics of Trumpism, but the artificial power dynamics of voting off, firing, etc play a key role too
📌
Prop Joe’s “look the part, be the part” (derogatory).
From 1945-1991, US kids learned ‘country with President face banners, soldiers on street=BAD!!’ I was one of them. It was visceral, not intellectual. As soon as Wall St could invest in Russia and China, that ended. Old Republicans aren’t hypocrites. They prioritize private wealth over democracy.
I have been thinking about Debord nonstop for the last couple of years. Its very hard to read parts of Society of the Spectacle and not just go "Oh this is straightforwardly correct."
Been thinking a lot about Debord lately. This has been on my reading list www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv...
In cheaply mimicking a past that didn’t exist, with its fake antique farm implements and frozen-to-table home cooked meals, Cracker Barrel has managed to become an actual facet of American dining culture.
Or, per Terry Pratchett, "things that look like things often look more like things than things."
Fake it til you
meta
IOW: Trying to craft a self-fulfilling prophecy, and being mad when the little folk aren't cooperating even after the bigger folk have given in under the air of inevitability.
With respect for what Guy Debord wrote about spectacle, Roland Barthes' "The World of Wrestling" is the OG primer (in post-WW2 French discourse)
One of my best undergrad classes involved reading _Mythologies_ alongside Livy and we got into things like the semiotics of Tom Cruise's hair (c. 1999). Bless the Common Core.
My teacher for that: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._R._J...
web.mit.edu/21l.432/www/...
Completely appropriate Debord citation, possibly a first. Respect.
I’ve been thinking about Baudrillard a lot—also associated with the situationists—and his “precession of simulacra,” Trump and hyperreality.
Not yet, but we’re heading there quickly. The really sad thing about this is how many “Americans” think this is just fine.
Jamelle, it’s a fake it till you make it thing. Always the case the Cheetolini.
can someone tell the ruling class that or
He saw the apple ad and was weirdly jealous
We do live in that state
Kinda like the fake 'boardroom' on The Apprentice. It's all fake.
This is so American too. Not the good part, obviously. It reminds me of an Umberto Eco essay on American obsession with authentic replicas of European things.
We appear to be getting there rather quickly
If we sit on our hands we will be soon. Gotta get yourself and your friends to vote out the incumbents come midterm!
Yeah, this is how reality TV works, so it makes sense that he thinks this is how real life works.
Oh yes we do. Why don’t you ask the people who are being abducted off the streets since Trump took office whether or not Olympus has fallen yet? If it’s fallen them then it has fallen for all of us. As above, so below.
An authoritarian vision board, if you will
It seems like other authoritarian states used aesthetics to create facts on the ground -- Mussolini's imagery and parades of blackshirts masked a fairly normal police environment in Rome, and " Birth of a Nation" projected order and power that didn't exist. I'm wondering how different we are.
It’s low rent Mussolini, right down to copying the catchphrase “right about everything”
Trying to will it into reality. But a lot of institutions are helping.
Actually, you kind of do. Gestapo are on your streets, snatching and disappearing people. Cities - the nation's Capitol- under martial law with tanks roaming everywhere.
I literally irk when people bring up Stasi or the gestapo because it's an extraordinary claim. Both terrorized the WHOLE population. Until you will continue not seeing White people hanging from a noose for critiquing the regime, then no, it's not Gestapo .
You sound like a fool. You are in denial. I could care less if you're irked by someone calling it out for what it is. Your denial is meaningless. Better if you face reality. Because denial won't make reality go away. But denial will certainly make it worse.
You are in denial, because lacking the political science and social History, you go by vibes. Americans need to accept that like the sky is blue the gestapo and Stasi were a threat to everyone, not just select groups
But we do. No "Republican" party member stands up to the Pedophile or goes against what he wants. Yeah, this looks like a wrinkled imitation, but it's only a matter of time before the shooting starts.
Sort of like the sprayed gold Home Depot decals
Ok but it’s really up there. I think Americans still want to believe we’re special as a form of denial. As if attempts at total control aren’t always a silly spectacle with overblown expectations that continue on too long. The big portraits are always that absurd.
"Yet" is the terrifying word in that sentence. Trump actually said the other day, "I can do whatever I want, as the president." He really does think he's living in that reality.
He’s crafting his own reality and relying on people to accept it as a fait accompli. He’s already fabricating titles, how long before he starts wearing the unearned self-awarded “Idi Amin” medals…
Professional Wrestling as politics. Kayfabe authoritarianism!
Utterly gross
The seams always show with Trump.
Is there any private building in DC that would be willing to hang up a portrait mocking Trumps portrait?
A strong laser might be able to set that banner on fire from a distance. 😁
Nothing says "American Workers First" like a giant portrait of an oppressor who's never done an honest day's work in his life.
Thank you for that brilliant framing. Yes!
I find this image nauseating and frightening
It’s like a talented high schooler’s diorama for an authoritarianism project.
If the people of this nation aren’t completely terrified by what the tRump regime is doing, there is no hope.
Cheap knockoffs are a Trump admin specialty
Big Shitter is watching you
Burn that banner! ... I'll leave the flag alone. It didn't cause all the problems in the U.S. today.
There's no more of the "slow boiling of the frog". We are in full boil and we still don't recognize it.
This picture is as American as baseball and apple pie, and the fact that Americans immediately go "wow, this is just like in those evil countries we want to go to war against" is no small part of the reason of how we got where we are.
Totally agree. I don’t know if you watched the recent LOOONG elephant graveyard video on the RoganSphere but it made this same point. It’s interesting for sure
Donald Trump Lansing Rally Video Prompts '1984' Comparisons - Newsweek share.google/O1IqzSY9zC9c...
It may be the look he is going for...
It DEFINITELY was. I thought so at the time and now he's proving it repeatedly.
Third Reich Vibe.
And this is the type of thing we clowned n korea for doing because their authoritarian govt was ridiculous
OK. I admit it. I'm old. But I keep getting the feeling I've seen this before.
Trump wishes 50 years after his death that he would have an image of him up in some important place in DC Hell no
So much focus on fascism; we forget that a lot of this is from the communism playbook
Both are authoritarian (Ftr, I believe there’s a huge difference between the socialism of Lenin and the socialism of Trotsky), so that checks out.
Seen? Yes,? Ignoring key Details as to why both are crucially different? Also yes.
At least Mao wasn't selling out his country to one of its biggest adversaries. No one ever doubted his commitment to the fierce defense of China on the world stage against foreign threats.
Google 400 flowers campaign
Not a single speck of dirt. Trump must love this picture.
This looks classier than DJT's remake of the White House.
Soon enough his followers will start hanging him up in their living rooms (likely next to Aryan Jesus)
Exactly!
Nicolae Ceaușescu comes to mind.
I guess we now have our capital in either Russia or North Korea.
First, he hasn’t look like that in over 20 years. Second, for him to throw his face everywhere is not strength, it’s weak. I know his minders are keeping ego toddler entertained but they aren’t helping him. They are just tired of cleaning ketchup off the walls.
These Doe174 "Ignorance is strength...." BANNERS are inspirational.
'Heil Hitler' was shorthand for 'Hilter was right about everything'
Knowing these people, they're picking this shit up from movies and TV shows they've seen it in. It's that kind of visual shorthand
OMG. He’s the ugliest and most repulsive visage, straight out of Orwell! Imagine pro-Union President Biden conceiving of such wastes of taxpayer money… and ordering that his face be displayed prominently on buildings in our nation’s capital… but you can’t, because he would NEVER have pulled such bs!
Malignant narcissist stuff. The large banner shows the WH traitor felon conman sexual predator who must RELEASE the Epstein Files! 😡 The absurd theater of incompetence and waste continues with daily outrages.
I dunno, they look like they are taking a piss together. Hope we don’t wind up like Russia.
Pathetic, but then spectacle seems to be what The People® want.
Burn It to the Ground
Shart imitates life, life becomes shart 💀
This seems like an attempt by the admin to impress other authoritarian states.
Fake it till you make it
Really wish Baudrillard’s hyperreality was not such a useful lens these days.
It's like we've slipped into some Man in the High Castle type alternate universe
There you go again sending me off to the dictionary: simulacra.
I feel smarter after this!
Great analysis. Also, "simulacra" .. has someone been watching The Elephant Graveyard??
His picture hanging on the building screaming “ I’m a big boy” 😂😂😂
It’s another instance of the thing.
This is absolutely disgusting. Trump and his MAGAts and Project 25 and spineless Republicans along with the 6 king makers on the Supreme Court all need to go. We want our country back!
as always in everything, he aspires to be a cheap knock-off dictator too
How much do those cost??????? All I ever see now is fraud, waste, & abuse.
The troops cost over $1,000,000/day.
I saw that, but my question was more facetious & meant more for the additional signage… just implying general misuse of funds on the whole… not really looking for an actual number.
TEAR IT DOWN!
Has any other president demanded that large photographs of themselves be hung up anywhere? How does maga not see authoritarianism is on the rise?
They do see it. This is what they want.
yep
We should all be dressed in mourning. And maybe, be armed.
I don't recognize my country 😔
Why are these guys standing around when there is litter that needs picking
The banners are a hallmark of tin pot dictators. Cuba has similar banners depicting the Fudel and Raoul Castro on every government building in Havana.
Lucky for us, he's so dumb and a megalomaniac - failure is soon on its way.
🤞🤞
we have slipped way beyond that slippery slope...
You would think the US Military would take offense to being used as oppressors of US citizens instead of protectors of our Constitution
😖😢🤬
Just like downtown Pyongyang...
Absolutely. You arrive in the US, you surrender your sim for inspection, get a trump network sim that doesn't allow you international communication, you can't talk to any American and if you go to the toilet a steward will go with you to supervise you.
In 1995 the WWE had an event in Pyongyang to celebrate the memory of a sumo and pro wrestler of Korean origin, a man both Korea's are proud of. The American stable was already nervous.
One wrestler got permission to call his wife back home and while she knew he went to Korea she assumed it was south Korea and she just couldn't reach him because he was whoring around.
Aggravated by this the wrestler told his wife that he was in fact in north Korea which his wife didn't believe. Now... He did something very stupid he was told not to do. Wrestlers were coached not to talk about the DPRK to outsiders.
Upon being accused of fucking around he blasted in his wife where he was and how much of a shit hole Pyongyang is. Remember the 7 seconds delay in broadcasting? Yeah north Korea don't play like that.
His call was live monitored with interpreters and the guy couldn't even finish his drunken ranting, the security police burst into the room restraining him and ending the call.
It was Dave Nortion and WCW
It was WCW
GROOOOOSSS
Creepy #EpsteinFiles #SensibleGunLaws @momsrising.org
I'm betting on his accelerated mental decline to save our nation. Then, we will hold the RepubliKKKlan traitors' feet to the fire & take back our country. Reinstate law & order. Faith in our elections & respect for our fellow Americans. #VoteBlueToSaveDemocracy #VoteBlueToProtectYourRights
There is an entire cabinet, Senate, House, and SCROTUS, and multiple red state governors in place. Trump is simply the puppet they used to get this set up. If Trump were gone TODAY, nothing would change except the figurehead. Elections would still be rigged or canceled. It's MUCH worse than Trump.
I respectfully disagree. This country is bursting at the seams so much so that even #MAGA world, IMO, is fed up with the #GQPFascists corruption in D.C. #NoRacismNoKKKNoFascistUSA
I fervently hope so!
fasci-nating
I hope he dies soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll still have a lot of authoritarian shit to fight. But 🍊🐷 dropping dead would make all the be-shame-ment on his behalf a wasted effort.
Paintball target
TDE
Just heard that Trump is bullying Budweiser to let him use the Clydesdales to pull his new gold plated carriage he is having built, just like Britain's royalty!
I'm pretty sure that's a joke, but it's a tragic commentary on our times that I can't be sure and am in no way willing to bet on it.
So small of him! Wow we're into North Korea dear leader kind of shit! So sick of this narcissistic ass hole!
I remember those from Asad's Syria.
It’s like the robot chicken version of fascism
A literal example? What on earth are you trying to say?
I wonder how much that’s costing us, DOGE???
A lot.
My God it’s like North Korea
This photo brings back memories of Kent State.
Why? They had the balls to protest and Nixon didn't have giant photos of his head everywhere
Mao Se Trump
Oh, hey, look! It's a picture of the Temu dictator!
Did we take a wrong turn to Korea
Feels very Reichstag…
🎯
Some people don't realize the film Starship Troopers is satire against fascism. You can tell them and it doesn't matter. I've heard MAGA listening to Killing in the Name Of by Rage Against the Machine, they know all the words and found "their own" meanings. What fools believe, they see.
Second time as farce...
Something about “while you study the decisions of the past we make the decisions that decide the future”.
Yeah, here's the real thing: Meta had a fit when I reproduced the third image to make a point about Trump.
Nauseating.
In the 80s, we had dystopian comics depicting scenes like this. And it had shock value. Like - we could see it being possible. But how strange is this scene, right? (Pity our history classes failed to teach us about US fascism in the 30s - we might have been better prepared for now.)
This was up yesterday but gone in the hour before I walked by again
And yet, he's totally forgettable.
This is a post-watching Elephant Graveyard post isn’t it? These simulacra, man. They got me thankin’
Soon we’ll all be required to post a photo of Dump in our homes to admire each day.
Exactly like you picture Russia or North Korea.
It’s the modern version of Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.
If you put it on the cover of a dystopian novel, your editor would tell you it's too ridiculous
"The Third Reich" 🎯
"The Turd Reich."
Everything is tired and lazy these days, including fascist iconography. 21st century fash just recycle 1930s Germany and expect us to take it seriously. Bitch, please.
He can’t even dictator correctly
Ease up. Not only is Trump a PSYCHOPATH, but people are plotting against him, which he remembers clearly when the dementia lets up. Plus, he never can remove the stain of faking a physical injury so he wouldn't have to perform military service during a war.
When is the 30 day deadline when they have to leave? This image is iconic Here’s another from 2020 when these vile statues were removed from Richmond VA
fucking joke. our country has become the “hellhole” and “shithole” he claimed others are.
Picking up garbage
Sick
I remember saying, "a good way to know if a country is a shithole is if you see giant photos of its leader up." Welcome to The Shithole States Of America.
It’s like a shit Netflix show about a fascist state from 2011
“The Man in the High Castle” meets “Idiocracy.” I’d watch it, but living it kinda sucks.
Thank you thank you for perfectly contextualizing this. Exactly this. Ouch ouch ouch.
Not good.
Fawlty Governance
Fawlty (Trump) Towers
Basil would kick his ass, so would Manuel. Sybil would grind him to dust
We might not be able to burn the American flag any more but that Trump portrait….
You can burn the flag, always.
The first time I saw it I thought what a shame it would be if someone with access to an agricultural sprayer doused it with liquid manure.
Just paintball red splats.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS ARE NOT LAW. Your right to burn the American flag is protected unless and until the 1st Amendment is repealed. Do not capitulate in advance.
Precisely. The vet who burned the flag got arrested for where he did it-not for burning the flag.
😂😂
We are watching your reality show. Trump's TV ratings are high because he's 🔥 mentally ill, but his approval ratings are only high among other fascist dictators. Sincerely, The Rest of the World
More like The Man in the High Port-a-Potty.
You should have it earlier then. Someone was trying to warn us
It’s like they read every bad political thriller novel and took the bad guys as inspiration. I’m not entirely convinced I’m not asleep/dead and in some Tom-Clancy-novel-induced hallucination or dream.
I wish.
oh my yes, and people are eager to be terrified of it like they would be of a tv show
I remember a quote from Trump in 2017 that he sees every day as a new episode in the White House reality show. Hence all the staged dramatic firings etc. It explains a lot.
"Sir, we can only afford six extras for the crowd scene"
Just like his obsession with covering the inside of every room with gold so that when he's photographed in those rooms it aesthetically signals the excessive wealth that he requires us to believe affirms his permanent "winner" status.
just lazy fascist fucks using templates
Or, our fascist government has wildly incompetent staffers. This display has all the shock and awe of the pitiful birthday “parade”.
It's also a graphic depiction of the massive waste of taxpayer dollars on a bogus law enforcement mission for which our military is neither trained nor intended.
Can’t believe it hasn’t been paint balled
Temu Tito
Isn't that his Mugshot from Georgia? Truly exhausted from asking myself, "HOW - Did we get here? Is this even happening?" But we are here - full throated fascism, with a dictator.
It is his mugshot. He thinks it makes him look strong and fierce. I think it makes him look constipated or in pain from bone spurs.
Possibly chafing from a stinking, dirty diaper.
Good call!
I see this and I think: how are we all still going (or trying to go) about our lives as if things are normal. When it is so glaringly obvious that things are NOT normal. I think this every time I get on the train to commute to work and people watch. 🤯
The unoriginality of Trump's authoritarian aesthetic is really the most annoying part.
They're all the same, really. Big giant fuckoff self portraits everywhere; gold everywhere; grandiose architecture, yadda. Saddam Hussein, Michael Jackson. Meh.
I don’t think he has an imagination. One of the reasons he’s so consistently miserable.
Disagree. He spends a lot of time imagining firm young 14 yr old breasts in his hands.
🤢 Unfortunately he didn’t have to imagine, it seems. 🤮
Nope but that's all he can do now.
It’s interesting how big Trump and FIRST are, and way less important and tiny, “American Workers.” As if Trump had anything to do with American workers other than making things harder for them and making money off their backs.
Real North Korea vibe.
Hyperstition. Nick Land knows what they are doing. He envisioned it and wants it to succeed
Remember when conservatives lost their ever fucking minds because Obama had some faux columns at his convention? And reporters openly called him conceited for 8yrs?
Scary! We must organize and fight back
They’ve already made their choice.
We are the Néw Russia?
Isn’t that a good description of fascism?
history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce
We have sunk lower than low.
At least flags are easier to burn than statues!
No surprise here. Next, he and Sec. of Education, Linda McMahon will have school kids reading The Art of the Deal. 🤦
Herr Trump.
Same energy as when Michael and GOB enlist the hot cops to teach George Michael a lesson about drugs.
It’s a good thing it’s still legal to burn flags in the United States
Slop brutalism.
It looks like 'welcome to North Korea'....
That describes his pitiful birthday parade too.
It’s a travesty
Authoritarians really do look to other authoritarians for inspiration
Trump Holy Bathwater coming soon to a Pay for Pray Shrine/Kiosk near you!
Reminds me of the movie "V for Vendetta".
When did North Korea start hanging pictures of that orange dictator?
Shame on those in the army who are perpetuating this disaster. They didnt swear an oath to him.
A good actually have.
A good number actually have.
💯 agree
Dear leader banners included??
Trying to brute force a totalitarian state into being through pure aesthetic LARP and performance. Like if they hit certain aesthetic check marks in the game they win the round
I know all stick no carrot gets thrown around a lot, but it’s like they think a totalitarian state can survive on terror alone when more people hate you with a barely concealed rage every week.
They're aping the aesthetics of movie villains and none of them have ever seen one of those "why [villainous regime] was too dumb to live" videos on YouTube.
yes but when combined with the 2020 election cycle and its culmination on J6 with continuing efforts to undermine faith in elections and the willingness of a large chunk of the country to suspend disbelief it comes from Trump.... the idea of free and fair future elections seems in doubt
Literally what his military parade was.
*cue the squeaky tank*
and even those aesthetics are fucking tacky. like yes you can certainly argue fascism/totalitarianism is always kitsch, but put it this way: not exactly Triumph of the Will going on here
It’s similar to how they see their grip on power: as long as they have Washington DC they’ll still be president. Like a game of capture the flag. If you keep the castle you’re still the king
That’s precisely how Mussolini did it. You’ve caught Mussolini mid-rise-to-evil and everyone’s like “hahaha that guy isn’t there yet lol nothing to worry about.” Nah y’all we already saw Joe Biden pull that shit for four years. No thanks. Look where *that* got us!
You LARP long enough as something and the LARP becomes real
The "fake it 'till you make it" strategy has been successful for him so far in both business and politics, even when it seemed absurd. Why not try it with this too? Just turn DC into the world's largest vision-board for the aspirations of a hope-to-be-dictator.
📌
It makes me sick to my stomach.
What chills me here is how aesthetics become function. Authoritarianism doesn’t just seize power—it stages it. When the U.S. president copies the look of despots, the performance itself nudges us closer to their reality. Simulacrum as prophecy.
🎯🎯
We are trapped in the trump Reality TV show for 10 effing years and counting.
Way too long!!!
Thanks for following me I really appreciate it, how are you doing
You're saying this image is a simulacrum of authoritarianism, a copy without an original, and yet it's still trying to convince us that it's the real deal. That's some Jean Baudrillard-level stuff right there.
Saw the same shit photo celebrations in Moscow in 1972.
Looks like N Korea.
Like in a movie, if you may, fitting for a country where Hollywood is located.
Fake it till you make it (but for fascism).
didnt hitler also do that? this man is a maggot
😂 … I had to go to the dictionary on this one … good call
"fake it til ya make it." Stephen Miller, probably.
dress for the job you want, etc
That would explain the light tan suits. People should greet him, “Yo, SA!”
Every journey begins with a single goose-step.
"simulate it until you simulacreate it." with apologies to Baudrillard
All I can think about is Max Weber when I see that pic.
YES! WOW.Just wow.
Photo of the year.
ALL FASCISTS do that shit. #FascistTrump #DictatorDopey
🤮🤮🤮
temu fascism
The Nazi Republic of America.
A celebration of criminality, cruelty, and stupidity.
further proof that everything the conservative right does is derivative. they're incapable of being original; their every position and move is copycat. they truly lack the right brain creativity to generate anything original, so they try to outdo the normals with their sad replicas. so inauthentic.
Originality = crime in the MAGA mind.
The Orange Fuck is a dictator if this is allowed. There are no two ways around it.
I'm so glad I don't live in the DMV anymore it would break my heart
Cargo cult mentality. If the symbols are there reality will follow.
The posters are very "Stalinesque".
Trump is a wannabee banana-republic dictator. I don't think this plays right in the USA, and it will not end well for him. How much trouble there will be before it ends is another question.
I'm glad you brought up that last part cause I hate when ground is ceeded before they've taken it. He's never been more hated and unpopular with a mid terms that will lock Republicans out of power but he wants to live in a fiction where he's already Mussolini. He's such a loser.
I fervently hope that "forever" comes right after "out of power."
Have you seen the Oval Office lately? It's decorated in Versailles Courtesan. The Tangerine Vulgarian has zero aesthetic sense
It looks like he peed all over everything
18 holes in one bullshit
Hitler Mussolini Stalin Mao Trump
100s of massive gold statues next. But that will give the allies fighting for the freedom of the United States plenty of statues to pull down live on Fix TV 👍 www.theguardian.com/world/2021/j...
Trump and Sadsam Hussain have a lot in common: Gold palaces ✅️ WMDs ✅️ Supports terrorism ✅️ Secret police snatching people off the street ✅️ Friend of Russia ✅️
Simulacrum. A simulacrum, many simulacra.
it's such a half-assed attempt at authoritarianism aesthetics. while the their desire to even try is troubling, i'm encouraged by just how bad they are at everything.
Cargo cult authoritarianism.
Interested to know what production groups had a hand in the manufacture and installation of these banners so that other companies, event producers and other concerned entities could be sure to take their business elsewhere. Economic benefit from authoritarianism=collusion
The USDA’s banners were printed by Timsco Graphics, a Temple Hills, Maryland-based company, for about $16K per the link below.
Very similar imagery to V for Vendetta and Nazi Germany - fasco-chic.
it's just fascist bullsh*t
Republicans overwhelming approve of this. They love it. It's the realization of their deepest desires. As long as their feet are in the jackboot, liberty is a crime.
Wow! Are we in North Korea now?
Only if we allow them to take over.😢 I believe we have a slight chance to stop this if we can get non-voters to realize this will destroy America as we know it their lives will forever be altered if they don't get involved.
Hopefully we can do that, at least for the folks who didn’t vote. I’ve been discouraged reading things MAGA folks write. I don’t know if their minds can be changed.
I was a non-voter until Bernie Sanders changed my mind. I hope he can do the same for others.
Big Don is Watching
add alt ?
Palazzo Braschi - Wikipedia The Mussolini façade, 1934. The "SI" (Italian for "yes") refers to the 1934 Italian general election, which was a simple yes-no vote on the Fascist Party list. [not "Stupid Idiot" ?? Dang.] On his death in 1816 the palace remained unfinished and the family funds depleted.
![modest, eh - in the early days. [ https://factrepublic.com/history-pics/20/ ] STUPIDO ! IDIOTE ! (sic) SIcSIcSIc ... very very sic.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4znapnqata55zjj4wldujfcn/bafkreigxsk54tinuopphnx2qaa3owhy3zsf4c56xu7kwvvh53g6ea6hjjm@jpeg)
never knew, never saw, just 'the bridge' ... so again, thanks.
and dis is how i "remember" 🌻
you are very kind. thanks !
No worries. Thank you for the reminder.
An in your face reminder of evil and it’s image..
Yet completely unoriginal and derivative. The propaganda art of this regime is below subpar. Second hand even.
Vanity of vanities that a President drape his picture from a government building. It is all about him.
Like N. Korea
Quite by accident, I’m sure, the flag is upside down. The stars should be on the top left corner. Very appropriate for this regime and time.
What a twat!
Trump wannabe like North Korea Trump has no original ideas of his own That’s why he envies Obama and every human being smarter than him EVERYBODY on planet EARTH is SMARTER than Trump
Sad and pitiful what we have become, all because someone's Daddy did not love him enough.
In true dictatorship fashion,the orange idiot has nothing to give except for contempt😤
Hideously ugly man.
It’s incredibly sad that the military is just going along with all this. Disgraceful.
Kind of like if your #fascist movement didn’t attract a single, actual #artist, and so you had to wholly outsource your iconography and fascist symbol-manufacturing to, like, #AI and interns 🤣 One really feels what #Goebbels brought to #Nazism #lol 🤦♀️ You get what you pay for 🤔 Image related
