XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.fascism   
   From: x@y.com   
      
   Americans are sheep, weak and stupid sheep.   
      
   There will be no more elections.   Your freedom and what you say will be   
   decided by your government.   
      
   I researched every attempt to stop fascism in history. The success rate is   
   0%.   
   Once they win elections, it's already too late.   
   Chris Armitage   
   Aug 13, 2025   
      
   In 1933, German conservatives thought they could control Hitler. Two years   
   later, they were being executed in their own homes. I spent weeks   
   researching this question, desperately looking for counter-examples, for   
   hope, for any time in history where people successfully stopped fascists   
   after they started winning elections.   
      
   Here's what I found: Once fascists win power democratically, they have   
   never been removed democratically. Not once. Ever.   
      
   I know that sounds impossible. I kept digging, thinking surely someone,   
   somewhere, stopped them. The actual record is so much worse than you think.   
      
   Let's start with Germany because everyone thinks they know this story.   
   Franz von Papen, the conservative politician who convinced President   
   Hindenburg to make Hitler Chancellor, said "We've hired him" in January   
   1933. He thought he was so clever. Within 18 months, the Nazis were   
   machine-gunning von Papen's allies in their homes during the Night of Long   
   Knives. Von Papen himself barely escaped to Austria with his life. Every   
   single conservative who thought they could "control" or "moderate" Hitler   
   was either dead, in exile, or groveling for survival by 1934.   
      
   Italy was even dumber, if that's possible. October 1922, Mussolini   
   announces he's marching on Rome with 30,000 blackshirts. Except here's the   
   thing: they were poorly armed, disorganized, and the Italian military could   
   have crushed them in about three hours. The King had his generals ready. He   
   had martial law papers drawn up. The military was waiting for the order.   
   Instead, he invited Mussolini to form a government. Just handed him power.   
   Twenty-three years later, partisans hung Mussolini's corpse upside down at   
   a gas station while crowds beat it with sticks. The king died in exile.   
   Hundreds of thousands of Italians died for that moment of cowardice.   
      
   Spain might be the worst because everyone saw it coming. Three years of   
   escalating fascist violence. Actual assassination attempts. Then in 1936,   
   Franco and his generals launch a straight-up military coup. The Spanish   
   Republic begged for help. France said "not our problem." Britain said "both   
   sides are bad." America declared neutrality. The result? Franco ruled for   
   39 years. He died peacefully in his bed in 1975. They're still finding mass   
   graves in Spain. Still. In 2025.   
      
   Want something more recent? Look at Hungary. Orbán won democratically in   
   2010. By 2011 he'd rewritten the constitution. By 2012 he controlled the   
   media. By 2013 he'd gutted the judiciary. It's 2025 and he's still in   
   power. The EU has been "very concerned" for fourteen fucking years. They've   
   written strongly worded letters. They've held meetings. Hungary is now a   
   one-party state in the middle of Europe and everyone just... accepts it.   
      
   Okay, but surely someone, somewhere, stopped them?   
      
   Finland 1932 is the only clean win I can find. The fascist Lapua Movement   
   tried an armed coup before they'd secured government power. The military   
   stayed loyal to democracy, crushed the rebellion, and banned the movement.   
   That's it. That's the success story. One time out of roughly fifty   
   attempts, fascists were stopped because they were stupid enough to try   
   violence before winning elections.   
      
   France in 1934 looked like a victory for about five minutes. Fascist   
   leagues tried to storm parliament on February 6th. Six days later, twelve   
   million workers went on general strike. Twelve million. The entire country   
   stopped. No trains, no factories, no shops, nothing. The fascists backed   
   down. Great victory, right? Except those exact same fascists   
   enthusiastically collaborated when the Nazis invaded six years later. They   
   just waited.   
      
   Portugal's fascist regime finally fell in 1974. After 48 years. How?   
   Military officers launched a coup. Democratic resistance had been crushed   
   for five decades. International pressure meant nothing. The dictator   
   Salazar died in 1970 and his successor just kept going until the military   
   said enough. That's your success story: wait half a century and hope the   
   military gets tired.   
      
   The pattern is so consistent it's almost funny if it weren't so terrifying.   
   Every single time it goes like this: Conservatives panic about socialism or   
   progressives or whatever. They ally with fascists as the "lesser evil."   
   Fascists take power. Fascists immediately purge the conservatives who   
   helped them. Then it's 30-50 years of dictatorship. This happened in   
   Germany, Italy, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Portugal, Croatia,   
   Romania, and Hungary.   
      
   Want to know how many times conservatives successfully "controlled" the   
   fascists they allied with? Zero. Want to know how many times fascists   
   purged the conservatives after taking power? All of them. Every single   
   time.   
      
   And here's the part that breaks your heart. Violence works. For them.   
   Fascists use violence while claiming to be victims. They create chaos that   
   "requires" their authoritarian solution. Then they purge anyone who opposes   
   them. Meanwhile, democrats keep insisting on following rules that fascists   
   completely ignore. They file lawsuits. They write editorials. They vote on   
   resolutions. And fascists just laugh and keep consolidating power.   
      
   The statistics are brutal. Fascist takeovers prevented after winning power   
   democratically: zero. Average length of fascist rule once established: 31   
   years. Fascist regimes removed by voting: zero. Fascist regimes removed by   
   asking nicely: zero. Most were removed by war or military coups, and tens   
   of millions died in the process.   
      
   I'm not allowed to make the obvious contemporary comparisons, but you're   
   already making them in your head. "We can control him" is being said right   
   now, in 2025, by people who apparently never cracked a history book.   
      
   Based on the historical record, there are exactly three ways this goes.   
   Option one: Stop them before they take power. Option two: War. Option   
   three: Wait for them to die of old age.   
      
   They tried anyway.   
      
   But here's the thing: we already missed our chance. The window isn't   
   closing; it's closed.   
      
   The Supreme Court declared Trump above the law. He's threatening to arrest   
   political opponents. He's already sent the FBI after elected officials when   
   they haven’t committed crimes. Congress is his. Most state governments are   
   his. Billionaire oligarchs openly coordinate with him. The window slammed   
   shut.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)