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Colbert: Is It Okay to Say the 'D' Word About Trump Yet?

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ericblair12/03/2017 2:06:58 am PST

re: #114 Lupin

As early as 2002 or 2003, I recall very clearly posting on Billmon’s Whiskey Bar that in 15 or 20 years the US would look like a hybrid of Russia and Brazil. It’s actually taken less time than that. You’re already a full-blown democrature with all the features that characterize what used to be called third-world countries.

I’m an American overseas as well, and fairly knowledgeable about Russia at least. I have to disagree with this. US institutions are weakening and have been under constant assault for decades by the right, but there is no comparison. In Russia, the institutions are now just props for the oligarchy, and almost the entire press simply takes orders on what to publish from them. Mueller’s investigation would not be allowed to exist, or would simply be a whitewash; the VA elections would have simply been fixed with blatant ballot stuffing and outright lying about the results; and lawmakers who voted against ACA repeal would be arrested, hounded out of office, and/or exiled.

This is proving confusing to the Russian oligarchs, who expected Trump to rule as a dictator and give the Russian government what they wanted with little effort. Based on their previous thinking, they’ll interpret Mueller’s investigation and institutional resistance as an attempted coup by the national security apparatus (“Deep State!”). The idea that anyone takes laws and institutions seriously in America is pretty much incomprehensible to them.