''The process is the punishment'' - This is the root argument on which authoritarianism founds itself. They've gotten you to the point where you believe that rules are shackles, meant to be broken by the popular will of the masses.

Except, that popular will (that you believe you represent) doesn't really exist, and never really did. The same goes for the problems Wilders pretends to want to solve. Wilders wants you to see migration as a crisis, a supernatural, external, evil force imposed on you. But it's not.

Migration and integration are a political problem within our control to solve. All we need is the polical will to invest instead of complain endlessly. Sadly, that political will can never exist as long as agitators like Wilders make a living off of hating on migrant populations.

It's a fundamental misunderstanding of our system to think that all we follow in our democracy is the popular will. The popular will is hard to measure, fickle, and does not allow for long-term planning. You assume that you know what ''the people'' want. That's not true. You know what ''some'' people want.

Actual rightoid brainrot crap take. PVV is a party of amateurs and grifters. They benefit more from being in the opposition than from being in power (which they just demonstrably suck at). Wilders saw the first signs of public sentiment turning against him, so he blew it up before you could see the full extent of the mess he was (already) making.

PVV was the biggest party. They formed a compliant coalition with a built-in scapegoat prime minister. They directly appointed the minister on migration themselves. I'm telling you, aside from literally getting a majority by themselves, what else can you possibly ask from an election result?

All the puzzle pieces were there. They just needed to do it constitutionally, and PVV couldn't meet that basic requirement. They failed utterly at this because PVV is a loyalty club without a single expert in sight. They literally don't have the expertise to write law and navigate the Dutch political system.

What Wilders promises people like you is incompatible with Dutch democracy. He knows that. So instead of playing the game with basic respect for the rules, he wants to flip the board. He will continue to erode democratic norms and values, and he will continue to push misinformation and half-truths on his increasingly radical voter base until he can get away with a real authoritarian power grab.

Wilders: ''Trust me bro, we just need to suspend the law and give me full political control until this crisis is over bro I swear bro I'll fix it so fast bro, I swear I'll surrender my absolute power over this country as soon as Mohammed is back in Syria I swear...'' - Rightoids like you will actually sit on your knees and guzzle it all up like good little authoritarian boys.

God I love prequel memes

tru

This is relatable though

Some points:

- Citation needed for your idea that voter base apathy is primarily a ''democratic'' tactic. Of course you want high turnout for your base and low turnout for the other guy's base, but in many countries with healthy liberal centre parties, my own included, it would be a massive political faux pas to even suggest that as a political goal.

- Assuming that all parties try to rally their base, there is essentially a ''voter arms race'' going on amongst political parties to increase turnout during election season. How, do you figure, does this lead to lower turnouts compared to autocratic or totalitarian regimes? Since we often don't get reliable polling and election data from autocratic regimes, I would say it's almost impossible to compare turnout rates at all.

- I am referring to the very specific geopolitical goals of Russia. I am very specifically referring to the shaping operations of their hybrid warfare strategies in the West.

- Authoritarianism as a political system can indeed do those things. I don't think it really stands in opposition to anything I said, though. If you feel it does, please let me know what it was meant to conflict with in my original statement.

- Fascism is most certainly also authoritarian. It can develop into totalitarianism, but that's not a prerequisite at all. Trump is not a totalitarian leader, but he definitely embraces elements of authoritarianism:

1) Has advocated for removing contraints in the legislature and opposing political parties that impede him.

2) Makes political appeals based on emotion that present his regime as a necessary evil to combat easily recognized social problems.

3) Has advocated for suppression of his enemies and minimal mobilization of voters (recently:"You won't need to vote anymore, we have all the votes'')

4) Favours the unitary executive theory, which gives him vague, shifting and ill-defined limits to his power.

- Fascism is populist. Consequently, it valorizes ''normalcy'' and mobilizes the everyman to fight ''the corrupt elite''. To ''fully engage'' with a fascist project is to primarily engage in identity politics. Policy is secondary to the much more important and, for the fascist base, reassuring idea that ''the normals'' are finally back in control. But that leaves large, very large sections of their populations repressed or sidelined.

The goal of Russian disinformation campaigns is precisely to create an apathetic voter base that is sufficiently confused by conflicting information to disengage from politics. This is the status quo in Russia. The average Russian knows they're being lied to all day and just takes it lying down because ''hey, that's politics for ya''. That attitude suits the dictators of the world just fine. The Russians are exporting their twisted logic to the whole world. The United States, which has mainly experienced fascism as an external threat to be fought in other parts of the world as opposed to an internal pressure at home, has never had to develop the necessary internal mechanisms by which to curb fascism. Cue Trump. Because you have never experienced fascism, you think that to call someone a fascist is to call them pure evil. Fascism is not pure evil. Fascism is common-sense rule, and a failure to recognize that the system is complicated for a reason. It is giving the reins to your crazy, racist uncle after he had too many beers as he screams ''give me two weeks and I'll fix this country''. But they never do.

damn didn't hear that