You've been looking in the wrong direction, the dangers are coming from the right.

Just a laughable non rebuttal.

The point was, Brexit originated 'on the right.' Denying such is silly. Sure, Cameron wimped out and called a referendum, but it originated (the threat) on the right. Part and parcel of 'threats from the right.'

They've threated to starve their neighbours (remember Priti Patel?) And as been brought up by Jack at least, it's not 'far right' it's 'on the right.'

Also, remind me, who brought the warships to bear over the fishing disputes during the early days of Brexit? Wasn't that the UK?

So, yeah, the right are attacking, fortunately no shots fired. And for jollies, the ultimate in 'far right', the Unionists in NI, have been burning buses and threatening customs locations.

So again, how is this not originating on the right and a threat?

But... why was any blockaded needed? Because Brexit. And where did Brexit come from? Far right types (UKIP, ERG, etc.) Remember the starve thing was pointed at us the Irish (so, a threat, due to Brexit, which we agree originated on the far right.)

So, you acknowledge Brexit originated on the right, in my opinion the far right UKIP types, am I correct?

And Brexit's a threat to Ireland. Not just to the EU, of which we are a part too.

The religious freedom which TFG supporters are interested in, is their religious freedom, not anyone else’s, and anything which threatens that is perceived by them as a threat to their way of life. They aren’t any different in wanting to expand their way of living as the way everyone should live their lives, in the same sense as people who are opposed to their way of life wish to impose their standards on people who undoubtedly do not share their world view. That’s why it’s understandable you’d see their efforts as a threat from your perspective, in the same way as they see your efforts as a threat from their perspective.

I don’t mind admitting I’m biased in that I’d be more inclined towards the former than the latter, and the reason I brought Hillary up is because when @nullzero made the point that the thread didn’t amount to much more than the usual blame games, TMH instead of addressing the point immediately went on the attack suggesting that it was like Republicans asking Biden to meet them half way after they spent four years cheering on Trump for shìtting everyone and everything. I could think of a better example of someone shìtting on everyone who didn’t share their views, and that’s where Hillary came from. You’d expect it from Trump, nobody expected it from Hillary, and even Trumps most ardent critics, and her strongest supporters pointed out that the mask hadn’t just slipped, it had come right off - people had seen her true colours, and they didn’t appreciate what they had witnessed.

The argument being put forward in the opening post points to all the things which TMH feels we should all be concerned about, but we’re all being distracted from the major issues by minor issues which are blown out of all proportion - hence the idea that we’re looking in the wrong direction, because we’re not focusing on all the bad things the right are doing which have led to the issues TMH feels we should all be concerned about. I don’t think the opening post was intended to be limited to US democracy, on an Irish message board, as though the Irish people have adopted US politics? Surely not 😁

It’s one of the problems with the opening post though is that it is written from a fairly US-centric perspective, whereas I don’t live in the US, and the idea that either the right or the left are any great threat in this country is pretty much an online phenomenon influenced by US-centric ideas. In reality, most Irish people appear to be quite satisfied with the life they lead and don’t appear to be concerned about any omnipresent threats to their way of life -

Despite the war in Ukraine and its economic impacts on Ireland, Irish people emerged as the most content of all EU citizens in the 27 member states together with Danes.

The survey showed 97pc said they were happy with the life they lead, compared to the EU average of 85pc. 

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/satisfaction-levels-among-irish-people-over-governments-response-to-ukraine-invasion-among-highest-in-eu-41980142.html

What I’d suggest we actually know is that while there will always exist grifters and wind-up merchants who will take advantage of an opportunity to engender existential threats and anxieties among any given population, their tactics will work on some people, but they won’t work on most people, and that’s why I question the legitimacy of TMH’s claims, knowing that they are of a leftist liberal persuasion whereas I am not, and whether they are willing to accept that people who don’t share their political views aren’t going to see things the same way as they do.

I don’t have to pretend there is any danger coming from the left as a counterpoint to claims that there is any danger coming from the right, but I suppose for edification purposes, it would be things like taking inclusive language to it’s extreme, referring to women as ‘birthing persons’ for example (I mean, if the complaint is that women are regarded as mere birthing vessels, referring to women as ‘birthing persons’ isn’t much better 😂). It’s not a credible threat to society as far as I’m concerned, but for other people? Well… y’know, it’s a matter of perspective -

Really? When EEC became the EU, Brexit started? That seems pretty naieve. And, even then, where did the sentiment originate?

By the time the referendum occurred, the threat was really there. The media had been coopted on the right, the Tories were in thrall to the UKIPpers (another group not afraid of using violence). I agree, Labour should've been more definitely against it - but that doesn't have any bearing on it, by the time Labour could propose another referendum, it had passed.

Vox (notable left leaning source) made the distinction in 2017 that Trump is not a fascist...

How this is still up for debate is mind boggling.

Trump is an a$$hole without a doubt, but he's no fascist.

Oh and Sheri Berman has much, much more recent writing on the topic: