Thursday, April 11, 2019:   The Rise Of The Hate Mongers
The global rise of right wing nationalists with their bevy of autocratic leaders has put humankind on a path that will not end well. Sadly, there does not seem to be an appropriate level of global foreboding for this existential threat to democracy, freedom, and civil society. I fully well expect, that by the time people wake up to the danger these extremists pose, it will be too late.

Lead by the United States, their leaders have crawled out of the fringes of the political spectrum and are threatening western democracy. Wrapping themselves in their country's flags and referring to themselves as nationalist, they are trying to hide the fact that they are really fascists and tyrants. They have a common set of attributes. They are primarily white, male, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and most of all xenophobic. They promote and encourage hatred among their followers.

Right wing leaders behave like psychopaths. They are self-interested to the point of violence, possess a vibrant disregard for laws and social mores, have an indifference to the rights of others, and fail to feel remorse for any of their actions. They gain the trust of their supporters by appealing to the most basic human fears. They mimic emotions but really feel nothing. They are focused, calm, calculating, scrupulous — never more so than while plotting against their perceived enemy. There can be no reasoning with a psychopath; rational argument hasn't a remote chance of success. Once ensconced in their position of power, it is often only through violence that they are unseated.