Erik Prince has been many things in his 54 years on Earth: the wealthy heir to an auto supply company; a Navy SEAL; the founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater, which conducted a notorious 2007 massacre in the middle of Baghdad; the brother of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s secretary of education; a shadow adviser to Trump; and the plaintiff in a lawsuit against The Intercept.

Last November, Prince started a podcast called “Off LeashOpens in a new tab,” which in its promotional copy says he “brings a unique and invaluable perspective to today’s increasingly volatile world.” On an episode last Tuesday, his unique and invaluable perspective turned out to be that the U.S. should “put the imperial hat back on” and take over and directly run huge swaths of the globe.

read more: https://theintercept.com/2024/02/10/erik-prince-off-leash-imperialism-colonialism/

  • hydroptic
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    8 months ago

    Reich-winger having a normal one. I’m honestly glad I don’t have kids, the political climate of the near future isn’t looking too great; right-wing extremism is becoming the norm

    • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Has been the norm. We’re just acutely more aware of it. Had this ghoul said such things 25 to 30 years ago. No one would have blinked.

      • hydroptic
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        8 months ago

        Objectively not true, considering the skyrocketing popularity of extremist right-wing parties and movements in the past 5 – 10 years. Italy got a literal fucking neofascist government for chrissakes; if you think things have always been the same, you really haven’t been paying attention

        • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Objectively true. 2020 wasn’t even the first coup plot by Republicans and the wealthy. Fascism has been an unaddressed issue in the United States since at least the 1930s. Technically the actions of the United States over the last century play a significant part in why fascism is resurgent throughout Europe. The United States overthrew democratic governments in the middle east and south America. Replacing them with fascistic dictators throughout the mid 20th century. The fascists in the federalist society, senate, house, supreme court and the rest of the judiciary. Didn’t just pop into existence randomly.

          They all have roots that go back decades and decades. Long before Trump. Or any Bushes. Before Reagan or Nixon. This shit festered in the open. But at the time, most Americans were too content to care. Giving up hard won victories and rights all on specious fascist promises.

          Between the internet and things finally getting bad enough that people couldn’t ignore it anymore. People are finally starting to pay attention and realize what’s been happening all this time. But literally no things didn’t. All the sudden get so much worse. Trump was just the final turd that broke the camel’s back.