Can you guess who this man is?
“[He] treats all politics as warfare. . . . Such a manner of thinking made him constitutionally incapable of compromise, except for tactical purposes. Once [he] and his followers came to power, this attitude automatically permeated their regime. [He] was also unable to tolerate dissent. Given that he viewed any group or individual who was not a member of his party as ipso facto an enemy, and hence a threat, it followed that such a person had to be silenced or suppressed. [He] was quite incapable of tolerating criticism; he simply did not hear it. He belonged to that category of men of whom the French writer a century earlier had said that they knew everything except what one tells them. One either agreed with him or fought him. Here lay the seeds of the whole totalitarian mentality.
“[His] absolute conviction of being in the right and his absence of moral qualms attracted [those] who yearned for certainty in an uncertain world. . . . .[He] had a streak of cruelty. . . . One either agreed with him or fought him; and disagreement always aroused in [him] destructive passions.”
If you guessed Vladimir Lenin who was largely responsible for an estimated 28,000 executions per month during the Red Terror in 1917-1922, you were right. If you guessed someone else closer to home you were mistaken, though your mistake is understandable!
(This passage was found in Richard Pipes’ A Concise History of the Russian Revolution.)
hughcurtler 
The first sentence or two, I thought “Trump”, but then I thought … “Nah, that’s too obvious”, and as I read on, I began thinking Adolph Hitler. I was wrong. 😉
Could be Stalin or perhaps Mussolini. Or even you-know-who???
Methinks there are more than a few who could fill that bill. Sigh.
The major difference is that Lenin was an astute politician.
Hugh – I agree with Jill that Trump seemed to fit, but that you were probably making another point. Then I was thinking Stalin. If I knew my history better, I might have figured it out by the dates, but then I would have to pay closer attention to details. Fun ‘riddle’!
Hugh, the list of attributes are chilling since they easily correspond to the current US President. Reading “Stone’s Rules” and seeing how they are emodued on the same man, paints an even worse picture. The fact that Roger Stone is involved with the two most corrupt Presidents in US history is telling. Keith
Yes, I thought the parallel was disturbing as well.
And yet it scarcely compares to what the U$ has performed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, enforcing behests of terror and regime change everywhere? Conservative estimates a million dead combined, five million displaced, as many in war-torn regions left unhabilitated. Does it matter if mankind dies by the few tens of thousands over millions and more? This is not moral equivalency. The whole of the U$ Federal Government and Doctrine of National Security Interests as applied in the 21’st Century represent the most cruel and Machiavellian strategy every hatched by Man. Putin’s a Saint in comparison, and God Bless Russia under his leadership! I say.
I stand with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on such matters. It’s what Majors DO, while Minors carp upon days of expected Victory long lost, performing falsehoods since with the boldness of political depravity only but the highest criminals enjoy, leading the American Stage. In Twitter shall he Trust, and Saudi (chop-up Western Journalists) Petrodollars.
Hail Mammon! Hail Moloch!