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Ruth Ben-Ghiat
2,692 posts
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
@ruthbenghiat
Authoritarians, propaganda, democracy, coups/Historian/Consultant 🎥/Book: Strongmen, a NYT bestseller/ @caaspeakers /Substack on democracy threats ⬇️
- Historian of coups and right-wing authoritarians here. If there are not severe consequences for every lawmaker & Trump govt official who backed this, every member of the Capitol Police who collaborated with them, this "strategy of disruption" will escalate in 2021
- Just a reminder: the US is not Castro's Cuba, Putin's Russia, or Xi's China. At any moment the GOP could unite and oppose Trump and create a crisis for him. Their cowardice has been astounding but they can still act without being put in a Gulag or shot.
- Obey me or I harass you and deny you funds. Classic authoritarian tactics. This will backfire. A reckoning will come.After this tense exchange between President Trump and Gov. Mills today, the Department of Education’s civil rights division has announced it's launching a Title IX investigation into Maine’s Department of Education amid allegations it's violating Trump’s executive order banning
00:00 - Everyone who thought he was joking about being a dictator, are you waking up now?🚨 Holy crap. The DOJ is arguing that the President can unilaterally deport anyone he wants without ANY statutory authority, just on his inherent authority as President over national security. That is a terrifying claim to make and has never been recognized before in US history.
- "we're just going to kill people."Trump: I don't think we're gonna necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just gonna kill people. Okay? We're gonna kill them. They're gonna be, like, dead.
00:00 - Moral collapse in actionTim Cook pathetically kisses Trump's ass by pretending him with a "24 karat gold" gift
00:00 - The essence of authoritarianism is getting away with crime. That's why this indictment is so important
- I study fascists and Miller checks all the boxes. He is a fanatic and a deeply committed racist. He is one of those people who need to serve a Führer or Duce to feel complete.The deportations will begin at noon, Inauguration Day.
- This man has no original thoughts. 🙄Mussolini said the same thing about Europe in...1927. He proposed Fascism as white racial rescue of Europe against "black brown and yellow" people having too many babies..."Europe is on the brink of civilizational suicide," US Vice President Vance told Fox News. "Countries don’t control borders, restrict free speech. If Germany takes in millions more incompatible migrants, it’ll destroy itself. America can’t save it."
00:00 - This is designed to show the world that no American space is off limits to Putin and there are no security barriers where the Kremlin is concerned.Host: This is extraordinary that any president or prime minister gets into Trump's car. Has anyone gone into The Beast before? This is very rare for any allied leader, let alone a former KGB leader
00:00 - This is totally insufficient to the gravity and magnitude of the threatKristen Welker describes Trump's attacks on a judge's family and other unhinged rhetoric as "a reminder that we are covering this election against the backdrop of a deeply divided nation."
00:00 - Asking permission from Putin regarding what to do with your own weapons is very low energyTrump: I did actually say to Putin, would you mind if I gave a couple thousand tomahawks to Ukraine? He did not like the idea.
- To get people to embrace violence, fill them with existential dread- the fear that it's the Leader or the abyss. This is an incitement to violence speech. Trump is a propaganda machine devoted to destroying America.Trump: Now, If I don't get elected, it's gonna be a bloodbath. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country.
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