Fascism scholar: If Trump wins again, America will be 'ready for full-on authoritarian rule'

[bdamomma]

https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/fascism-scholar-if-trump-wins-again-america-will-be-ready-for-full-on-authoritarian-rule/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3463

snip of article:

The Republican Party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump’s regime and an expression of his personal will and power. To that end, Trump has promised financial support to the Republican senators who will soon be voting at his trial. It has also been reported that Trump ordered the execution of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in order to ensure that Republican senators would support his acquittal.

In essence, Donald Trump pays political blood money to his supporters. This is more evidence of Trump’s political thuggery and mobster-style behavior that is unbefitting an American president.

Like other dictators, authoritarians, autocrats and political thugs, Donald Trump believes he is above the law. With the support of Attorney General William Barr, this appears increasingly true.

Donald Trump has suggested he is “the chosen one” and God’s messenger on earth. White Christian evangelicals believe this to be true and have pledged themselves to his cult.

Writing at USA Today, historian John Fea described the first event of Trump’s “Evangelicals for Trump” campaign, which occurred in Florida two weeks ago:

His evangelical supporters loved every minute of it. That night, Christians who claim to be citizens of the Kingdom of God went to church, cheered the depraved words of a president and warmly embraced his offer of political power. Such a display by evangelicals is unprecedented in American history.

I usually get angry when members of my tribe worship at the feet of Trump. This time, I just felt sad.

Trump and his allies label Democrats, liberals, progressives and anyone else opposing him as traitors and enemies of the United States. The most recent example: at a rally last Thursday in Toledo, Trump said that Democrats were “vicious horrible people.”

I recently spoke with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat in an effort to better understand where America is on its road to fascism and authoritarianism in this fourth year of Trump’s regime.

Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and an expert in fascism and authoritarianism. She is the author of “Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema” and other books. Her opinion essays and other writing have been featured by CNN, the Washington Post, The New Yorker and the Atlantic.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. You can also listen to my full conversation with Ruth Ben-Ghiat through the player embedded below.

How is this constant state of temporary hope and then inevitable disappointment impacting the American people? For example, Trump has been impeached. Yet now he will be acquitted by his servants in the Republican Party. The American people are in a manic state because of Trump’s regime.



This is all happening a little bit at a time. Surveying the history of authoritarianism, only in a military coup do you really have an instant change. A person leaves the house in the morning and five hours later they are living in a dictatorship and there is mass violence. But otherwise, even Mussolini and Hitler took many years to get into power.

The shoe drops slowly, and it is hard for many people to discern what is really happening. This is especially true when there are multiple things happening at one time. For example, William Barr and his attacks on the rule of law and how he is part of this right-wing Christian counterrevolution in America. Yes, Trump is impeached, and that is a type of pushback against him and his forces. What judges are doing to slow down Trump’s agenda is very important too. It is very important to not give up because that is what authoritarians want the public to do.

Authoritarian leaders want you to believe that resistance is futile and that you should just give up. If we give up and resign ourselves to the conclusion that impeaching Trump is not going to have an effect, then he has won. Impeachment is extremely important because it will be on the record, marked in the history books as opposition to Trump and his agenda.

Three years into Trump’s regime, why are so many Americans still in a state of denial about this crisis?


They have no reference point for what is going on in America right now. Providing that reference point is one of the things that motivates my work. Many people are also scared. Many people in the news media are afraid to really engage the fact that Trump is an authoritarian because if they do so then reality becomes too threatening, and therefore they would have to take a different stance publicly.


We must not do this:

[Cosmocat]

1. Yep - it will be game over

First, they were pushing us this direction LONG before this fucker came down the escalator, but the damage done over the last three years is massive, and if we had not won the the house a year ago, it would be even worse.

The country is buckling, and if he wins again IS going to cave into the fucker - we may never get him out of the there, we will have a real mess getting him out IF we win this November.

[uponit7771]

2. K&R, ... and even ***MORE*** genocidal policies against brown skinned people.

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[Thomas Hurt]

4. We can't rely on impeachment, we must get out the vote and get rid of this amoral pig.

[Mike 03]

5. We must never forget our objective of denying Trump a second term.

What motivates me is the thought of waking up the morning after the election with the thought, "Trump has four more years." That should terrifying, or actually horrify, most Americans.

IMO our candidates should consider this when deciding how vigorously to attack one another.

We cannot lose this election, or we lose the country.

[Initech]

6. Evangelicals are steering democracy off the cliff.

And it's going to get really ugly when / if Trump gets a second term, they will think that it's "god's will". I swear that coddling the evangelicals was one of the worst mistakes we've made as a country.

[unblock]

7. indeed, the media doesn't want to acknowledge that much of their coverage of donnie

helps pave the way for authoritarian control.

our democracy is already effectively "failed". there are far too many factors that corrupt the concept of majority rule.

the vast majority of media coverage of donnie serves his interests. parroting back his insults helps propagate his worldview of stark divisions between races, the sexes, national origin, etc. even announcing that he's lying after propagating his lies accomplishes little. if anything, it helps solidify him as someone who can get away with it, or for whom the rules don't apply.

unless and until the media starts consistently characterizing him as a dictator wannabe who is trying to consolidate power, then they're basically enabling him, if not effectively supporting him, even if that's not the media's intention.

[Kablooie]

8. If he wins again he will probably remain president For life.

and it will become dangerous to express opposition.

[Newest Reality]

9. THIS IS IT!

I really have to recommend this one because it concurs with my understanding so far.

I do feel that too many people are looking at Trump as a gnarly buffoon and that his distractions are almost providing cover in that sense for what appears to be a strong intent on his part and that is being enabled by his sycophants and base.

I will put it bluntly that this is not a chicken little dance here. There have been many misfires and much running around with hair on fire in the past, which almost tend to work now like an anesthetic that dulls the sense that this is the real thing now in our midst.

Even drugged out, psychopathic cult leaders can take power and even control large groups of people simply because they have a real knack for doing that and even their level of "intelligence" is not as important as their ability, (and often, charisma) to whip things up, motivate their sycophants and have their way, right up to controlling an entire country with an iron fist.

When I think of Trump, at the core of what he really wants, the symbolic representation that crops up is what O'Brien says to Winston when he tells him what the future is: "A boot stomping a human face forever." If you get the picture, then you know the potential gravity here and Trump simply HAS TO GO, or we are pretty much done with this democracy idea.

[Bettie]

10. We can not let this happen

but, unfortunately, there are so many people who aren't engaged and who seem to think that all of this is just fine.

[bdamomma]

11. so sad

those people will stumble into a dictatorship. We need to stop this. Or is Canada going to be the our last option??? Or are we facing our own Handmaid's Tale. Sorry for my paranoia.

[Turin_C3PO]

12. I've thought about moving to Canada

if Trump “wins” in 2024. But I’ve heard Canada is difficult to get into? I’ll have to do more research...

[bdamomma]

13. Tough Immigration laws

but do your tentative research now.

[Bettie]

15. How sad indeed

that we can see it coming and the only way to stop it is to vote him out because our government only functions if both sides accept that there are laws...right now, one side doesn't accept that.

[Yavin4]

14. We're already there. Half of this country would vote for authoritarian rule if it fits their...

ideology.