Analyzing Autocratic Capture with Joyce Vance, Frank Figliuzzi, Scott MacFarlane
Upcoming events and an essay on authoritarian population design
Welcome back to Lucid, and hello to all new subscribers. Look out tomorrow for a big-picture essay. I am writing about how population engineering figures into authoritarian national purity schemes and its centrality to the plans of the Trump administration and its technofascist allies to convert our multiracial democracy into a White Christian ethnostate.
I’m writing now to let you know about a few upcoming Lucid events that will explore the mechanisms of autocratic capture of the media, the courts, government agencies, and more.
The first event is tomorrow morning at 8:30amET: a Substack Live with legal commentator Joyce Vance about hope, standing up for our rights, and best practices for messaging. We’ll have our coffee on hand!
On Monday, June 8, at noon, I’ll be speaking with journalist Scott MacFarlane, who was the former CBS News justice correspondent and left the network in March 2026.
Everyone is welcome at these Substack Lives. Just download the Substack app, enable notifications, and look for the join link from Ruth Ben-Ghiat/Lucid at the appointed hour. I’ll circulate the video for those who can’t attend.
On Sunday, June 7, at 8-9pmET, we’ll have our weekly Lucid Q&A. Paying subscribers will receive a link at 5pmET that day to register for the Zoom gathering. With the news about the nomination of a new Director of National Intelligence, and a convicted January 6 perpetrator hired by the Pentagon to work in counterintelligence, I am glad we will host Frank Figliuzzi, former Assistant Director for counterintelligence at the FBI. Author of the bestselling book, The FBI Way, he hosts The Frank Figliuzzi Show on Substack and YouTube.
Lucid now reaches 195 countries, and these monthly Sunday evening meetings allow people in different time zones to participate. Those who cannot attend can find the video at lucid.substack.com, videos tab.
If you’d like to be part of these simulating conversations, and ask me and my guests questions, you can sign up as paying or upgrade to paid here:
Until tomorrow, stay well and stay Lucid!
Great lineup these next few days. Your dedication to keeping people informed and giving historical context, plus bringing in super interesting guests, is such a gift to all of us who are constantly trying to understand what’s going on and trying not to freak out!
Hi Ruth, I'm volunteering, I listen / read everything you, Joyce, Barb, Preet, Harry, et al, put out...
And, what this man is doing to our precious country, well, I just feel like my guts are constantly being ripped out, and I want to cry...
He / They won't stop or deter me, but I'm miserable... Thank you for helping light the way forward 🤎🔦 I can't wait until this hellscape they are creating is way behind us.