Discrediting a sitting democratically-elected government by depicting it as illegitimate, incompetent, tyrannical, or all three is a pillar of the right-wing authoritarian playbook.
I really appreciate that sentiment. It feels like that to me, too. Yet, I can't help but think that's exactly what these people want us to think. I believe they want everyone to believe the courts are so ineffective that their independence should be eliminated.
Well said. The courts in many instances have carried through, and on, in an honest, upstanding and courageous manner. They are at least semi-functional (not speaking of the SCOTUS, of course).
I believe the start at the bottom and work up strategy has produced results and will continue to do so, albeit not as quickly or completely as we might wish. It might have felt more fair, more equal, but it wouldn’t be equal justice unless those responsible for planning were convicted, not just the minions.
This reminds me of Rachel Maddow's recounting of the trial of a group of American Nazis for seditious conspiracy in the '40s. They were so disruptive in the proceedings that the judge had no control at all. The stress of it may actually have killed him. I'm not sure if any of them actually ended up serving any time.
Remember the Chicago 7 trial? Those defendants were so disruptive, according to the judge, had some bound and gagged when appearing at the defense table, I would hope judges overseeing Donald or other MAGAS trials would do the same…
Our power elites favored fascism in the 1940's and 1950's. The beginnings of our CIA was staffed with many former Nazis. Many Wall Street titans/CEOs favored fascism. Fascism represented totalitarian capitalism, which they seemed to favor. Fascism banned unions and promoted oligopolies, so Wall Street just loved that. Wall Street also drove the installation of fascist regimes in third world countries by our CIA. Our elites hated communism because they felt it destroyed their greed based capitalism.
Quite incidentally, I watched a YouTube video of a white teenage girl throwing a shoe at her black teacher. When confronted, she denied she did it, with one shoe on and one off. She continued to lie while still throwing things. I don't know how it ended, but disruption followed by sneering and defamation has become common. I've often thought of myself as progressive, but some days, I wish the pillory would return.
Had not thought until reading your piece that Clarence Thomas may be trying to sabotage the institution of the court as a way to 'shove it' to all the figures and institutions of authority he feels wronged him over the years. He has a big chip on his shoulder, that's for sure. This may be one of his ways to get payback.
Payback is what tRump is doing as well. Those institutions that would not let him get away with his criminal activity will pay the price, should he come to power. It's right out of the authoritarian playbook.
Since the “Idea of Self Governance”, the essence of Democracy, REQUIRES civility,
good will, honest leadership and
vigorous debate of competing interests and
proposals to meet the needs of the many;
it is enormously vulnerable to disruption,
distortion and deceit.
We must collectively focus our attention and diverse talents to discredit the “flood the zone” disinformation and assault on norms and institutions by fighting fire with fire.
Not with guns and bullets, but with a LOUDER MEGAPHONE
and CLEARER message ALERTING the
still persuadable. Basically, we’ve got to SCARE THE S*** out of the largely
unaware of the GRAVE DANGER TO
THEIR PERSONAL SELF INTERESTS.
The powerful emotional impact of
FEAR OF LOSS ….in clear images that
are very easily understood give many
of the ambivalent, disinterested, and
disillusioned the MOTIVATION to act
to preserve their self interest.
The $50 million ad campaign by REPUBLICANS AGAINST TRUMP
Our media needs to stop being affraid to call MAGA people fascists. This is what they believe in. The media also needs to stop pretending that tRump is normal. Start referring to him as the sociopath that he is.
The media are definitely complicit--not so much perhaps out of preference for Agent Orange, but because they will do anything and everything to sell more copy. I am torn between holding the media in great respect (think MSNBC, the BBC, etc) and in great contempt. But even the "good" media outlets are often prey to the trap of prevailing voices (e.g., Biden has dementia), much to their lasting shame.
In the year 2030, the United States had become a mere shell of its former self, its democracy crumbled from within by the very people sworn to protect it. The once-revered halls of Congress now lay in shambles, a testament to the destructive power of the MAGA extremists who had risen from the ranks of the nation's own elected officials.
It had all started with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman who had sown the seeds of discord and contempt within the very institution she served. Her actions, and those of her allies, had eroded the norms of decorum and mutual tolerance that had once been the foundation of American democracy.
As the years passed, the rot spread from within, the extremists growing bolder, their tactics more violent, and their rhetoric more inflammatory. They used every means at their disposal to delegitimize and undermine the democratic institutions they had infiltrated, all while claiming to be the true patriots.
The people, blinded by the lies and the chaos, failed to recognize the danger until it was too late. The extremists had seized power from within, declaring a new era of authoritarian rule. Dissent was crushed, opposition silenced, and the once-great nation found itself plunged into a nightmare of oppression and fear, all at the hands of its own elected officials.
In the end, the MAGA extremists had achieved their goal: the destruction of American democracy, not by outside forces, but by the rot that had festered within its very core. And as the people huddled in the shadows, they could only wonder how they had let their own leaders betray them, and knew there was no hope of ever reclaiming the nation they had once held dear.
Perhaps THE NATION magazine or THE ATLANTIC would run it on the Letters to the Editor page? It's such a wonderful bit of dystopian story-telling and a glimpse into a potential future scenario.
In 1990 I was a guest of the Academician Stanislav Shatalin, director of the Institute of Forecasting of Scientific and Technological Progress, in Moscow. He was Gorbachev's only economic advisor. I was there to talk about banking to some of the "economists"at that Institute. For three months I was entertained and introduced to a wide variety of, what I now know as oligarchs.
Two years ago I began researching dis-information and active measures to understand how the Russians have influenced our society. What I've learned is, first it has been going on for a long time, second it has been perfected through trial and error to the point that it is almost impossible to overcome the effects that they've had in attacking our democracy.
The issue with Justice Thomas, and others at the US Supreme Court is no surprise to me now that I have learned something about what's been going on since 1922.
Given my experience, and my research, I have an overarching question that I cannot answer. What the Russians and others have been doing to attack democracies around the world have been known in this country for a long time. Our intelligence services have tracked Russian influence peddlers in this country and others, but have done nothing to inform the American public. Further, there seems to be a great reluctance of people in political power to even mention these obvious and under our nose attempts to destroy our democracy. Why the silence? It's only recently that I am beginning to hear comments from political leaders about Russian interference primarily concerning the 2016 election. Moreover, in March 2017 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence researched the issue of Russian interference extensively, interviewing several experts, largely academics, who had been following Russian activities for a number of years. Nobody has read that report. It is very comprehensive, consisting of five separate reports covering all of the investigation done by the Select Committee on Intelligence. The fifth report, a summary of the previous four reports, is 900 pages.
Why isn't this information available to the voting public? It's been known for long time. By simply Googling disinformation and active measures the amount of information anyone will find is extensive. It includes the report from the committee, research done by students at U. S. Military schools like West Point, and the Naval Academy, as well as numerous books, and publications.
In 1985 a KGB defector, Yuri Bezmenov was interviewed by a reporter that is available on YouTube as a video. In that interview Bezmenov described how disinformation and active measures work. 1985!!! Nobody believed him. What he said then is coming true now.
If this report is published by the Government Printing Office, ask your senator if they. can procure a copy. The libraries have government documents centers. Check them out.
Just look at Haiti to see what dictatorship leads to. Gang control and Anarchy are controlling Haiti after years of thousands of people demonstrating for elections, clean water, electricity and safety to walk outside without being shot or kidnapped. The US and UN have been unable to control the violence and drug cartels. The Supreme Court does not work and there is no senate or congress. Elections have stopped happening. The policy of letting violence happen without a police force or army capable of controlling violence does not work. We need our police and military protecting voters from harassment and violence. We need to root out extremists and domestic terrorists including MAGA loyalists who are supporting violence and fascism.
Fascism is spreading through Europe too. Italy is led by a fascist party now. Hungary has Orban. We do need to protect democracy in Ukraine and protect NATO.
One would think that selling fascism would be a tough sell in a nation that strives for democracy. We have seen just how easy that has become. We have seen how propaganda plays on peoples' confirmation bias, tribalism and motivated reasoning. Fascism sells vices like fear, anger, division, violence and vengeance, and we have millions gravitating toward that and away from virtues.
Here is a part of a psychological study done in Austria about the connection between the Dark Tetrad personality and political orientation. It's by Boris Duspara and Tobias Greitemeyer.
"Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and everyday sadism were associated with right wing political orientation, whereas narcissism and psychopathy were associated with political extremism. Machiavellianism turned out to be the most important predictor of the dark side of human personality for political orientation. Machiavellianism is associated with misanthropy, anti-social tendencies, cold heartedness and immoral beliefs."
None of this would be possible without Fox news and the right wing media bubble. And Rupert Murdock isn't even an American. And I need to point out that Newt Gingrich is probably the father of American dehumanization of political enemies. And of course I can't forget Rush Limbaugh.
Newt was once a history professor at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Ga. He was a Democrat until it became political infeasible. So, he switched to the Republican Party! I personally never had him as my professor, but knew many who did! My opinion is that I’m better off! 😁
I really appreciate that sentiment. It feels like that to me, too. Yet, I can't help but think that's exactly what these people want us to think. I believe they want everyone to believe the courts are so ineffective that their independence should be eliminated.
These crimes have at least uncovered the vast corruption in our government, the courts. Come 2025 there needs to be a reckoning.
Well said. The courts in many instances have carried through, and on, in an honest, upstanding and courageous manner. They are at least semi-functional (not speaking of the SCOTUS, of course).
The Brazilians seem to understand this, Charles.
Sadly, this is correct
Ruth, isn’t this just crazy?
It seems if DOJ had of started at the top with prosecuting members of congress it would have felt more like equal justice.
👍👍👍
I believe the start at the bottom and work up strategy has produced results and will continue to do so, albeit not as quickly or completely as we might wish. It might have felt more fair, more equal, but it wouldn’t be equal justice unless those responsible for planning were convicted, not just the minions.
This reminds me of Rachel Maddow's recounting of the trial of a group of American Nazis for seditious conspiracy in the '40s. They were so disruptive in the proceedings that the judge had no control at all. The stress of it may actually have killed him. I'm not sure if any of them actually ended up serving any time.
Remember the Chicago 7 trial? Those defendants were so disruptive, according to the judge, had some bound and gagged when appearing at the defense table, I would hope judges overseeing Donald or other MAGAS trials would do the same…
And MAGA = NAZI!
Our power elites favored fascism in the 1940's and 1950's. The beginnings of our CIA was staffed with many former Nazis. Many Wall Street titans/CEOs favored fascism. Fascism represented totalitarian capitalism, which they seemed to favor. Fascism banned unions and promoted oligopolies, so Wall Street just loved that. Wall Street also drove the installation of fascist regimes in third world countries by our CIA. Our elites hated communism because they felt it destroyed their greed based capitalism.
Quite incidentally, I watched a YouTube video of a white teenage girl throwing a shoe at her black teacher. When confronted, she denied she did it, with one shoe on and one off. She continued to lie while still throwing things. I don't know how it ended, but disruption followed by sneering and defamation has become common. I've often thought of myself as progressive, but some days, I wish the pillory would return.
Had not thought until reading your piece that Clarence Thomas may be trying to sabotage the institution of the court as a way to 'shove it' to all the figures and institutions of authority he feels wronged him over the years. He has a big chip on his shoulder, that's for sure. This may be one of his ways to get payback.
Testosterone poisoning.
Payback? Via wife, Ginni!
She knows the motives!
Key participation on Jan 6!
Payback will be served cold for those who aided or abetted in the insurrection. I hope.
Payback is what tRump is doing as well. Those institutions that would not let him get away with his criminal activity will pay the price, should he come to power. It's right out of the authoritarian playbook.
Since the “Idea of Self Governance”, the essence of Democracy, REQUIRES civility,
good will, honest leadership and
vigorous debate of competing interests and
proposals to meet the needs of the many;
it is enormously vulnerable to disruption,
distortion and deceit.
We must collectively focus our attention and diverse talents to discredit the “flood the zone” disinformation and assault on norms and institutions by fighting fire with fire.
Not with guns and bullets, but with a LOUDER MEGAPHONE
and CLEARER message ALERTING the
still persuadable. Basically, we’ve got to SCARE THE S*** out of the largely
unaware of the GRAVE DANGER TO
THEIR PERSONAL SELF INTERESTS.
The powerful emotional impact of
FEAR OF LOSS ….in clear images that
are very easily understood give many
of the ambivalent, disinterested, and
disillusioned the MOTIVATION to act
to preserve their self interest.
The $50 million ad campaign by REPUBLICANS AGAINST TRUMP
that play short selfie videos of former
Trump voters who now reject the twice
impeached, 4 times indicted,insurrectionist
coup plotter on film PROVIDE A POWERFUL
PERMISSION STRUCTURE to leave the cult
and reject the most immediate threat to
our democracies survival.
That is another creative and effective
approach to fighting “FIRE WITH FIRE!”
Our media needs to stop being affraid to call MAGA people fascists. This is what they believe in. The media also needs to stop pretending that tRump is normal. Start referring to him as the sociopath that he is.
The media are definitely complicit--not so much perhaps out of preference for Agent Orange, but because they will do anything and everything to sell more copy. I am torn between holding the media in great respect (think MSNBC, the BBC, etc) and in great contempt. But even the "good" media outlets are often prey to the trap of prevailing voices (e.g., Biden has dementia), much to their lasting shame.
Thank you Prof Ruth for this excellent essay. When the fascists take their first steps, it is always over the cliff into in the abyss of nihilism.
"We have a government and laws and a flag, and they must all be sustained.
There are but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter." Mr Ulysses S. Grant, April 1861.
Love this quote, Edward. Thank you for posting it.
https://pesaagora.com/columns/steve-bannons-war-on-ukraine-and-democracy/
Good morning. Would you kindly write a post educating your readership/members about the threat to democracy worldwide? Thank you, Kathy Stricklin
2030
In the year 2030, the United States had become a mere shell of its former self, its democracy crumbled from within by the very people sworn to protect it. The once-revered halls of Congress now lay in shambles, a testament to the destructive power of the MAGA extremists who had risen from the ranks of the nation's own elected officials.
It had all started with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman who had sown the seeds of discord and contempt within the very institution she served. Her actions, and those of her allies, had eroded the norms of decorum and mutual tolerance that had once been the foundation of American democracy.
As the years passed, the rot spread from within, the extremists growing bolder, their tactics more violent, and their rhetoric more inflammatory. They used every means at their disposal to delegitimize and undermine the democratic institutions they had infiltrated, all while claiming to be the true patriots.
The people, blinded by the lies and the chaos, failed to recognize the danger until it was too late. The extremists had seized power from within, declaring a new era of authoritarian rule. Dissent was crushed, opposition silenced, and the once-great nation found itself plunged into a nightmare of oppression and fear, all at the hands of its own elected officials.
In the end, the MAGA extremists had achieved their goal: the destruction of American democracy, not by outside forces, but by the rot that had festered within its very core. And as the people huddled in the shadows, they could only wonder how they had let their own leaders betray them, and knew there was no hope of ever reclaiming the nation they had once held dear.
Gloria, do you have a way of disseminating your fable? It needs to be read to a much wider audience.
I don’t know. Do you have any thoughts on how I can?
Perhaps THE NATION magazine or THE ATLANTIC would run it on the Letters to the Editor page? It's such a wonderful bit of dystopian story-telling and a glimpse into a potential future scenario.
Thank you so much.
That sounds worse than planet of the apes.
That’s because it is.
It seems like Republicans are just an AR-15 away from anarchy.
Did you see how easily they were willing to beat the crap out of the Biden effigy? Sadism is a major part of fascism, as we have seen.
Right! The opposition is vilified to the level that violence feels acceptable.
Keep opening the windows, Doc, to air out the stench of fascism that is fouling our American house of democracy.
Since I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times, I can't read the article. Does anyone have a "gift" article they can share?
Enjoy your much deserved vacation !
In 1990 I was a guest of the Academician Stanislav Shatalin, director of the Institute of Forecasting of Scientific and Technological Progress, in Moscow. He was Gorbachev's only economic advisor. I was there to talk about banking to some of the "economists"at that Institute. For three months I was entertained and introduced to a wide variety of, what I now know as oligarchs.
Two years ago I began researching dis-information and active measures to understand how the Russians have influenced our society. What I've learned is, first it has been going on for a long time, second it has been perfected through trial and error to the point that it is almost impossible to overcome the effects that they've had in attacking our democracy.
The issue with Justice Thomas, and others at the US Supreme Court is no surprise to me now that I have learned something about what's been going on since 1922.
Given my experience, and my research, I have an overarching question that I cannot answer. What the Russians and others have been doing to attack democracies around the world have been known in this country for a long time. Our intelligence services have tracked Russian influence peddlers in this country and others, but have done nothing to inform the American public. Further, there seems to be a great reluctance of people in political power to even mention these obvious and under our nose attempts to destroy our democracy. Why the silence? It's only recently that I am beginning to hear comments from political leaders about Russian interference primarily concerning the 2016 election. Moreover, in March 2017 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence researched the issue of Russian interference extensively, interviewing several experts, largely academics, who had been following Russian activities for a number of years. Nobody has read that report. It is very comprehensive, consisting of five separate reports covering all of the investigation done by the Select Committee on Intelligence. The fifth report, a summary of the previous four reports, is 900 pages.
Why isn't this information available to the voting public? It's been known for long time. By simply Googling disinformation and active measures the amount of information anyone will find is extensive. It includes the report from the committee, research done by students at U. S. Military schools like West Point, and the Naval Academy, as well as numerous books, and publications.
In 1985 a KGB defector, Yuri Bezmenov was interviewed by a reporter that is available on YouTube as a video. In that interview Bezmenov described how disinformation and active measures work. 1985!!! Nobody believed him. What he said then is coming true now.
If this report is published by the Government Printing Office, ask your senator if they. can procure a copy. The libraries have government documents centers. Check them out.
I downloaded the reports from the GPO. Last time I checked they weren't available. Let me know if you want a copy I will email it to you.
Just look at Haiti to see what dictatorship leads to. Gang control and Anarchy are controlling Haiti after years of thousands of people demonstrating for elections, clean water, electricity and safety to walk outside without being shot or kidnapped. The US and UN have been unable to control the violence and drug cartels. The Supreme Court does not work and there is no senate or congress. Elections have stopped happening. The policy of letting violence happen without a police force or army capable of controlling violence does not work. We need our police and military protecting voters from harassment and violence. We need to root out extremists and domestic terrorists including MAGA loyalists who are supporting violence and fascism.
Fascism is spreading through Europe too. Italy is led by a fascist party now. Hungary has Orban. We do need to protect democracy in Ukraine and protect NATO.
One would think that selling fascism would be a tough sell in a nation that strives for democracy. We have seen just how easy that has become. We have seen how propaganda plays on peoples' confirmation bias, tribalism and motivated reasoning. Fascism sells vices like fear, anger, division, violence and vengeance, and we have millions gravitating toward that and away from virtues.
Here is a part of a psychological study done in Austria about the connection between the Dark Tetrad personality and political orientation. It's by Boris Duspara and Tobias Greitemeyer.
"Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and everyday sadism were associated with right wing political orientation, whereas narcissism and psychopathy were associated with political extremism. Machiavellianism turned out to be the most important predictor of the dark side of human personality for political orientation. Machiavellianism is associated with misanthropy, anti-social tendencies, cold heartedness and immoral beliefs."
I think you should read Machiavelli rather than trust this cartoon character version.
The psychological study referenced above was not defining Machiavellianism but was showing the political orientation of those afflicted by it.
None of this would be possible without Fox news and the right wing media bubble. And Rupert Murdock isn't even an American. And I need to point out that Newt Gingrich is probably the father of American dehumanization of political enemies. And of course I can't forget Rush Limbaugh.
Gingrich is also a sociopath. These people love fascism.
An old saying,”No Newt is good Newt!”
Good one!
Newt is like Trump in that he only does & says what’s good for him personally!
Which is classic sociopathic grandiosity.
Newt was once a history professor at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Ga. He was a Democrat until it became political infeasible. So, he switched to the Republican Party! I personally never had him as my professor, but knew many who did! My opinion is that I’m better off! 😁
Hey, that’s my cats name! lol