Mention the word authoritarianism, and controls and crackdowns come to mind. Whether it's Communist regimes such as China, or far-right states such as Russia, authoritarianism entails the suppression of liberties and polices what you can say and do. Yet there's another side of many authoritarian governments that gets less attention: how they lift controls and regulations to ease exploitation of the country's resources and populations.
SO Former President Trump and his voters are the problem. It has now been proven that the Russian Collusion was made out of whole cloth. It was a lie fostered by the previous administration and a compliant FBI, CIA, with the alphabet news channels. Including the New York Times and the Washington Post. The fake dossier about Donald Trump was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Just because no one is really getting in trouble over this does not mean it isn't true. So really who are the true authoritarians here.
One of the many punishments forced on the women of Gilead was that they were sent out to toil for the rest of their (short) lives in a wasteland referred to as "The Colonies". In the TV series, "The Handmaid;s Tale", it appear as if they were forced to work in a hyper-polluted hazardous mining region where they had to extract the last remnants of mineral wealth needed to support the lifestyles of the powerful men of Gilead.
Today's far right authoritarians (and many more conventional Republicans, e.g., WSJ editors & corporate CEOs) have no compunction about continuing the economy of maximal expand, exploit and extract until the whole fossil fuel powered industrial civilization implodes. It's only natural in this "pre-climate collapse" environment that a criminal political class (led by Trump) and a hyper-aggressive capitalist class would embrace maximal authoritarian control in order to secure the greatest personal advantage - and to hell with their children & grandchildren. As pre-2008 economic implosion Wall street traders used to say, "YBG IBG" - You'll be gone - I'll be gone.
The critical question now is: Can a majority of citizens who do not want to live under a far right authoritarian, theocratic and racist criminal oligarchy prevent the hyper-energized minority who desperately want exactly that?
Right exactly, corruption and authoritarianism unfold as a transaction between Trump and his kleptocrats in government and willing partners in industry that benefit financially-- a sort of (corrupt bargain) Its a common feature of a form a government called [Kakistocracy], which is government by the, worst, least suitable, least qualified most corrupt people. Think of all the thieves and grifters with no background or experience who served the last four years in the Trump administration. Now the Biden administration has the tall task cleaning out the Augean stables left behind by the most epically corrupt and plunderous administration ever in American history.
"The density of events during the Trump era meant that the scope and scale of these deregulations and decriminalizations often eluded public notice. And yet they were crucial to the "authoritarian bargain" American elites struck with Trump (profits for them, political support for him) and they advance the neoliberal ethos dear to the GOP for decades."
No one can keep up with the" density of events."
It takes a few seconds to start a fire but hours to put out and years to rebuild...
Succinct and to the point. These neoliberal regimes are populated by thugs and thieves. Underscoring this point is the recent work of Prof. Wendy Brown, a student of Sheldon Wolin who invented the term "inverted totalitarianism" to capture the corrupting of the democratic state. Her work is entitled "Undoing the Demos: Neoliberal's Stealth Revolution."
It is important work that Prof. Ben-Ghiat and others are doing to expose the danger such forces pose for our republic.
Thank you, Dr. Ben-Ghiat, for all your work. I am an avid reader of your articles and books. They often induce panic attacks (not your fault!), but I am channeling these concerns toward my own teaching and public outreach.
SO Former President Trump and his voters are the problem. It has now been proven that the Russian Collusion was made out of whole cloth. It was a lie fostered by the previous administration and a compliant FBI, CIA, with the alphabet news channels. Including the New York Times and the Washington Post. The fake dossier about Donald Trump was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Just because no one is really getting in trouble over this does not mean it isn't true. So really who are the true authoritarians here.
Trump' tax laws had the same purpose to get the rich and the business to support him at the expense of the American tax payers.
One of the many punishments forced on the women of Gilead was that they were sent out to toil for the rest of their (short) lives in a wasteland referred to as "The Colonies". In the TV series, "The Handmaid;s Tale", it appear as if they were forced to work in a hyper-polluted hazardous mining region where they had to extract the last remnants of mineral wealth needed to support the lifestyles of the powerful men of Gilead.
Today's far right authoritarians (and many more conventional Republicans, e.g., WSJ editors & corporate CEOs) have no compunction about continuing the economy of maximal expand, exploit and extract until the whole fossil fuel powered industrial civilization implodes. It's only natural in this "pre-climate collapse" environment that a criminal political class (led by Trump) and a hyper-aggressive capitalist class would embrace maximal authoritarian control in order to secure the greatest personal advantage - and to hell with their children & grandchildren. As pre-2008 economic implosion Wall street traders used to say, "YBG IBG" - You'll be gone - I'll be gone.
The critical question now is: Can a majority of citizens who do not want to live under a far right authoritarian, theocratic and racist criminal oligarchy prevent the hyper-energized minority who desperately want exactly that?
Amen, truth, there is no soul or bottom.
Here's an example: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-not-to-tax-billionaires?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=spotlight-nl&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=thematic_spotlight_092121_1&utm_medium=email&bxid=5d63f4a7f73043126e657d3c&cndid=58233420&hasha=9f0f460fe05d98f53aef6a4f3d95ea2e&hashb=b1fb79821c83f3368ecbccc0a7da18e558a1fe70&hashc=a5be3b1a1c8a430359a6c195e4688427e06054ee667f12a1f74f210e0e24f657&esrc=replenish20200403&sourcecode=thematic_spotlight&utm_term=Thematic_Spotlight
Right exactly, corruption and authoritarianism unfold as a transaction between Trump and his kleptocrats in government and willing partners in industry that benefit financially-- a sort of (corrupt bargain) Its a common feature of a form a government called [Kakistocracy], which is government by the, worst, least suitable, least qualified most corrupt people. Think of all the thieves and grifters with no background or experience who served the last four years in the Trump administration. Now the Biden administration has the tall task cleaning out the Augean stables left behind by the most epically corrupt and plunderous administration ever in American history.
#democracydying
"The density of events during the Trump era meant that the scope and scale of these deregulations and decriminalizations often eluded public notice. And yet they were crucial to the "authoritarian bargain" American elites struck with Trump (profits for them, political support for him) and they advance the neoliberal ethos dear to the GOP for decades."
No one can keep up with the" density of events."
It takes a few seconds to start a fire but hours to put out and years to rebuild...
Succinct and to the point. These neoliberal regimes are populated by thugs and thieves. Underscoring this point is the recent work of Prof. Wendy Brown, a student of Sheldon Wolin who invented the term "inverted totalitarianism" to capture the corrupting of the democratic state. Her work is entitled "Undoing the Demos: Neoliberal's Stealth Revolution."
It is important work that Prof. Ben-Ghiat and others are doing to expose the danger such forces pose for our republic.
So eloquent.
Thank you, Dr. Ben-Ghiat, for all your work. I am an avid reader of your articles and books. They often induce panic attacks (not your fault!), but I am channeling these concerns toward my own teaching and public outreach.
I look forward to reading more.