19 Comments

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.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

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?

Expand full comment

We are at a tipping point because 74 million voters wanted proto-fascism and with it, corporate nirvana. When our neoliberal elites have so much power that they can affect public sentiment via propaganda, we are in deep trouble. Many people are voting for authoritarianism, even though they don't really know what it is. We need a much better educated electorate!

Expand full comment

Amen, truth, there is no soul or bottom.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

Speaking of grifters, the book "Griftopia" by Matt Taibi is worth a look. He excoriates Greenspan and Ayn Rand.

Expand full comment

#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...

Expand full comment

exactly

Expand full comment

Our neoliberal order with its neoliberal economics is all about plunder and exploitation. It takes vile individuals to push these concepts. We have no shortage of people like this.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

thanks!

Expand full comment

I am grateful that there are academics like yourself willing to take on the demanding role of public intellectuals, spreading the research beyond the ivy walls. This country has always benefited from its public intellectuals like William James and John Dewey, giving the public discourse substance and historical context.

Expand full comment

So eloquent.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

Sounds like a good plan, Timothy …. to keep learning … to keep reaching out to nurture mutually beneficial and healthy relationships, in spite of the negative reactions that generally want to isolate us by either curling up into the fetal position or lashing out

Expand full comment

thank you Timothy!

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
Sep 21, 2021
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

exactly!

Expand full comment