Thanks for sharing the Brooks Harrington discussion. Very interesting. Today Zeteo was saying that the Tech Bros, and their products has taken over our democracy.
Ruth - Has Giorgia Meloni’s rise to power moved Italy closer to authoritarianism? If not, why not? At some point could you speak about Italy, both as the country that basically invented modern authoritarianism and as a country that seems to have survived the corruption of Berlusconi.
It took Hitler 53 days to transform Germany from a democracy into a dictatorship. We'll now see how long it takes Trump here. Pardoning his paramilitary thugs could be seen as "looking ahead." They're armed, dangerous and surely willing to keep their fascist strongman in power beyond January 2029.
Ruth, there is something sinister about Trump that many of us sense, but can't permit ourselves to bring to full consciousness...he is a mortal threat.
Trump is not an aberration. His arrogance and oppositional-defiant attitude is magnetically attractive to vulnerable people who idealize a man whose appearance of self-confidence resonates with the part of them that is afraid to stand up for themselves.
But there is one more element that is less obvious unless you can sense it…it’s the murderous rage that gets evoked in Trump when others don’t behave as he demands. It’s a narcissistic rage, an annihilating rage, that many of us know from childhood experiences with parents. You can feel it just by looking at Trump’s glaring mug-shot. It communicates, “I will END YOU if you don’t do as I say, meet my every need, and willingly abandon your autonomous self. When we sense THIS threat, we instinctively get the message…we back down. Gradually we accept “alternative facts,” we start seeing the world as Trump sees it, we surrender any perception of reality that doesn’t align with his.
He threatens EVERYONE, whether they’re conscious of it or not. Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and others like them have done the same. THAT’S the element that causes individuals within the Congress, the courts, the D.O.J., the media, anyone in his immediate surround and the general public to “obey in advance.” They are trying to appease, and thereby avoid, Trump’s narcissistic rage which sends a signal to his “Brownshirts” to wipe out the source of the narcissistic injury that he, their idealized leader, can’t tolerate.
We must learn to recognize people who use the threat of their narcissistic fury to manipulate others into submission so we don’t elect them in the first place. But now that we’re here, we must grapple with how we support one another in large enough numbers to protect ourselves. This requires a lot more thinking, research, and discussions with experts like you, Timothy Snyder, Anne Applebaum, Bandy Lee, Steve Hassan, Malcolm Nance, et.al.
thank you for your scholarship and your prescience.
I would like to encourage other Lucid subscribers who may have cancelled their WaPo subscriptions to re-consider. There is excellent reporting and work being done by journalists there. We cannot let that paper die because of a poor decision by Bezos. Here are links to three articles about the pardons, all excellent and worth reading.
I understand why people cancelled but I think the better course of action might be to shop less on Amazon.....laughing....easy for me to say as a "bricks and mortar" aficionado....I think, if I am not mistaken, that Ruth may have voiced a similar opinion at the time.....these journalists need our support. thanks. be kind.
Ruth, I loved the live chat with you and Anand today! Definitely do more of these. The comments were inspiring as well. I teared up a bit at the end with Anand asking people to share something they wish for all those still around. It was lovely.
Also re the live chat with Anand, I rarely swear either, but when I do, “shit” is the one I use (last time was when a lizard in my home that I was trying to rescue/release got away). Shitshow is very applicable to Trump’s and the broligarchs’ nefarious ways. Etc. (Definitely notoriously, “etc.”)
I just tried to restack this and got an error message.🙄
Worked for me, Chas.
Substack was down a short while ago. Try again
Thank you for the excellent interview with Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian.
Purges. Privatizations. Pardons. Rinse and repeat. Erghh
Ruth, your prediction that trump would pardon as many J6 insurrectionists as possible if he got the chance has turned out to be 100% correct.
Thanks for sharing the Brooks Harrington discussion. Very interesting. Today Zeteo was saying that the Tech Bros, and their products has taken over our democracy.
Ruth - Has Giorgia Meloni’s rise to power moved Italy closer to authoritarianism? If not, why not? At some point could you speak about Italy, both as the country that basically invented modern authoritarianism and as a country that seems to have survived the corruption of Berlusconi.
It took Hitler 53 days to transform Germany from a democracy into a dictatorship. We'll now see how long it takes Trump here. Pardoning his paramilitary thugs could be seen as "looking ahead." They're armed, dangerous and surely willing to keep their fascist strongman in power beyond January 2029.
Today Ruth apparently was asked by the UK’s online platform The Independent what she thought of the veracity and meaning of Elon Musk
”sieg heil”salute I.e. enthusiastic arm waving or the real thing
( paraphrasing)?
Her response was, “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.”
Never felt prouder to be a Lucider
for years now! Made my day!
Trying to get to the 12:30 pm with Anand and can’t find any links on Substack ??
Thank you Ruth. Truth to power.
The video with your interview with Ink was only 4 minutes long. Paid subscriber so not sure why it didn’t allow full interview
Ruth, there is something sinister about Trump that many of us sense, but can't permit ourselves to bring to full consciousness...he is a mortal threat.
Trump is not an aberration. His arrogance and oppositional-defiant attitude is magnetically attractive to vulnerable people who idealize a man whose appearance of self-confidence resonates with the part of them that is afraid to stand up for themselves.
But there is one more element that is less obvious unless you can sense it…it’s the murderous rage that gets evoked in Trump when others don’t behave as he demands. It’s a narcissistic rage, an annihilating rage, that many of us know from childhood experiences with parents. You can feel it just by looking at Trump’s glaring mug-shot. It communicates, “I will END YOU if you don’t do as I say, meet my every need, and willingly abandon your autonomous self. When we sense THIS threat, we instinctively get the message…we back down. Gradually we accept “alternative facts,” we start seeing the world as Trump sees it, we surrender any perception of reality that doesn’t align with his.
He threatens EVERYONE, whether they’re conscious of it or not. Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and others like them have done the same. THAT’S the element that causes individuals within the Congress, the courts, the D.O.J., the media, anyone in his immediate surround and the general public to “obey in advance.” They are trying to appease, and thereby avoid, Trump’s narcissistic rage which sends a signal to his “Brownshirts” to wipe out the source of the narcissistic injury that he, their idealized leader, can’t tolerate.
We must learn to recognize people who use the threat of their narcissistic fury to manipulate others into submission so we don’t elect them in the first place. But now that we’re here, we must grapple with how we support one another in large enough numbers to protect ourselves. This requires a lot more thinking, research, and discussions with experts like you, Timothy Snyder, Anne Applebaum, Bandy Lee, Steve Hassan, Malcolm Nance, et.al.
and Dr. Alexander Stein ......Ruth had him as a guest.....I would welcome hearing from him again.
Yes! Thanks for the reminder, Mary.
Hello Ruth,
thank you for your scholarship and your prescience.
I would like to encourage other Lucid subscribers who may have cancelled their WaPo subscriptions to re-consider. There is excellent reporting and work being done by journalists there. We cannot let that paper die because of a poor decision by Bezos. Here are links to three articles about the pardons, all excellent and worth reading.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/21/president-trump-pardons-jan-6-violent-offenders/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/21/republican-reaction-jan-6-violent-offenders-trump-pardon/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/01/21/pardons-proud-boys-oath-keepers/
I understand why people cancelled but I think the better course of action might be to shop less on Amazon.....laughing....easy for me to say as a "bricks and mortar" aficionado....I think, if I am not mistaken, that Ruth may have voiced a similar opinion at the time.....these journalists need our support. thanks. be kind.
Ruth, I loved the live chat with you and Anand today! Definitely do more of these. The comments were inspiring as well. I teared up a bit at the end with Anand asking people to share something they wish for all those still around. It was lovely.
Also re the live chat with Anand, I rarely swear either, but when I do, “shit” is the one I use (last time was when a lizard in my home that I was trying to rescue/release got away). Shitshow is very applicable to Trump’s and the broligarchs’ nefarious ways. Etc. (Definitely notoriously, “etc.”)