In the wake of #Trump’s unnerving appointees, the investigative journalist and veteran of the libel court offers 20 simple pointers on coping in an age of surveillance
#authoritarianism #Orwellian #Stasi #KGB #truth #disinformation #ThisIsNotPropaganda #PoliceState
What the first debate question for Trump must be - The Atlantic
No paywall
I find it exhausting to have to point out that Donald Trump has—yet again—threatened to engage in violent and dictatorial behavior, and that—yet again—the collective reaction by some in America seems to be a numb acceptance that this is just who Trump is.
Neuroimaging studies have shown that the #amygdala, the tiny almond-shaped brain structure that mediates #fear, is larger in people with more rightwing views
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/06/authoritarianism-roots-origin
[L]iberalism depends on illiberalism, and that's something that nobody wants to acknowledge. Working class life is much more authoritarian than the life of the middle class and the life of the upper class. And that the only way the upper class can enjoy their very free and open liberal life is to have very authoritarian vulgar working class people like police and soldiers and others enforcing it.
--- Caleb Maupin, source
#CalebMaupin #liberalism #capitalism #authoritarianism #military #police
Trump tells supporters they won’t have to vote in the future: ‘It’ll be fixed!’
Former president implores Christian supporters to vote ‘just this time’, then ‘in four years, you don’t have to vote again’
#christofascism - wikipedia
#trump #christian-nationalism #nationalism #christianity #politics #2024election #vote #guardian #project2025 #authoritarianism
"He tells the world he intends to be an authoritarian. So why won’t journalists repeat it?"
Donald Trump represents an existential threat to democracy in the United States. If he is elected president, he will try to become a dictator.
That warning must be repeated, over and over again, so Americans don’t forget it in November.
But that’s not the daily news that you will read or hear in the American press today. Instead, it’s mostly coverage of polls favorable to Trump and cute scene-setting stories about the carnival-like atmosphere at his crazed rallies, where his massive cult following is on display.
That daily coverage ignores the five-alarm fire burning up the 2024 election. The mainstream political press is effectively ignoring the coming national apocalypse. How can that be? How can they once again screw up covering Trump?
After all, Trump isn’t hiding his lust for dictatorial power. He admits it publicly. In December, when his Fox News lackey, Sean Hannity, gave him an opportunity to dispel fears that he wanted dictatorial power, Trump instead offered a rare truth. “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked. “Except for day one,” Trump replied.
Trump is planning a second term that is nothing more than a revenge tour: Deploy the Insurrection Act to crush dissent, turn the Justice Department into a personal weapon to imprison government officials who previously investigated or prosecuted him, persecute former aides who turned against him, pardon himself and his lieutenants, and loot the government to enrich himself and his flailing businesses.
In case anybody has missed his autocratic plans, Trump promoted a video this week about “the creation of a unified Reich” if he is elected.
Even this social media callout to Hitler generated a generally tepid response from the press, like one from an ABC reporter who only dared to say that it was “not normal” for presidential candidates to share “references to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler.”
Trump is a fascist. But the mainstream political press doesn’t want to say it. They want to act like 2024 is just another election year.
. . .
#trump #republican #american #authoritarianism #fascism #journalism #TheIntercept
The warning Anne Frank offers us about Trump
We live in an America where far too many people don’t believe “it” can happen here. That “it” is an American form of fascism ushered in by Trump and his MAGA movement. That means far too many Americans are not paying attention to what Trump is promising his supporters he will do if he wins, including his repeated vow to “liberate our country” from those he views as political enemies. (And yes, that is LITERALLY what Trump has been promising his supporters—and they love it.)
Courting Disaster - Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
There is no pretense that Trump would take office as anything other than an authoritarian leader, unconcerned by the rule of law. It’s a stern reminder that we are being realists, not alarmists, when we talk about how devastating a second Trump presidency would be.
How Corporate America Invented Christian America
Inside one reverend’s big business-backed 1940s crusade to make the country conservative again.
By KEVIN M. KRUSE April 16, 2015
This is an older, but relevant, article that gives some insight into the rise of Christian Nationalism. It compliments nicely Elizabeth Fones-Wolf's book, The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism (1994). I've only just started The Power Worshipers by Katherine Stewart but highly recommend it. Lastly, I'll include a link to Political Research Associates and their work on uncovering Right-Wing funding.
#religion #ChristianNationalism #RightWing #authoritarianism #conservatism #liberalism #libertarianism #business #fascism
https://newsie.social/@ZhiZhu/112026279928099587 ZhiZhu@newsie.social - @protecttruth
The #NYTimes once published an article saying that #Hitler wasn’t really that bad. He was just using #antisemitism as a way to attract followers & keep them excited about his #political campaign.
The NYTimes more recently published an article saying that #Trump isn’t really that bad. He is just using threats of #violence & #authoritarianism as a way to attract followers & keep them excited about his political campaign.
And a heart-felt "Fuck you" to everyone who told me in 2016 that I was overreacting. Yes, that's a meme. I don't care. I feel it in my bones. I cried the night they called that election for Trump. I cried myself to sleep.
"I told you so" is too gentle, too subtle.
'Dr. John Gartner on a tale of two brains: "Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing" '
One for weekend conspiracists (&/or anti-conspiracists)...
On the creeping and ever-darker resurgence of authoritarian, bubbling up from the underworld, globally. (Guardian story)
And referencing one of my personally banned buzzwords, "neoliberal". [poisoning the actual word AND prefix!]
The Atlas Network’s dark-money junktanks are behind neoliberal policies around the world. And you may find its leaders on a resignation honours list near you
#authoritarianism #fascists #dictators #neoliberalism #geopolitics #DarkMoney
The Eagle Forum
https://eagleforum.org/publications/insights/solzhenitsyns-calls-for-courage-are-critical-warnings-for-2024.html
"At a time in our country when we see daily examples of creeping — no, galloping — authoritarianism, it might be a good reminder to read what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote not that long ago about this human tendency. As G.W. Thielman describes, Solzhenitsyn "excoriated Western leaders" in 1978 that “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. … Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite." Gulags are not an impossibility if malevolence is given a free rein. Reprinted with permission. Pat Daugherty, Ed.D."
#fake-regime #authoritarianism #fake-president #cowardice
https://terikanefield.com/can-democracy-work-in-america-part-1-there-are-no-yankees-here/
The #Misinformation-Outrage Cycle, Part 1: “There are no Yankees here!”
..."Democracy requires an educated population able to analyze the implications of government policies. It requires voters to look beyond their own interests and consider the interests of society as a whole. It requires people who are aware of the appeal of a demagogue and can withstand that appeal.
This cannot happen if people do not have accurate information.
...
#Democracy draws its authority from rule of #law. Rule of law requires an adherence to #facts, or what sociologists call a shared factuality. A court of law cannot function if jurors say, “I don’t believe any evidence you are showing me. I only believe whatever the Leader tells me is true.”
#Authoritarianism, in contrast, is based on lies. The underlying lies are these: “I am the great and powerful leader who can solve all of our problems. I alone have the answers. I am strong and bold enough to protect you from our enemies and the dangers that threaten us.”
Because authoritarianism is based on lies and democracy is based on truth, the way to destroy democracy is to obliterate truth.
...
Political psychologists define the authoritarian personality as one that rejects nuance and complexity (including diversity) and tends to engage in all-or-nothing thinking. Those with an authoritarian personality prefer sameness and uniformity and have “cognitive limitations.” Karen Stenner calls them “simple-minded avoiders of complexity.” For more, see this article.
Conspiracy theories appeal to those with an authoritarian disposition.
...
There are people who are pro-democracy and people who are disposed toward authoritarianism—and there are degrees. Some people are extreme, but there is lots of gray. Many (if not all) people can exhibit authoritarian traits, particularly in times of high anxiety.
...
The current information disruption and proliferation of conspiracy theories is making it less likely that enough citizens will be able to make the kinds of informed decisions that a working democracy requires."...
On the recent Texas SC decision on abortion and its implications for the future of Americans' freedom.
The more power republicans have, the fewer rights we have. With Trump in power, we will have none whatsoever.
The Republican Party aims to remake the USA in Russia's image. Once upon a time, Republicans were so afraid of "communists" that they created McCarthyism.
What changed, guys? Did you finally realize that "communism" is just another word for authoritarianism? Took you long enough. Then again, you've never been very bright.
FTA: Congressional Republicans are meeting in secret this week with allies of the far-right Christian nationalist authoritarian Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán. Those allies, including representatives from a Hungarian government agency that reportedly organized a far-right U.S. group’s conference in Budapest, are working to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
#Republicans #Putin #PutinFanBoys #Fascism #Authoritarianism
"Prequel - An American Fight Against Fascism
MSNBC’s Rachel #Maddow argued that #authoritarianism has existed on the fringe far-right of U.S. #politics for nearly a century. Politics and Prose Bookstore and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., hosted this event."
#video #cspan
https://www.c-span.org/video/?531194-1/prequel-american-fight-fascism
The university where i studied, Chalmers in Gothenburg (Sweden), has now banned political expressions on the campus. This is to my knowledge a unique event in Swedish history. Hopefully people will resist/ignore these new authoritarian rules and continue to speak up for peace
https://www.flamman.se/darfor-vill-chalmers-tysta-studenter-och-anstallda/
#Chalmers #Sweden #Sverige #Gothenburg #Göteborg #censorship #FreeSpeech #authoritarianism #weapons #Elbit
Authoritarianism is inherent to the GOP
