Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Trump's Dehumanizing Takeover

Sep 15, 2025 | "If you lose hope that you can effect change, that collectively, change can be affected, then you've really given in to authoritarians who want you to feel fatalistic"

Deploying the military against the citizenry, going after universities, intimidating the media into silence—these are just some of the techniques that Trump and countless other dictators have used to maintain power.

Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat joins Jen to discuss how Trump is normalizing the military’s presence in domestic spaces, dehumanizing the “other” through hateful rhetoric, and striking authoritarian bargains with our nation’s institutions. Importantly, Ruth reminds us that change is possible.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. She writes about fascism, authoritarianism, propaganda, and democracy protection. She is the recipient of Guggenheim and other fellowships, an advisor to Protect Democracy, and an MSNBC opinion columnist. She appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and other networks. She has been a consultant on historical feature and documentary films and advises governments and corporations (including the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol) on autocrats and authoritarian parties and the threats to democracy they pose.

Anne Applebaum: Everything the Founders Feared Is Happening | The Bulwark Podcast

Aug 7, 2025 | The United States, through USAID, not only supplied a big chunk of the world's humanitarian aid, it also provided almost all of the logistical support for other aid organizations to deliver relief as well. Now in Sudan, where the state has disintegrated and millions of people are trying to flee anarchy and civil war, virtually no Western organization is there to provide food and shelter. And no American is working on trying to end the conflict. Plus, Tim Cook joins the CEO suck-up to Trump, a top well-regarded FBI official who was trying to hold the line under Kash has been pushed out, and Putin may be trying to pause Ukraine's punishing air war on Russia—but he's not showing any sign that he wants peace. Anne Applebaum joins Tim Miller.

‘He’s Moving at a Truly Alarming Speed’: Trump Propels US into Authoritarianism

THE GUARDIAN: A senator handcuffed, people snatched in public, military deployed – Trump’s slide towards autocracy has come quicker than critics feared

It reads like a checklist of milestones on the road to autocracy.

A succession of opposition politicians, including Alex Padilla, a US senator, are handcuffed and arrested by heavy-handed law enforcement for little more than questioning authority or voicing dissent.

A judge is arrested in her own courthouse and charged with helping a defendant evade arrest.

Masked snatch squads arrest and spirit people away in public in what seem to be consciously intimidating scenes.

The president deploys the military on a dubious legal premise to confront protesters contesting his mass roundups of undocumented migrants.

A senior presidential aide announces that habeas corpus – a vital legal defence for detainees – could be suspended.

The sobering catalogue reflects the actions not of an entrenched dictatorship, but of Donald Trump’s administration as the president’s sternest critics struggle to process what they say has been a much swifter descent into authoritarianism than they imagined even a few weeks ago. » | Robert Tait in Washington | Thursday, June 19, 2025