Showing posts with label authoritarianism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authoritarianism. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Chris Hedges: The Last Election
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Thom Hartmann: Trump's Silencing of Voice of America Is Another Gift to Authoritarians
Feb 9, 2026 | Trump killed Voice of America, our message to Europe, and is replacing it with right-wing think tanks in Europe. How is this all going to play out?
Thom Hartmann discusses what he calls "propaganda operations" funded by the United States in Europe, a significant topic in current geopolitics. He recalls Donald Trump's actions regarding the Voice of America, highlighting a critical moment in us politics explained.
This analysis offers important political news and sheds light on the nature of information warfare in international relations.
Thom Hartmann discusses what he calls "propaganda operations" funded by the United States in Europe, a significant topic in current geopolitics. He recalls Donald Trump's actions regarding the Voice of America, highlighting a critical moment in us politics explained.
This analysis offers important political news and sheds light on the nature of information warfare in international relations.
Saturday, February 07, 2026
Chris Hedges on Trump, Epstein and the Decline of American Democracy | UpFront
Feb 7, 2026 | One year into Donald Trump’s return to office, a wave of hard line actions - from volatile ICE raids to growing concern over political pressure on the media - has raised alarm about the expansion of the president’s power.
Then with US midterms approaching, attention is turning to whether there is any meaningful challenge to Republican grip on Congress.
So what happens next? This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with journalist and author Chris Hedges about Trump’s second presidency and whether US democracy is on the decline.
Then with US midterms approaching, attention is turning to whether there is any meaningful challenge to Republican grip on Congress.
So what happens next? This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with journalist and author Chris Hedges about Trump’s second presidency and whether US democracy is on the decline.
Thursday, January 29, 2026
American Jews Reclaim German Citizenship | DW News
Jan 29, 2026 | Once unthinkable: At 103, Holocaust survivor Ruth Gruenthal has reclaimed the German citizenship the Nazi regime stripped from her because she was Jewish. After surviving Nazi persecution and rebuilding her life in the U.S., Ruth became a psychotherapist and raised a family spanning four generations — many of whom have now also reclaimed German citizenship.
Born in Hamburg in 1922, imprisoned in France, and forced to flee Nazi persecution as a teenager, Ruth rebuilt her life in the United States, where she lived for decades. But recent political developments, rising antisemitism, and fears of growing authoritarianism in the U.S. have shaken her sense of security.
Ruth is not alone. An increasing number of Jewish Americans with family histories shaped by the Holocaust are applying to restore German citizenship — not necessarily to leave, but to have a safeguard: the option to move to Germany should conditions in the United States deteriorate further.
Germany allows victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to reclaim citizenship that was deliberately taken from them. In New York alone, applications have more than doubled in recent years.
Born in Hamburg in 1922, imprisoned in France, and forced to flee Nazi persecution as a teenager, Ruth rebuilt her life in the United States, where she lived for decades. But recent political developments, rising antisemitism, and fears of growing authoritarianism in the U.S. have shaken her sense of security.
Ruth is not alone. An increasing number of Jewish Americans with family histories shaped by the Holocaust are applying to restore German citizenship — not necessarily to leave, but to have a safeguard: the option to move to Germany should conditions in the United States deteriorate further.
Germany allows victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to reclaim citizenship that was deliberately taken from them. In New York alone, applications have more than doubled in recent years.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
WARNING: Trump’s Fascist Takeover Has Accelerated | Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Monday, January 26, 2026
Rise to Power: Mussolini's March on Rome I SLICE History | Full Documentary | Reupload
May 19, 2024 | In the fall of 1922, former teacher and journalist Benito Mussolini had only recently been elected to parliament when he seized power. His legal coup d’état, which began on 24 October in Naples, was a masterstroke.
Standing before 40,000 Fascist party members, he issued an ultimatum to the fragile Italian parliamentary monarchy: “Either they hand us the power, or we will descend on Rome!”
The militants, wearing black shirts and armed with clubs, headed for the capital. Following on from this legendary march on Rome, Mussolini headed up a totalitarian regime that lasted two decades.
Mussolini, Il Duce, took power and consolidated it until the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in the mid-1930s. He was a populist leader in terms of how he spoke to the Italian people, and a dictator in terms of how he exerted his power.
He came from the extreme left but governed from the extreme right. Mussolini invented the new ideology of fascism and was helped in his mission by the business community who wanted an end to left-wing rule.
Despite his brutality, he sought to please the Italian people, promising them a return to the grandeur of Rome. He enjoyed undeniable success for several years, both at home and abroad, until his inevitable downfall.
Documentary : Mussolini, the First Fascist
Directed by Serge de Sampigny
Production: Histodoc
Standing before 40,000 Fascist party members, he issued an ultimatum to the fragile Italian parliamentary monarchy: “Either they hand us the power, or we will descend on Rome!”
The militants, wearing black shirts and armed with clubs, headed for the capital. Following on from this legendary march on Rome, Mussolini headed up a totalitarian regime that lasted two decades.
Mussolini, Il Duce, took power and consolidated it until the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in the mid-1930s. He was a populist leader in terms of how he spoke to the Italian people, and a dictator in terms of how he exerted his power.
He came from the extreme left but governed from the extreme right. Mussolini invented the new ideology of fascism and was helped in his mission by the business community who wanted an end to left-wing rule.
Despite his brutality, he sought to please the Italian people, promising them a return to the grandeur of Rome. He enjoyed undeniable success for several years, both at home and abroad, until his inevitable downfall.
Documentary : Mussolini, the First Fascist
Directed by Serge de Sampigny
Production: Histodoc
Authoritarianism Decoded: How Fascism Takes Over without Force
Dec 22, 2025 | Fascism, authoritarianism, cult psychology, propaganda, Trump, Mussolini, and modern machismos explained. Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat joins cult expert Dr. Steven Hassan to break down how dictators rise, how mind control works, and why democracy is under threat.
In this wide-ranging discussion, NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, explains how fascist leaders from Mussolini and Hitler to modern authoritarian figures like President Donald Trump use propaganda, victimhood narratives, disinformation, and psychological manipulation to gain and maintain power. Dr Hassan connects these historical patterns to cult dynamics, mind control, and the follower–leader relationship he has studied for decades.
In this wide-ranging discussion, NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, explains how fascist leaders from Mussolini and Hitler to modern authoritarian figures like President Donald Trump use propaganda, victimhood narratives, disinformation, and psychological manipulation to gain and maintain power. Dr Hassan connects these historical patterns to cult dynamics, mind control, and the follower–leader relationship he has studied for decades.
America Feels Like a Country On The Brink Of an Authoritarian Takeover
THE GUARDIAN — OPINION: This is the news we should be paying attention to. At least for the moment, everything else is a distraction
When we talk about our inability to pay attention, to concentrate, we often mean and blame our phones. It’s easy, it’s meant to be easy. One flick of our index finger transports us from disaster to disaster, from crisis to crisis, from maddening lie to maddening lie. Each new unauthorized attack and threatened invasion grabs the headlines, until something else takes its place, and meanwhile the government’s attempts to terrorize and silence the people of our country continue.
So let me break it down. There is one story: our country is on the brink of an authoritarian takeover. In Minneapolis an innocent poet and an ER nurse at a VA hospital were both killed in cold blood by federal agents. It is happening now. Toddlers are being sent to detention centers; videos of their gyms for kids recall the youth choruses that the Nazis so proudly showed off at the Terezín concentration camp. Intimidation and violence are being weaponized against the citizens of Minneapolis, some of whom are afraid to leave their houses for fear of being beaten, arrested and shackled, regardless of whether they are US citizens or asylum seekers or people from another country peacefully living and working here for decades. » | Francine Prose | Monday, January 26, 2026
When we talk about our inability to pay attention, to concentrate, we often mean and blame our phones. It’s easy, it’s meant to be easy. One flick of our index finger transports us from disaster to disaster, from crisis to crisis, from maddening lie to maddening lie. Each new unauthorized attack and threatened invasion grabs the headlines, until something else takes its place, and meanwhile the government’s attempts to terrorize and silence the people of our country continue.
So let me break it down. There is one story: our country is on the brink of an authoritarian takeover. In Minneapolis an innocent poet and an ER nurse at a VA hospital were both killed in cold blood by federal agents. It is happening now. Toddlers are being sent to detention centers; videos of their gyms for kids recall the youth choruses that the Nazis so proudly showed off at the Terezín concentration camp. Intimidation and violence are being weaponized against the citizens of Minneapolis, some of whom are afraid to leave their houses for fear of being beaten, arrested and shackled, regardless of whether they are US citizens or asylum seekers or people from another country peacefully living and working here for decades. » | Francine Prose | Monday, January 26, 2026
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
American Democracy on the Brink a Year after Trump’s Election, Experts Say
THE GUARDIAN: Scale and speed of president’s moves have stunned observers of authoritarian regimes – is the US in democratic peril?
Three hundred and sixty-five days after Donald Trump placed his hand on the Bible and completed an extraordinary return to power, many historians, scholars and experts say his presidency has pushed American democracy to the brink – or beyond it.
In the first year of Trump’s second term, the democratically elected US president has moved with startling speed to consolidate authority: dismantling federal agencies, purging the civil service, firing independent watchdogs, sidelining Congress, challenging judicial rulings, deploying federal force in blue cities, stifling dissent, persecuting political enemies, targeting immigrants, scapegoating marginalized groups, ordering the capture of a foreign leader, leveraging the presidency for profit, trampling academic freedom and escalating attacks on the news media.
The scale and velocity of what he has been able to accomplish in just a year have stunned even longtime observers of authoritarian regimes, pushing the debate among academics and Americans from whether the world’s oldest continuous democracy is backsliding to whether it can still faithfully claim that distinction.
“In 2025, the United States ceased to be a full democracy in the way that Canada, Germany or even Argentina are democracies,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, the prominent Harvard political scientists and authors of How Democracies Die, and the University of Toronto professor Lucan Way, wrote in Foreign Affairs last month. They argued that the US under Trump had “descended into competitive authoritarianism”, a system in which elections are held but the ruling party abuses power to stifle dissent and tilt the playing field in its favor. » | Lauren Gambino | Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Three hundred and sixty-five days after Donald Trump placed his hand on the Bible and completed an extraordinary return to power, many historians, scholars and experts say his presidency has pushed American democracy to the brink – or beyond it.
In the first year of Trump’s second term, the democratically elected US president has moved with startling speed to consolidate authority: dismantling federal agencies, purging the civil service, firing independent watchdogs, sidelining Congress, challenging judicial rulings, deploying federal force in blue cities, stifling dissent, persecuting political enemies, targeting immigrants, scapegoating marginalized groups, ordering the capture of a foreign leader, leveraging the presidency for profit, trampling academic freedom and escalating attacks on the news media.
The scale and velocity of what he has been able to accomplish in just a year have stunned even longtime observers of authoritarian regimes, pushing the debate among academics and Americans from whether the world’s oldest continuous democracy is backsliding to whether it can still faithfully claim that distinction.
“In 2025, the United States ceased to be a full democracy in the way that Canada, Germany or even Argentina are democracies,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, the prominent Harvard political scientists and authors of How Democracies Die, and the University of Toronto professor Lucan Way, wrote in Foreign Affairs last month. They argued that the US under Trump had “descended into competitive authoritarianism”, a system in which elections are held but the ruling party abuses power to stifle dissent and tilt the playing field in its favor. » | Lauren Gambino | Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Friday, January 16, 2026
Chris Hedges: Grand Illusion
Whether or Not Trump Invades Greenland, This Much Is Clear: The Western Order We Once Knew Is History
THE GUARDIAN: The EU must be more robust in order to stem the tide of international disorder, or it risks falling to authoritarian imperialism
Donald Trump is threatening to take over Greenland, the territory of a Nato ally, possibly by military force, as Vladimir Putin is trying to take over Ukraine. Even if he doesn’t actually do it, this is a new era: a post-western world of illiberal international disorder.
The task now for liberal democracies in general, and Europe in particular, is twofold: to see this world as it is and to work out what the hell we’re going to do about it.
A global public opinion poll published today is a useful starting point. It was conducted last November in 21 countries for the European Council on Foreign Relations, in partnership with our Europe in a Changing World research project at the University of Oxford (and do please read the full report, which I have written with Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard). This is the fourth in a series of polls we’ve done every year since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, so we can see how things have evolved from very bad then to critical now.
Back in 2022, we found a transatlantic west united in outrage at the full-scale invasion of Ukraine but divided from other great and middle powers, such as China, India and Turkey, who were quite happy to go on doing business as usual with Russia. The Russian economy was surviving unprecedented western sanctions because those other states now had sufficient wealth and power between them to counterbalance even a united west. So this was already a post-western world, but still with a west acting in it.
Trump 2.0 has changed all that. Now we have a post-western world, but with no coherent geopolitical west acting in it. To the extent that any strategic coherence should be attributed to the erratic narcissism of Trump, his approach is closer to that of Putin than it is to that of any US president since 1945. As his right-hand man Stephen Miller frankly explains, they believe the world is “governed by strength … by force … by power”. » | Timothy Garton Ash | Thursday, January 15, 2026
Trump has vandalized the western world! That will be his legacy in the history books. — © Mark Alexander
Donald Trump is threatening to take over Greenland, the territory of a Nato ally, possibly by military force, as Vladimir Putin is trying to take over Ukraine. Even if he doesn’t actually do it, this is a new era: a post-western world of illiberal international disorder.
The task now for liberal democracies in general, and Europe in particular, is twofold: to see this world as it is and to work out what the hell we’re going to do about it.
A global public opinion poll published today is a useful starting point. It was conducted last November in 21 countries for the European Council on Foreign Relations, in partnership with our Europe in a Changing World research project at the University of Oxford (and do please read the full report, which I have written with Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard). This is the fourth in a series of polls we’ve done every year since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, so we can see how things have evolved from very bad then to critical now.
Back in 2022, we found a transatlantic west united in outrage at the full-scale invasion of Ukraine but divided from other great and middle powers, such as China, India and Turkey, who were quite happy to go on doing business as usual with Russia. The Russian economy was surviving unprecedented western sanctions because those other states now had sufficient wealth and power between them to counterbalance even a united west. So this was already a post-western world, but still with a west acting in it.
Trump 2.0 has changed all that. Now we have a post-western world, but with no coherent geopolitical west acting in it. To the extent that any strategic coherence should be attributed to the erratic narcissism of Trump, his approach is closer to that of Putin than it is to that of any US president since 1945. As his right-hand man Stephen Miller frankly explains, they believe the world is “governed by strength … by force … by power”. » | Timothy Garton Ash | Thursday, January 15, 2026
Trump has vandalized the western world! That will be his legacy in the history books. — © Mark Alexander
Monday, January 12, 2026
The Trump Report: ‘This Is Full-blown Authoritarianism’ | Scott Lucas Analyses Trump’s First Week of 2026
Friday, January 09, 2026
“We're Returning to a Pre-1945 World” Yanis Varoufakis & Gillian Tett on "Fractious" Global Politics
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Trump Ramps Up Authoritarianism in Wake of DC Shooting, from Immigration to Cancelling Biden Orders
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Monday, November 03, 2025
Jared Yates Sexton on the Rising Resistance to Trump’s Authoritarianism - The Weekend Show
ANTHONY DAVIS can be supported on Patreon here.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Anand GiridharadasTrump and Zohran, Demolition and Rebuilding
Sunday, October 05, 2025
Historian Warns: 'A Chill Spreads' as Trump Admin Follows Familiar Authoritarian Playbook
Friday, October 03, 2025
Trump's Shoddy Business Moves Are the Key to Stopping His Authoritarianism
Thursday, October 02, 2025
"Orwell: 2+2=5": Raoul Peck & Alex Gibney on New Documentary, Authoritarianism, Trump & More
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