The Authoritarian Right Is Regrouping
In Moscow, Mar-a-Lago, and beyond, desperate men are mobilizing anyone they can to help them regain power. Events of the past few weeks in Russia, Brazil, and America show the global right in disarray. But these are not signs of defeat, as liberals might hope; they are the disorderly attempt by antidemocratic forces to stage a recovery.https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/11/the-authoritarian-right-is-regrouping/672286/
https://archive.ph/v4WLf
By Tom Nichols
Going to Extremes
It’s been a bad year for authoritarians around the world, and November may have been their worst month yet. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to disintegrate into a series of disorderly retreats. Brazil’s far-right president was turned out of office. Millions of American voters kept a collection of antidemocratic candidates away from the levers of government.
We might want to see all this as a turning of the tide; my friend, the writer Jonathan V. Last—perhaps the only person capable of more pessimism than I—said this morning that he cannot resist a feeling of hopefulness. I hate to be the voice of caution here, because I want to believe the optimists will be vindicated. And I do think a collective faith in democracy will prevail. But I worry about the danger of complacency.
Over the past week, the global right has shown signs of trying to regroup after taking a hiding everywhere from the ballot box to the battlefield. Some of it seems little more than disorganized thrashing about, such as Jair Bolsonaro’s election challenge in Brazil and Kari Lake’s refusal to concede in Arizona. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is trying out a bolder version of his 2016 and 2020 race-baiting strategies by hosting a dinner for an anti-Semite and a racist—a pathetic and vulgar event that in a better political environment would be treated as yet another disqualification for participation in our public life.
Overseas, the Russians are not giving up in Ukraine, despite reports that they might quit their occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. (A Ukrainian official says there are signs that the Russians are pulling out; the Russians deny it.) I think it is possible that the Russian commanders have pitched a proposal to the Kremlin that they should withdraw as a matter of necessity. It would be a smart diplomatic move and a prudent strategic choice. But Vladimir Putin has demonstrated that he is a terrible strategist, and that he has no intention of ending this war.
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The last 20 years, Fox has been a danger. They stole 3 elections, the Supreme Court, and the states of Florida and Texas from us. But ever since 2016, and after Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, I feel like they've become a real threat to the well being of the United States. Murdoch lost his plaything in the White House and now he's really mad that he doesn't have his toy anymore. It's scary the amount of hate and violence they are pushing. They are getting their people elected in positions like school boards and city councils where they can do some real damage. I feel like if Fox and all of Murdoch's evil were removed from society we'd be far better off. 
Hard to get past that legacy. In difficult times, people tend to look to "strong" leaders, usually to their detriment.
But the ones who can make it happen are the very ones who benefit from the status quo. Bloomberg reports that $16.7 billion was spent on state & federal elections. What a fucking waste.
And within our lifetimes, the share of wealth in the US has trended steadily towards the already-rich.
The global right is the global rich, plus some shock troops like Rhodes and Tarrio.
In the US alone:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States#/media/File:US_Wealth_Inequality_-_v2.png
The bottom 50% is barely visible on that scale anymore
And people keep falling for that trickle-down nonsense, "voodoo economics" as a past Republican prez put it.
Wealth is power.
