Conditioning Americans With Authoritarian Statements

[struggle4progress]

ADAM PARKHOMENKO
1 HOUR AGO

Donald Trump will be a dictator from Day One. He will seek revenge against his adversaries. He will fire civil servants not loyal to him. He will pardon insurrectionists and terminate the constitution.

Those are not my statements; they are statements made by Donald Trump himself describing his intentions, should he return to the White House. One might expect such authoritarian declarations to tank a candidate’s campaign. But Trump does not make these statements by mistake; he does so in response to questions from his closest allies in conservative media, as was the case during an interview on June 5 with Sean Hannity. He makes these statements by design.

An age-old gambit from the authoritarian playbook, the strategy behind Trump’s statements is one that worked in Nazi Germany, in the Soviet Union, and in other repressive regimes throughout history. Evil intentions are floated. Reactions are assessed. Weaknesses are exploited. Intentions are repeated. Wrongs become desensitized. Scapegoats are named. Opposition is divided and conquered. Power is grabbed. Distractions are created. Dissent is squashed. Then, with the groundwork complete, what was once considered unthinkable becomes reality.

Trump, like aspiring authoritarians before him, is fostering a national environment in which his self-first vision of governance can be achieved. He is conditioning and reconditioning Americans to tolerate central tenets of authoritarianism. Sadly, the sinister strategy is thus far working. Each time he speaks of eroding the norms of American governance, our national and individual alarm bells ring a little quieter than the time before. Numbness permeates about the grave danger he represents ...

https://lamag.com/opinion/opinion-trump-is-conditioning-americans-with-authoritarian-statements

[keithbvadu2]

1. Those millions of republicans want an authoritarian/theocratic gov't but they mistakenly think they will be the few thou

Those millions of republicans want an authoritarian/theocratic gov't but they mistakenly think they will be the few thousand elites actually in charge.

Those millions are useful tools for those who will actually be in charge.

One poster called it a 'new social feudalism age'.

[spanone]

2. These statements alone should disqualified him. This is like letting Putin run.

[Blue Owl]

3. Dr. Phil -- the Dictator Whisperer

[flamingdem]

4. Chilling and excellent run down

of the orange turd's plans.

[B.See]

5. "Numbness permeates about the grave danger he represents ..."

Numbness for some... for the rest of us, an increased sense of ALARM.

the choices to save our democracy seem simple to me...

Roll over and play dead, or DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.