And it’s a very dark, cobweb filled place of delusional hysteria. Mr Chauncey DeVega gives us a tour.
The question is… whether anything or anyone is capable of stopping him.
To embellish this tale of impending doom, Mr DeVega turns to academia. Specifically,
I recently spoke with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat in an effort to better understand where America is on its road to fascism and authoritarianism in this fourth year of Trump’s regime.
It’s a regime, you see. Mr DeVega likes this word and uses it no fewer than nine times, as when telling us, confidently, that,
The American people are in a manic state because of Trump’s regime.
Not just Salon columnists, then, but the entire population. Apparently, 300 million people are teetering on the verge of a psychotic episode.
Dr Ben-Ghiat, a lecturer in Italian Studies, is of course on-message:
I’m very upset that there are in fact Trump supporters and I have zero sympathy towards them.
This is followed by pointed references to Hitler and Mussolini - because hey, why not? – and whisperings of a cowed and fearful media:
Many people in the news media are afraid to really engage the fact that Trump is an authoritarian because if they do so then reality becomes too threatening, and therefore they would have to take a different stance publicly.
Because we all know the media is kind to Trump and never event hints at call him fascist, thug, genocidal, racist, anti-Semitic, Hitler II, and are instead famously warm to Trump because the media is terrified of Trump.
At which point Mr DeVega interjects with more of his own signature understatement:
The end goal is for Trump, Barr, the Republican Party and the conservative movement more generally to have their own secret police.
Dr Ben-Ghiat then warns us that prolonged exposure to Mr Trump will cause the entire country to “lose all sense of reality.” A process seemingly well underway, at least in the pages of Salon.
Trump's continuing assault on democracy: What lies ahead?
The question is… whether anything or anyone is capable of stopping him.
To embellish this tale of impending doom, Mr DeVega turns to academia. Specifically,
I recently spoke with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat in an effort to better understand where America is on its road to fascism and authoritarianism in this fourth year of Trump’s regime.
It’s a regime, you see. Mr DeVega likes this word and uses it no fewer than nine times, as when telling us, confidently, that,
The American people are in a manic state because of Trump’s regime.
Not just Salon columnists, then, but the entire population. Apparently, 300 million people are teetering on the verge of a psychotic episode.
Dr Ben-Ghiat, a lecturer in Italian Studies, is of course on-message:
I’m very upset that there are in fact Trump supporters and I have zero sympathy towards them.
This is followed by pointed references to Hitler and Mussolini - because hey, why not? – and whisperings of a cowed and fearful media:
Many people in the news media are afraid to really engage the fact that Trump is an authoritarian because if they do so then reality becomes too threatening, and therefore they would have to take a different stance publicly.
Because we all know the media is kind to Trump and never event hints at call him fascist, thug, genocidal, racist, anti-Semitic, Hitler II, and are instead famously warm to Trump because the media is terrified of Trump.
At which point Mr DeVega interjects with more of his own signature understatement:
The end goal is for Trump, Barr, the Republican Party and the conservative movement more generally to have their own secret police.
Dr Ben-Ghiat then warns us that prolonged exposure to Mr Trump will cause the entire country to “lose all sense of reality.” A process seemingly well underway, at least in the pages of Salon.
Trump's continuing assault on democracy: What lies ahead?
