“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power ... becomes illegal,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat said.

“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power … becomes illegal,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat said.

Donald Trump is ramping up his rhetoric depicting his political rivals and critics as criminals, while dropping a long trail of suggestions that he favors outlawing political speech that he deems misleading or challenges his claims to power.

In a speech Friday in Aurora, Colorado, the Republican presidential nominee blasted the immigration system and lobbed a rhetorical grenade at his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“She’s a criminal. She’s a criminal,” said Trump, who was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial. “She really is, if you think about it.”

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  • @[email protected]
    1•2 months ago

    Nowadays, fascists choose to plug their ears with their fingers

    Yes, because they’re motivated to live in that fantasy world where they are ‘strong’ and the ‘weak’ are being punished.

    but this time we should know better

    Why ‘should’ people prefer reality to a fantasy? Humans had the choice to make a reality which provided human decency for as many as possible, but it was consciously and repeatedly decided to exploit the many in order to enrich the few.

    • @aesthelete
      1•2 months ago

      Why ‘should’ people prefer reality to a fantasy?

      Maybe because other people that you punish unjustly as part of your fantasy world fucking exist and feel pain?

      I get why someone with zero empathy, values, and morals would argue that acting out a fantasy in the real world is superior to hum drum reality, but that’s what you have to be to act that way.

      • @[email protected]
        1•2 months ago

        Maybe because other people that you punish unjustly as part of your fantasy world fucking exist and feel pain?

        It is perfectly possible for some people to not care about this, as is discussed in psychological literature. It is also perfectly possible for some people to only extend care towards their ingroup, as they discuss as part of discussions of their own political preferences.

        • @aesthelete
          1•2 months ago

          You were asking why someone should prefer reality over fantasy land and I answered that.

          I also covered that I understood that asshole nihilists and hedonists exist, so I’m not sure why that had to be retreaded.