In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, FRONTLINE investigates how Donald Trump’s presidency laid the groundwork for bitter divisions, violence and ultimately insurrection. “Trump’s American Carnage” investigates Trump’s siege on his enemies, the media and even the leaders of his own party, who for years ignored the warning signs of what…
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism, Mendacity, Trump, Trumpism
Trump’s Big Lie
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Timothy Snyder, on Twitter, writes of Trump’s Big Lie: See also Snyder’s On Tyranny.
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Congress, Herrenvolk, History, Law, Mendacity, Trump, Trumpism
Confederates, Copperheads, and Conservatives
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s an understatement to say that a democratic society that endures a violent mob seizing its capitol building is a society in distress. We find ourselves in the twenty-first century facing movements as malevolent and mendacious as the nineteenth century’s Confederates and Copperheads. Karen L. Cox writes What Trump Shares With the ‘Lost Cause’ of the…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Trump, Trumpism
The Libertarian Remnant
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Shikha Dalmia is a libertarian, and as a libertarian who is true to those beliefs, she is necessarily opposed to the authoritarianism of Trump and in Trumpism. Because the definition of libertarianism has been distorted beyond any true meaning by opportunistic or ignorant rightwing donors, she’s lost her job Reason magazine. Conservative donors pay the…
Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Never Trump, Portland, Trump
Trump’s Illicit Attempts Remain Illicit
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A man may unsuccessfully attempt a robbery or murder, yet one would rightly see him as a wrongdoer. The failure to achieve an evil end does not absolve those so attempting from moral culpability. See Attempts. So it is with Trump, now: his attempts to subvert the election through lies and (baseless) lawsuits are no…
America, Authoritarianism, Conspiracy Theories, Elections, Law, Trump, Unfit
Attempts
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
When a burglar walks through a neighborhood, and tries doorknob after doorknob to see which one might be unlocked, no reasonable person would say that his attempts to enter are innocent acts. On the contrary, he’d rightly been seen as dangerous. In the same way, when Trump challenges election results through lies, his attempts to…
Authoritarianism, Law, Never Trump, Race, Republicans, Trump, Trumpism
Trump’s Refusal: Explanations Particular and General
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s more than one explanation for Trump’s refusal to concede: that he cannot manage the narcissistic insult of defeat, that he wants to support Georgia’s Republicans in a January 5th runoff, or that he wants to bolster his chances of a following after January 20th (for a television network, another campaign, or simply to vacuum…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Conflicts of Interest, Gluttony, Grifters, Never Trump, Seven Deadly, Trump, Unfit
Transfer
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Authoritarianism, Books, City, Liberty, Trump, Trumpism, Tyranny
Snyder’s On Tyranny
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Prof. Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: ‘Lesssons from the Twentieth Century’ (2017) recently came my way. By design, it’s a brief presentation of twenty lessons that Snyder has discerned after a long career as a historian, with significant study and research on twentieth-century European history. It’s a small, inviting pamphlet addressing a big, unwelcome subject. We’ve…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Coronavirus, Corporate Welfare, Disinformation, Economy, Elections, Herrenvolk, Militarized Policing, Parodies, Propaganda, Protests, Public Health, Trump, Trumpism, Tyranny
The Juice Media: A Message from the White House (Pandemic, Autocracy, Corporate Cronyism, and Disenfranchisement)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Militarized Policing, Portland, Trump
A ‘Wall of Moms’ on the Front Lines of Portland Protests
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
As tensions continue between protesters and federal officers in Portland, Ore., mothers have taken to the front lines to face tear gas. Three Portland moms talk about the “Wall of Moms” demonstrations and why they think they’re needed to protect protesters from federal agents.
Authoritarianism, Books, Coronavirus, History, Libertarians, Liberty, Public Health, Reasoning, Rhetoric, Russia, Tyranny, Walworth County
An Example of Bottomless Ignorance in Walworth County
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Some residents of Walworth County, Wisconsin object to public health measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. So hysterical is their opposition that one reads Opponents say county’s coronavirus safeguards are ‘like Russia’: Confronted by a raucous crowd of opponents fearing government intrusion, Walworth County Board members have backed away from a measure…
Authoritarianism, Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Police, Trump, Unfit, Violence, William Barr
Detailed Video Timeline of the Crackdown on Protesters Before Trump’s Photo Op
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Washington Post analyzed hours of video footage and obtained audio of police communications and other records to assemble the most complete account to date of the June 1 crackdown on protesters in Washington D.C.. Late in the day on June 1, demonstrators gathered near the White House, on the edge of Lafayette Square, to…