Authoritarianism

Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, Bigotry, Demographics, Ethnicity, Immigration, Race, Right-wing Populism

Her Loss is America’s Gain

by JOHN ADAMS • 08/09/2018 • Comments

Laura Ingraham: "The America we know and love doesn't exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don't like … this is related to both illegal and legal immigration" pic.twitter.com/s5G2qIY4W0 — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 9,…

America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Politics, Trump

A Roadmap for Renewal

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/23/2018 • Comments

No map provides all the detail one encounters when traveling a terrain; it is enough that it makes one’s chosen direction discernible. Our present national conflict will one day end, and when it does millions who will have swept Trumpism into the dustbin will then have to renew American politics, restoring to this society once…

America, Authoritarianism, Trump, Trump-Russia, Tyranny

‘America Used to Stand Up to Dictators’

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/20/2018 • Comments

Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Immigration, Race, Trump

Reimagining Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ as a 1940s Propaganda Film

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/22/2018 • Comments

Videographers Taige Jensen, Leah Varjacques, and Japhet Weeks observe that “a U.S. government film from 1943 justifying the detention of Japanese-Americans in internment camps has new relevance in light of the president’s immigration policies.”

Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Immigration, Resistance, That Which Paved the Way, Trump

Sounds of Trumpism’s Malevolence

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/20/2018 • Comments

Robert Kagan, writing of Trump’s foreign policy, describes the uncaring malevolence of Trump’s perspective: Trump’s America does not care. It is unencumbered by historical memory. It recognizes no moral, political or strategic commitments. It feels free to pursue objectives without regard to the effect on allies or, for that matter, the world. It has no…

America, Authoritarianism, Trump

Anton Leaves the Field, But We’re Still Here (in Opposition)

by JOHN ADAMS • 04/30/2018 • Comments

It was Michael Anton, writing as Publius Decius Mus, who famously declared that support for Trump was an existential necessity for conservatives in 2016: 2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway. You—or the leader of your party—may make it into the cockpit and not know how…

Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty

Mycielski’s Complete Four-Page Guide to Surviving an Authoritarian Regime

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/12/2017 • Comments

European journalist Martin Mycielski has prepared a Complete Four-Page Guide to Surviving an Authoritarian Regime (“in graphic form, With love, your Eastern European friends.”) As he now sees the return of authoritarianism to his native Poland, we now see the beginning of it in America. Here is Mycielski’s guide:

Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Putin, Trump, Trump-Russia

America, Russia…

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/04/2017 • Comments

It’s true that a well-ordered society would not be governed by (an unrepentent) former KGB agent. It’s just as true that a well-ordered society would not be governed by a bigoted, autocratic, dissolute liar. Yet here we are, and there they are. .@tolokno was imprisoned for speaking out against Vladimir Putin's presidency in Russia. She…

America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump

‘Gradually and then suddenly’

by JOHN ADAMS • 10/25/2017 • 2 Comments

David Frum, to explain inevitable failure, instructively quotes Ernest Hemingway on going broke: A famous line of Ernest Hemingway’s describes how a rich man goes broke: “Two ways … Gradually and then suddenly.” That’s how defeat comes upon a president as well. The live question for Trumpists in 2018 will be whether they can hold…

Authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs, Putin, Russia

Frontline: Putin’s Revenge (Part 1)

by JOHN ADAMS • 10/25/2017 • Comments

Watch the first part of "Putin's Revenge" wherever you are tonight — on @PBS , on Facebook Live or on our website: https://t.co/GbH41aBls3 pic.twitter.com/MyGFa0oPD9 — FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) October 25, 2017

Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Resistance, Trump

Truths About Trump

by JOHN ADAMS • 09/15/2017 • Comments

For supporters and those in thrall: It was a con. It was always a con. even people who thought they were in on the con were being conned. — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 14, 2017 You know why? Because you elected a guy who has broken every promise he’s ever made to his wives, his…

Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia

The Premature Question

by JOHN ADAMS • 09/11/2017 • Comments

Over at the Daily Beast, Joy Reid asks What’s Going to Happen When the Trumpists Realize the America They Yearn for Is Gone? It’s an interesting question, perhaps, but more importantly it’s a premature one. We’ve a long road ahead before Trumpism is finished, and you’ll excuse me if the time for pondering life after…

Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump

“The Leader is the Party and the Party is the Leader”

by JOHN ADAMS • 08/07/2017 • Comments

Embed from Getty Images Trumpist Kayleigh McEnany has left CNN (where she appeared as a Trump surrogate), for both Trump TV and the Republican National Committee as the RNC spokesperson. Evan McMullin, a conservative opponent of Trumpism, rightly (but too optimistically, I think) observes that “[i]nstead of doubling down on Trumpism, GOP leadership would be well served…

Authoritarianism, Trump, Trump-Russia

Amy Siskind’s Weekly Authoritarianism List

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/31/2017 • Comments

Amy Siskind, president and co-founder of The New Agenda, keeps The Weekly Authoritarianism List. She does so because, as she rightly observes, “experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.” (The list has been nominated for permanent keeping with the Library of Congress.) There are just…