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…
Authoritarianism
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Premature Question
by JOHN ADAMS •
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 •
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 •
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…
Authoritarianism, Putin, Trump, Trump-Russia
‘Very Brazen About It’
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the video above, Dr. Sarah Kendzior describes the brazen nature of autocracy: not merely does an autocrat flaunt norms, but he does so to remind others of his power, and to attempt to instill in normal, freedom-loving people a feeling of hopelessness in the face of power aberrantly exercised. In response to these tactics,…
Authoritarianism, Putin, Russia, Trump
Rubin & Kendzior on Trump-Russia
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jennifer Rubin and Sarah Kendzior offer complimentary observations on Trump-Russia, that compound word for the evident association between Trump and Putin’s authoritarian state. Rubin’s remarks are from yesterday, Kendzior’s from May 20th. Rubin asks, of Trump, Would a spy for Russia be acting any differently?: By whatever means, Russia has reaped unexpected and unparalleled benefits from…
Authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Putin, Russia, Trump
Time, 5.29.2017
by JOHN ADAMS •
Authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs, Putin, Trump
Sarah Kendzior Ponders Foreign Affairs ‘In the Shadow of Putin’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Sarah Kendzior, an anthropologist with a background studying the dictatorships in the former Soviet republics of central Asia, speaks to Lindsay Beyerstein on Beyerstein’s The Breach podcast: This week on The Breach, journalist Sarah Kendzior joins us to talk about the weaponization of information in Putin’s Russia. The full extent of Russia’s influence on the 2016 presidential election…
Authoritarianism, Kakistocracy, Mendacity, Trump
‘Trump is never going to be a proper president’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Authoritarianism, History, Politics, Resistance
What Grant’s Overland Campaign Teaches for Grave Political Conflict
by JOHN ADAMS •
For matters far removed from warfare, including ones concerning severe political conflict, Grant’s Overland Campaign offers useful lessons. It’s typically a poor idea to describe political affairs in military terms, but grave threats to the political order sadly call for a different approach. One fights in more than one way: sometimes using maneuver, at other times…
Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump
An Eminent Psychiatrist on Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
Dr. Allen Frances, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical College, who served as chairman of the task force that wrote the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (D.S.M.-IV), on 2.14.17 sent a letter to the New York Times in which he addresses questions about Donald Trump’s mental state. (See, An Eminent Psychiatrist…
Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Trump
A Grand Coalition Forms
by JOHN ADAMS •
Conservative Jennifer Rubin describes, in E Pluribus Unum vs. Trump, both the building coalition against Trump and the powerful nature of that coalition. She’s right that what seemed unlikely a few weeks ago is real now: Just a couple of weeks ago, critics of post-inaugural protesters argued the anti-President Trump movement lacked coherence. Too many small,…
America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Trump
Principled Conservatives Organize Against Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
One needn’t be a conservative to admire the efforts of thoughtful conservatives to organize against Trump. Evan McMullin and Mindy Flynn have now launched Stand Up Republic to resist the Trump agenda from a conservative vantage. Jennifer Rubin reports on this in Evan McMullin makes a splash by going after Trump and Putin. Above, I’ve…