What happens when the president federalizes the National Guard on a Saturday night and sends 2000 troops into Los Angeles? You thank your lucky stars you have a chat with authoritarianism expert and author of the Lucid Substack, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, planned for the next day!
Ruth’s ability to analyze Trump’s moves in the light of the behavior of other strongmen is invaluable. Her confidence that protests have value, and more importantly, her explanation of why they do, is essential. And you’ll want to hear her explanation of the term fascism and how it applies to what we are seeing today.
If you missed our chat live, watch it up above or click on the transcript button if you’d rather read it. And of course, it’s fine to share it with your friends. Knowledge really is power. If we’re going to avoid the autocracy trap and emerge from Trump 2.0 with our democracy intact, taking responsibility for our own civics education is paramount.
Thanks for joining in for Civil Discourse’s third anniversary.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Get full access to Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance at joycevance.substack.com/subscribe
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