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Degraded Democracy: "debating" an authoritarian [1]

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Date: 2024-06-28  

I heard Ruth Ben-Ghiat on MSNBC (talking with Nicole Wallace). She is author of “Strongmen” and is an American historian and cultural critic who studies fascism and authoritarian leaders. She is a professor at New York University.

What she said in regards to the event last night really struck me:

I come at this from a bit of a different perspective. I study professional liars who are very charming, they’re amazing performers, and they turn political events into spectacles for authoritarian purposes. Now, if you think about this “debate,” a real debate in a democracy is supposed to provide voters with accurate information so that they can make a choice. Trump came there for a totally different purpose, an authoritarian purpose, to spew as much propaganda, as many lies as possible, and he got a lot in, so he can indoctrinate people to his fake reality. And, so Biden was placed in a very difficult position because there was no live fact checking. And we know from studying propaganda you’ve got to have instant refutation. And, so, number one, it’s really kind of sad that because Trump lied with such vigor, with such dynamism, he’s hailed as the winner. The other thing is, and you can substitute ‘X’ for Biden if you have a favorite alternate Democrat, that person would have been stuck refuting all of Trump’s lies the whole time because of the lack of live fact checking from moderators and thus wouldn’t have been able to make his or her case to the American public about the agenda. And Trump knows all that. And, so, in a way, this debate — I’m not glossing over the terrible performance of Biden and lack of energy — but it’s 90 minutes and it’s a symptom of how we are a degraded democracy and we’re acting as though our political riturals around this election are proceeding normally. But this “debate” shows that one party is using these events for a completely authoritarian purpose.

Basically, we need to drop any pretense of these being normal times. Nothing is normal about how the Rebuplican party supports the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, will not commit to conceding defeat if the Democratic candidate wins, has plans to invalidate votes, and we have members of the justice system (including on the Supreme Court) who are aiding and abetting the authoritarian goals of Republicans.

It’s a horrible idea for Democrats to tear up the party by pushing on President Biden to step aside for someone else (WHO???). We should all be standing behind him 100%.

It’s June. And SCOTUS just dropped a boatload of distraction. And President Biden made a great speech today (with the energy I wished he’d shown last night).

I thought he had smart people advising him. We knew tfg would lie, lie, lie. And when Biden accused him of something, he could assume tfg would just sling it right back (as in Clinton calling tfg “Putin’s puppet” and him replying, “No, you’re the puppet”).

If there is to be a second debate, it MUST include LIVE, INSTANTANEOUS FACT CHECKING.

PS: And have President Biden practice speaking as he looks at the camera that’s on — so that he’s talking to the television audience — and speaking at a measured pace.

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