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27 April 2021 Advisory Refuse Fascism podcast with Dr. Ruth Ben-GhiatThe GOP is Now the Party of AutocracyRefuseFascism.org produces a weekly podcast featuring commentary on the latest events and interviews with major thinkers from many different perspectives who are sounding the alarm on the continuing danger of American fascism. This week, Sam Goldman (@SamBGoldman) talks with Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@RuthBenGhiat) about her new platform Lucid, her recent articles for CNN, recent book Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present and about the continuing effects of Trump’s lies and how the entire GOP has changed in the aftermath of the Trump years and January 6 coup attempt. |
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Ruth Ben-Ghiat: “We can’t move on because the lies that Trump and company told are still very much determining our environment today…We have to face the fact that we have a supposedly bipartisan system, and only one of the parties is anchored in democracy now. The other is going toward autocracy. It doesn’t want to play anymore the democratic game. That’s the legacy of Trump. And January 6, also we can’t move on when millions of people still think Trump won the election. So it’s literally unsolved for all those people, and which will mean they’re not done with it. So because they’re not done, we can’t be done either. We have to be on guard.” Sam Goldman: “That these fascist forces didn’t succeed in overturning the election does not change that it was a violent coup attempt by fascists in and out of government fighting with everything they had, so that they could rule over everyone else with their white supremacy and their misogyny and their xenophobic terror. And while they have been voted out, which really, you know, as you said, it was a tremendous thing, the fascism hasn’t been removed. More than possibly ever before it’s clear that this country is filled with fascists, tens of millions. The behavior that we’ve seen be normalized, like threats to hang opposition, to eliminate dissenters.” *** RefuseFascism.org was initiated on an emergency basis in the wake of the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Recognizing the fascist character and danger of the looming Trump/Pence Regime, we issued a “Call to Action” which began: “NO! In the Name of Humanity – We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America! A virulent fascist movement both in and out of government is still working to re-seize power and consolidate a different form of rule built on white supremacy, misogyny and xenophobia, relying on overt terror and violence. Once in power fascism essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights. Preventing this remains our urgent mission. The podcast is also available on Youtube. — 30 — |