Whittle donnie trump Is Angered By The Honest Governor Of The State Of Georgia...

 Trump’s anger at Gov. Brian Kemp is making it nearly impossible for the GOP to unify ahead of two runoff elections in the state that will decide control of the U.S. Senate.

ATLANTA—Two years after he made Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, President Donald Trump now appears dead-set on breaking him.

The president has seethed at his loss to President-elect Joe Biden in Georgia, throwing out bizarre conspiracy theories to argue he was robbed and urging Kemp to do something—anything—to reverse the devastating loss, even if it means shattering Republicans in the Peach State in the process.

On Sunday, after weeks of needling Kemp yielded nothing, Trump decided to go nuclear. “The governor’s done nothing, he’s done absolutely nothing,” the president complained to Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “I’m ashamed that I endorsed him.”

Twenty-four hours later, the president was still stewing. On Monday morning, he blasted the “hapless” Kemp on Twitter, demanding to know why he didn’t use his “emergency powers” to find what he alleged was a “goldmine” of fraud, the discovery of which would immediately hand him the win in the state, he said

Governor Kemp, despite djt's pressuring him to act irresponsibly and criminally on trump's behalf has refused to comply with the presnit's criminal request to intervene and falsify Georgia's election results. djt's corruption knows no bounds. He clearly and simply believes himself above the law.

America will be best served when this un American charlatan is out of office and forgotten. For Good.

In the meantime we are hoping that the presnit's temper tantrums work hard AGAINST djt and the republicans that are running in the run-off senate races in the state. Splitting gop unity and handing the 2 seats and the US senate majority to the democrats is just what the doctor ordered.

Continue reading BELOW the FOLD.

The Premier Fake News Outlets That Are Now Leading The Trumpian Sheeple Down The Road To Their Alternate Reality...

 

T

These looney tunes are either high on crack cocaine or they are simply without any ability to recognize truth from fiction. Nor do they care to recognize the difference. For these yahoos the only thing that is true is whatever hallucinations they are experiencing at any given moment. 

A Short History Of Militias... And It Ain't What The Looney Tunes Of The Right Believe It Is...

 

There Are A Few Decent Republicans After All... Georgia Must Flip Its Senate Seats Democratic To Give President Elect Biden A Governing Majority...;

 

‘I’m Sick Of It’: GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman Unloads On Republican Colleagues, Trump

Damn! Finally a GOP representative with some cajones! This republican is but one of 10 republicans in the house with the cajones to speak truth to the Orange Turd's lies and and accept openly the absolute reality that ALL thinking folks KNOW to be the truth. That President Elect Biden won BIGLY hands down and there was ABSOLUTELY no fraud that would change the election outcome, a Biden shellacking of the Orange Turd.

And now what Georgia needs to do is FLIP the Georgia senate seats, both of them, to the left side of the senate aisle, This will give President Elect Biden a strong governing majority and allow him to actually accomplish that which this nation actually wants done. The only goddamn way this nation is going to be able to right the ship of state is to render the looneys of the Orange Turd wing of the GOP totally without any power. The bastards are nothing but pure evil incarnate,

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djt's Mistakes Regarding The Coronavirus Pandemic Are Legiin...

 

A Flailing president And His Failed Presidency...

 As djt continues to do everything possible to destroy the framework on which our democratic republic has stood for 244 years... It is time he goes and it is past time he is prosecuted for the egregiously desructive bullsh*t he has engaged in for four very long years.

Trump’s Embarrassingly Bad Legal Case in Pennsylvania

No wonder his campaign kept swapping out its lawyers.

On Saturday, a federal district court judge issued a blistering dismissal of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Kathy Boockvar. The opinion is a lesson in elementary lawyering—a once-in-a-career missive that I assigned to my first-year law students on Monday, because it reads like a toddler’s “What’s Wrong With This Picture” exercise for lawyers. No wonder that Chris Christie, who was a U.S. attorney before he was New Jersey’s governor, called Trump’s legal team a “national embarrassment” in the wake of its dozens of legal failures. The more sobering problem is that, like much of government touched by Donald Trump, the legal system has now been sullied by his spurious attacks—relying on tortured arguments and illusory facts—upon legitimately cast and counted votes. Too bad that—so far—no lawyers have been sanctioned for abusing the courts this way. They should be.

Let’s start with some Lawyering 101. In order to bring a valid civil lawsuit, a plaintiff needs two things in hand: a law that authorizes certain relief from a court if a set of facts is ultimately proven, and some preliminary facts that have been gathered in good faith to justify proceeding with the case. Without supporting law or facts, not only will a court dismiss the lawsuit, but the lawyer, the law firm, and the client can be sanctioned for initiating the bogus case in the first place. The Trump campaign’s Pennsylvania effort lacked these basics. Someone should be held accountable.

It  bears repeating - Without supporting law or facts, not only will a court dismiss the lawsuit, but the lawyer, the law firm, and the client can be sanctioned for initiating the bogus case in the first place.

Damn straight! And it should be done ASAP. Both djt and his "legal teams" are an embarrassing joke.

Continue reading Below the Fold

Another Of The Outgoing president's Conspiracy Efforts... Again America Loses...

 

Congress Pays $850,000 to Muslim Aides Targeted in Inquiry Stoked by Trump

The House resolved wrongful termination claims by five Pakistani-American technology workers whose case was twisted into a right-wing conspiracy theory pushed by President Trump.

Another of example of trump's xenophobia, racism, and total incompetence all wrapped up in conspiracy. Thankfully the long nightmare of chaos, incompetency and bulls*it will soon be over.

On to the article...

The House of Representatives quietly paid $850,000 this year to settle wrongful termination claims by five Pakistani-American technology specialists, after a set of routine workplace allegations against them morphed into fodder for right-wing conspiracy theories amplified by President Trump.

Together, the payments represent one of the largest known awards by the House to resolve discrimination or harassment claims, and are designed to shield Congress from potentially costly legal action.

But aides involved in the settlement, which has not previously been reported, said it was also an attempt to bring a close to a convoluted saga that led to one of the most durable — and misleading — story lines of the Trump era. The aides said its size reflected a bid to do right by a group of former employees who lost their jobs and endured harassment in part because of their Muslim faith and South Asian origins.

What started as a relatively ordinary House inquiry into procurement irregularities by Imran Awan, three members of his family and a friend, who had a bustling practice providing members of Congress with technology support, was twisted into lurid accusations of hacking government information.

In 2018, Mr. Trump stood next to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at a now-infamous news conference in Helsinki, and implied that one of the employees involved in the House case — a “Pakistani gentleman,” he said — could have been responsible for stealing emails of Democratic officials leaked during the 2016 campaign. His own intelligence agencies had concluded that the stolen emails were part of an election interference campaign ordered by Moscow.

“It is tragic and outrageous the way right-wing media and Republicans all the way up to President Trump attempted to destroy the lives of an immigrant Muslim-American family based on scurrilous allegations,” said Representative Ted Deutch, Democrat of Florida, who had employed Mr. Awan and is chairman of the Ethics Committee.

Continue reading BELOW the FOLD. 

What A Real Leader And President Sounds And Acts Like...

 It is such a pleasure to listen to a real leader that is actually competent, intelligent, empathetic, and effective. Catch President Obama at the 1 minute 20 second mark on the video below.

After 4 years of an incompetent, ineffective, psychologically damaged sociopath playing presnit (djt) President Elect Biden is going to be a sustained gale of fresh air. The return of reason, logic, science, and actual leadership to the Office of the President of the United States of America will be a most welcome event in America and across the globe.

On to the video...

Goodbye And Good Riddance To The Orange Man Of Disaster...

A Vindictive and Vengeful president Again Shows His True Colors... The Character Of A Badly Damaged Psyche...

 

Trump threatens to wreak havoc on GOP from beyond the White House

His attacks on Republican governors since his loss offer a sample of what's in store.

Why is this no suprize at all? djt is a vindictive vengeful and narcissistic little "man" who will seek and then exact revenge on all those who actually had the cajones to stand up and speak truth to power. A truly despicable and evil little "man".

Excerpt from article...

Trump’s attacks on Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Mike DeWine Ohio — both of whom are up for reelection in 2022 — has led to broader concerns within the party that he will use his post-presidency to exact revenge on perceived enemies and insert himself into races in ways that are not helpful.

While the 2022 midterm elections are a ways off, the president’s broadsides are giving fuel to would-be primary challengers in both states — raising the prospect that Republicans will be forced into ugly and expensive nomination fights that could jeopardize their hold on the two governors’ mansions.

Trump’s intrusions into Georgia and Ohio provide an early test case for how he might use his stranglehold on the conservative base to control the party long after he leaves the White House. Never mind that Trump will no longer be in power: Cross him, and you will pay.

The president’s jabs at Govs. Kemp and DeWine could invite primaries, and that’s exactly the chatter he wants to start,” said Republican strategist Mike DuHaime, who oversaw Chris Christie’s successful New Jersey gubernatorial campaigns.

"The power the president holds over elected Republicans is due to his strength among GOP primary voters in every state and district right now. He may be able to make or break candidates in GOP primaries for years to come,” added DuHaime, who formerly served as a senior adviser to the Republican Governors Association.

Trump lashed out at DeWine after the governor’s appearance on CNN on Nov. 15, when the Ohio Republican called Joe Biden the president-elect and said that for “the country’s sake it’s important for a normal transition to start.”

Trump responded on Twitter, writing: “Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested!”

“In the short term, President Trump’s attacks on these governors serves his interest in casting doubt on the election results. But if it invites serious primary challengers, it could hurt Republicans in the long run and drain valuable resources that would be used for a general election.”

 Jon Thompson, former top RGA official

Ayup folks. djt and Trumpism is going to be around a damn long time and the country will remain in peril until this raving maniacal narcissist is finally sidelined. Since approximately 72 million Americans apparently like, or at the very least accept his brand of dishonesty, racism, misogny, and immorallity we're in for a long very dark slog baclk to complete sanity and reasoned political thought.

Read more BELOW the FOLD.

Our Job Is Not Done... djt Sycophants Also MUST Go To Preserve, Protect, and Defend Our Constitution And Its Principles...

 Having pledgd money to defeat djt, the worst president in our nation's 244 year history, I recently receceived the following letter from The Lincoln Project. As no doubt did 10's of thousands of other real patriotic Americans who helped defeat the narcissist in chief, djt.

The short letter lays out the truth of the djt administration and the challenges that will exist even after the architect of Trumpism is long gone from the office he never should have held in the first place. Like all letters of its kind it gets around to askng for a pledge to support the efforts to unseat the authoritarian anti Americans who supported and enabled djt to begin the dismantling of the democratic republic us real Americans hold dear.

I know I'll be continuing to support efforts by real republicans and real Americans to help insure the future defeat of all the sycophants and cultists in the congress that supported and enabled the distructive and anti democratic urges of the authoritarian djt administration.I hoe you'll consider a small donation too.

On to the letter... 

 It's a Republic, if you can keep it, Les

 

The framers of our Constitution designed a system of checks and balances with three coequal branches of government, empowered to reign in the most reactionary and radical ebbs and flows of popular opinion, and to secure the fundamental, inalienable rights of all Americans.

The survival of our Republic as it was conceived is dependent on each branch of government remaining disciplined and independent of one another, and remaining loyal only to the Constitution and the American people—not to a party, nor, especially, to one man.

The U.S. Senate, the upper chamber of the legislative branch, was once touted as "the world's greatest deliberative body." And throughout our history, there have certainly been times that were true.

But the current Republican Senate majority's loyalty to the American people and the Constitution has been replaced by absolutist partisanship, a zero-sum, no holds barred political calculus, and allegiance to a party led by a deranged, unhinged, immoral narcissist.

This allegiance to power and partisanship over the needs and interests of the American people, and the illiberal, nativist populism Trump espouses, is Trumpism.

But, while Donald Trump will leave the White House in a matter of weeks, Trumpism has proven to be a persistent, pernicious force that will not so easily be removed.

Donald Trump brought our nation to the precipice of calamity—a cliff we are only beginning to slowly inch back from—and he did so with support, guidance, and counsel from sycophants who encouraged and enabled his worst ideas and instincts.

We must hold accountable those in power who, at the very least, did nothing to prevent Donald Trump's desecration of our nation's highest office and revered institutions.

We now know the names of those who cannot be counted on to hold truth to power, put country over party, and defend the Republic.

Therefore, we must defeat them.

 

All of them.

Our mission is far from over, Les, but we're honored to have you with us in the most important fight of our lifetimes.

— Reed

CONTRIBUTE NOW LINK

Getting Rich Off The Presidency - djt, America's Con Man President... 2017- 2021

 

Republicans - Party Of Dishonesty And Authoritarianism...

At one time the republican party was a party of ideas, pro business, balanced budgets and controlled sustainable national debt levels, strong defense and respected diplomacy, honesty and decency. 

A party that believed in the rule of law. One who stood for democracy and our democratic republic. A party that perserved and protected the Constitution of the United States of America.

Something changed about 20 years ago. It started with the election of GWB. The party, while still maintaining some characteristic of its former self became less honest, more autocratic and authoritarian. It also thought little of the constraints on torture during times of war with our perceived adversaries. We became less free as well with the development of the Homeland Security and TSA.

Then America elected America's first president of color and the republican party in a racist hissy fit refused to cooperate with the duly elected pesident of the opposing party. In fact they vowed in secret meetings that they would work to make President Obama, the last real president of the nation, a one term president. When President Obama was reelected the republican party actually (although unofficially) became the rethuglian party.

Then entered djt, arguably the nation's least qualified, least effective, and most dishonest  authoritarian minded president in our 244 year history. The once respected republican party became nothing but a party of adoring sycophants, cultists, liars, and conspiracy theorists. Any hope of recovering vanished the moment the party chose to becomne the party of personality rather than being a party that resected the rule of law, honesty, integrity, and decency. In other words it officially became the party of djt. Lock, stock, and barrell. The party of cultism and the rule of personality. djt's personality.

So we are where we are today. Our democratic republic and democracy itself under attack from its president and one of its major political parties (the rethuglicans). Let us hope for the sake of our children and grandchildren that the party either reforms or dies. Before it kills our country and everything it has until now always stood for.

The follwing video from The Lincoln Project is outstanding as it tells the truth about the Party of Trump.

tRump's Future... The Raving Lunatic Of Fake News?... Stay Tuned

 

tRump Continues To Ignore The Pandemic As He Pouts And Throws Tantrums In The White House...

 

tRump's Amazingly Stupid Lying Attorney...

 

As djt Attempts His Coup d'etat Republicans and djt's Sycophants Ought To Review History...

Poll: Which Historical Figure Does Trump Most Resemble?

 Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” ~ writer and philosopher George Santayana

Reporting on the likely author of that quote, Big Think reported that, in its original form, the quote read, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Wikiquote reported that “a variety of [other] paraphrases and variants” have emerged over the years:

• Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.
• Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
• Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.
• Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Continuing, Wikiquote reported that “there is a similar quote by Edmund Burke (in Revolution in France) that often leads to misattribution: ‘People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.'”

Today’s poll ask readers to choose which of four historic figures Trump most resembles in their estimation.

Joseph McCarthy

Biography reported that “undaunted by his shortcomings, McCarthy cast himself as an unrelenting patriot and protector of the American ideal. On the other side of the argument, his detractors claimed McCarthy was on a witch hunt and used his power to trample civil liberties and greatly damage the careers of leftists, intellectuals and artists.”

Here are a few examples of parallels between Trump and McCarthy that we explored in an article published in January 2016 titled “Mentored By An Aide To Joseph McCarthy – Donald Trump Embodies The Tyranny Of His Heroes.”

• Trump vows to vilify and crush those who dare speak out against him – “If someone screws you, screw them back.“
• He mocks those others admire – “[John McCain]’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, okay? I hate to tell you.“
• He admires and extols the worst of human values and nature – mentored by former McCarthy henchman Roy Cohn and praising tyrants like North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un, Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Far be it for him to praise the likes of Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela – “What a sad thing that the memory of Nelson Mandela will be stained by the phony sign language moron who is in every picture at funeral!“
• And here’s Trump’s take on contrition…. remorse – “When we go in church and I drink the little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and I eat the little cracker — I guess that’s a form of asking forgiveness.“

Benito Mussolini

As with McCarthy, there is a lot we could say about Mussolini, but instead we are going to quote the first portion of an article about the Italian leader titled: “When investigators threatened his power, he declared himself dictator” that was published earlier this week by The Washington Post:

He threatened the press, joked about ruling for life and bullied everyone, including the allies who helped him get into office, while enjoying a cult following among his base. When a special judicial investigation threatened to reveal his financial corruption and complicity in criminal acts, he did not hesitate to destroy the democracy he led to remain in power.

Benito Mussolini created the world’s first Fascist dictatorship not just as a counter to the powerful Italian left — that’s a well-known story — but also as a desperate act to avoid prosecution….

Mussolini undermined the institutions and culture of Italian democracy persistently and methodically. He denounced any negative press coverage of him as “abusive” and “criminal,” and demanded that the offending reporters and editors be fired… He dismissed officials who were insufficiently servile. He bullied Parliament into passage of an electoral law that guaranteed his coalition’s victory in the 1924 elections. And he stayed silent when Fascists beat up or killed opposition politicians.

Adolph Hitler

First of all we want to clear the air about the inclusion of Hitler as an option. The Guardian reported a few years ago about about an internet meme known as Godwin’s Law:

Back in 1990 – before users referred to the internet as the World Wide Web and a negligible number of mavericks held discussions on Usenet newsgroups, the Well, and Bulletin board systems (BBS) – Mike Godwin, then an Austin law student, created one of the first internet memes. It was called “Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies”, and the assertion went like this: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”

Setting that aside, human rights group The Anne Frank Center took to Twitter last summer to post a comparison of Trump’s America and Hitler’s Germany which warned of “alarming parallels” between Trump and the infamous Nazi leader.

Alarming parallels of history escalate. pic.twitter.com/5P708XVa5h

— Anne Frank Center (@AnneFrankCenter) August 8, 2017

The Independent reached out to the Anne Frank Center’s director reporting that: “The post did not specifically mention Trump or Hitler but the center’s executive director said the comparison was intended.”

Richard Nixon

As the comparisons are well-known, with Special Counsel Robert Mueller closing in on the Trump administration, we are going to refer to a Politico article discussing Trump’s historical antecedents.

Trump is less populist, more demagogue, invoking the likes of President Richard Nixon. At least that’s what Sean Wilentz, George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History, says. “Trump is a Mixmaster blend of the right-wing Republican politics of the past 50 years. He literally recycles Nixon’s demogogy about ‘the silent majority’ and Reagan’s fantasy call to ‘’make America great again,’” Wilentz writes. “Trump is both the creature and exploiter of that radicalism, cynicism and kiss-my-ass bullying culture. He’s a dreamboat all the more attractive for his snarling vulgarity.”

djt,  a seriously psychologically damaged individual with extreme narcissistic personality disorder is attempting nothing less than a coup d'etat. His attempts to influence state legislators in what were battleground states that President Elect Joe Biden legitimately and handily won to not honor the will of the people and instead select pro trump electors to overturn the results of the 2020 legitimate and most secure election in our nations history is a disgrace to the Republican party, the leadership of the party, and those who are supporting his fraudulent and frankly CRIMINAL attempt to remain embedded in power...

Those who turn a blind eye to history most often suffer severe and unwanted consequences. 

And that is exactly what the Republican party, djt's sycophants, as well as his cultists are doing. In a nutshell djt and these assholes are directly attacking and attempting to destroy our democracy and the democratic republic that has stood for 244 years.

If it happens America will have reap what they sowed in 2016.

So, what say you? Which historical figure most closely aligns with (the wannabe tyrant) djt today?

Is American Democracy Safe?... We Think NOT...

Threats and Tensions Rise as Trump and Allies Attack Elections Process

Confrontations have escalated in swing states, with elections officials in both parties facing threats of violence, as the president and other Republicans try to subvert the country’s voting system.

Prepare for the violence to come, initiated and fueled by djt cultists. djt is indeed the nation's clear and present DANGER. He is desirous of holding onto power even as the American people fired him on November 3, 2020. His cult of personality and division are becoming unhinged and present a grave danger to our democracy and the people who SUPPORT DEMCRACY.

 Via: Memeorandum

American Democracy At Peril... The Efforts Of djt...

 WASHINGTON (AP) — Getting nowhere in the courts, President Donald Trump’s scattershot effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory is shifting toward obscure election boards that certify the vote as Trump and his allies seek to upend the electoral process, sow chaos and perpetuate unsubstantiated doubts about the count.

The battle is centered in the battleground states that sealed Biden’s win.

In Michigan, two Republican election officials in the state’s largest county initially refused to certify results despite no evidence of fraud, then backtracked and voted to certify and then on Wednesday flipped again and said they “remain opposed to certification.” Some Republicans have called on the GOP statewide canvassers to so the same. In Arizona, officials are balking at signing off on vote tallies in a rural county.

The moves don’t reflect a coordinated effort across the battleground states that broke for Biden, local election officials said. Instead, they seem to be inspired by Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about baseless fraud and driven by Republican acquiescence to broadsides against the nation’s electoral system as state and federal courts push aside legal challenges filed by Trump and his allies.

MORE ELECTION 2020:

• – Analysis: For Trump, sowing post-election chaos is the goal
• – Biden approaches 80 million votes in historic victory
• – Too soon? Georgia draws next class of White House hopefuls

Still, what happened in Wayne County, Michigan, on Tuesday and Wednesday was a jarring reminder of the disruptions that can still be caused as the nation works through the process of affirming the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.

There is no precedent for the Trump team’s widespread effort to delay or undermine certification, according to University of Kentucky law professor Joshua Douglas.

“It would be the end of democracy as we know it,” Douglas said. “This is just not a thing that can happen.

Yes there is no precendent. Exactly as there ought not to be. But, djt is attempting to establish that precedent. If he succeeds, and he may very well so so, it WILL be the end of democracy in America. We will have become a Banana Republic. djt's fondest desire to be sure.

Continue reading BELOW the FOLD.
VIA: Memeorandum

The Killing Of Democracy In America...

It really is beyond question that djt is, and always has been an authoritarian minded individual. In as much as he is an authoritarian he also craves recoginition and adoration from people he actually sees as inferior to himself.  Unfortunately for American democracy djt has built a cult of personality around his presidency and his campaigns for high officeandsome seventy million Amerians voted for him and his cult of personality.

Like Mussolini and Hitler before him his deep narcissism does not allow his psche to see himself as anything but a genius who knows exactlty what is right for everybody. Anyone who recognizes his deep pyschological flaws for what they are is considered the enemy and so djt does everything in his power to demean, belittle, embarrass, and if possible eliminate them from being relevant. And THAT, in a nutshell is how djt has ran his compaigns and governed for four years.

The following article and the interview at its end sheds light on authoriarism in general and djt in particular. Both the article and interview are well worth your time and consideration. Even if you have been, or are still a djt supporter.

Anyone who believes djt is going to go quietly, or that he will ever acknowledge his resounding defeat, and work to transfer power effectively and peacefully is simply kidding themselves. Hs cult of personality does not want him to and djt probaly continues to believe he will prevail in his efforts to hold on to power.  And if he is successful KILL democracy in America in the process. Likely his highest goal as we see it playing out in real time right this very moment.

Why Trump views his loss as "psychological annihilation"

The Signorile Report - As Donald Trump rages on with vengeful firings by tweet, fizzling court battles and useless recounts more than two weeks after a presidential election he clearly lost to Joe Biden, we see our democracy under attack in brutal ways.

Trump and his enablers in the GOP are sowing doubt about our election system. And they’re denying President-elect Joe Biden the ability to obtain funds and access for his transition during the most deadly pandemic in over 100 years. It’s a time when we have to be alert to what Trump might do as he becomes more desperate, clinging to power while lashing out.

So I turned to an expert on authoritarians to get more insight.

New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat has studied authoritarians the world over, looking back over the past 100 years — from Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and yes, the U.S.’s own Donald Trump.

In her new book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, she looks at the different motivational circumstances and ultimate outcomes of various authoritarians, but, more interestingly, homes in on the similarities among them, from overt displays of virility to the vicious use of propaganda.

“I’ve never thought that Trump is governing according to a normal democratic frame of reference,” Ben-Ghiat said in an interview on my SiriusXM show last week about her book, and in particular about Trump’s loss in the election. “He’s used this authoritarian playbook. His personality and his temperament check all the boxes of all the leaders that I’ve studied.”

In Trump’s case, she explained, “He’s been in office to build his personality cult and to stay in office as long as possible.”

Trump, like other authoritarians, sees a loss of power as “psychological annihilation," something for which he’s not prepared.

“They surround themselves not with professionals, with experts who can give them the best policy, give them critical feed back,” Ben-Ghiat explained. “They surround themselves with flatterers and sycophants who tell them what they want to hear. And this is counterproductive in the long run, and this is why most of them end up badly.”

For Trump that meant losing the election. But, like other authoritarians, the loss is unacceptable.

“They don’t go quietly,” Ben-Ghiat said. “They’re not capable of foreseeing a future without them having this kind of hold over people. So this is the most dangerous time, when they feel that their power is threatened.

Listen in to the entire interview.

What say you?

Via: Memeorandum