In the current era of Trump, much of American society finds itself frustrated, angry, and traumatized by an authoritarian president whose leadership is being perceived increasingly as illegitimate. Oddly, a large reason for Trump’s success in getting elected in the first place as well as his continued seemingly inconceivable support is largely due to the illusion that he is anti-authoritarian and will shake things up and create change.
Washington and New Dehli are having a mutual lovefest these days. Donald Trump is popular in India — where only 17 percent of the population considers the president “intolerant,” compared to a global average of 65 percent — and he has warmly welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House.
Rit Picone of Newpaltz, N.Y., carries an American flag upside down as a symbol of protest against the influence of money in politics. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The title of this post is a sentence from Matt Ridley's recent speech at the Association for Private Enterprise Education in Maui, Hawaii. The statement is a good reminder that the most destructive and murderous actions in history were carried out by governments. Government use of force against ethnic groups is far more effective than private use of force against these same groups.
President Donald Trump walks out of the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
President Donald Trump yesterday congratulated Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his victory in Sunday’s referendum.
The White House released a brief readout of the phone call between the two leaders in which they also discussed the recent US airstrike on Syria.
Trump’s phone call contrasts sharply with European leaders who have sharply criticized the referendum describing the narrow victory as a sign of authoritarianism.
In the fall of 2015, the Polish political arena was shaken by the overwhelming victory of the socially conservative and nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS). Poland, once an unquestionable success story in the former Eastern Bloc, is altering its democratic trajectory and threatening its hard-won achievements.
Authoritarianism will continue to rise in America in a vicious cycle as long as the authoritarian left feeds off perceived threats to society from the impositions of the authoritarian right – and vice versa.
Attacks and intimidation, it seems, have become a part of American political life, but America’s political polarization buries a counterintuitive insight: Culturally and aesthetically, the left and the right appear quite different, yet both of their political philosophies are rooted in authoritarianism.
White House strategist Stephen Bannon speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. (AP/Susan Walsh)
