The warning bell keeps clanging.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"We have been studying democratic crisis and authoritarianism for 30 years. Between the two of us, we have written five books on those subjects. We can think of few major national candidates for office in any democracy since World War II who have been this openly authoritarian….

The U.S. establishment is sleepwalking toward a crisis."

~ Steven Levitskiy and Daniel Ziblatt

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/18

nytimes.com

(www.nytimes.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The U.S. Naval Academy’s history department invited NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat to give a guest lecture this month about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule, then the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing figures launched a pressure campaign and the academy disinvited her."

~ David Kurtz

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler #RuthBenGhiat
/19

Kamala Harris Plans To Close With A Strong Anti-Fascism Message

INSIDE: Ruth Ben-Ghiat ... Patrick Soon-Shiong ... Mike Flynn

(morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

Dan Froomkin reminds us that the US did once have news commentators fiercely committed to the truth, courageous, and intent to serve democracy by remaining true to their vocation – in a word:

Walter Cronkite.

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/20

Time for a 'Cronkite moment'

Network anchors must speak the unvarnished truth about Trump’s mental state

(criticalread.substack.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

“Do you think somebody possibly has video of Trump mocking the handicapped, demeaning US prisoners of war, boasting about sexually assaulting women, praising Vladimir Putin, or urging a violent attack on the US Capitol? That would be huge.”

~ David Frum as quoted by Andrew Egger

Irony alert here.

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #Hitler
/21

The Soft Bigotry of Our Trump Expectations

One candidate gets graded like a normal candidate would. The other gets excused for talking about Arnold Palmer’s junk.

(www.thebulwark.com)

[dzeep@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

Patrick Soon-Shiong is the asshole of the month... Biycott this punk's LA Times

#LATimes

[zachvat@newsie.social]

@wdlindsy Most of America watched the network newscasts then. And read their papers. These people were respected as a source of information.

Yes, we need such folks now, but news sources are now so diverse and divided that it can longer be the way it was.

[catherder@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy
The 2016 result gave me and my friends that wake up call. For a long time, we were just horrified at the level of success the Rs had had in dumbing down America.

[josephmeyer@c.im]

@wdlindsy
As always, thanks for your great threads. I am exhausted and stressed at this point, having a hard time imagining how much more stress I will feel if Trump wins, and just hoping a majority of US voters will choose to save our democracy.

[philip_cardella@historians.social]

@wdlindsy too often South Africa gets more of a pass than people in the US want to believe.

The apartheid regime was absolutely fascist. We chose to side with them anyway. So our view of history, despite arguably the largest civil rights movement in history to end apartheid goes a little soft, imho, on just how evil that regime was.

[phaedral@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy That was before the fat cats realized how much more money there is in platforming rather than reporting. It costs nothing to stick a mic in front of "the man on the street," and ad sales go up when you do it.

What we need is a society that values something other than shareholder return.

[wobweger@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy
thanks for the coverage
quite impressive

[iveyjanette@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy Up in Heaven,the Chandler family that once owned the Times and whitewashed coverage and politics for generations is cheering.

[phaedral@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy Pussy-grabbing should have been the breaking point for the GOP.

[phaedral@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy Whatever it would say about our country has already been said by the fact that he was elected once already and that he's considered a viable candidate despite his treason and Nazism and taste for sexual predation.

[aka_quant_noir@hcommons.social]

@wdlindsy He says "baked into the election results" but he means "if he wins, Trump gets a mandate." And buyer beware.

[mirishuli@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy Sam Donaldson. I miss him every day.

[ajaykaul10@vmst.io]

@wdlindsy Exactly. Nixon made to look like a lamb.

[nanowiz@vmst.io]

@ajaykaul10 @wdlindsy
hella

[blackburied@newsie.social]

@wdlindsy go back even further when a single reporter, Ed Murrow, had the faith and trust of an entire nation and could expose McCarthy to the country.

In re-watching this, the horrible realization that McCarthy was nowhere near as bad a slimeball as #trump

[abelle@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy I grew up watching Walter Cronkite! I don’t think we ever missed an evening of news.