'Civilian thugs': How Trump’s 'politics of fear' works to 'change the perception of violence'
26 September 2023
During Tuesday's episode of MSNBC's All in with Chris Hayes, New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat explained how ex-President Donald Trump has normalized violence through "the politics of fear."
Hayes pointed out, "If you go after powerful people, right, in a liberal and open society, there's it's all sorts of things that you might risk, right? You might have career issues — there's reputational issues, maybe you'll sued for defamation. There's a bunch of things that are all within the boundaries of a liberal democracy and open society. The thought that you will be hurt, or the people that you love will be hurt, that is a different kind of thing, and this is what the New York Times says: 'The FBI has seen the number of threats against its personel and facilities surge since its agents carried out the unauthorized search at Mar-a-Lago, has subsequently created a special unit to deal with the threats. The U.S. officials said threats since then have risen more than 300%. In part, because the identities of employees and information about them are being spread online.'
He asked, "What does this do to a society when this is now just an accepted part of how things operate?"
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Ben-Ghiat replied, "Yes, it is how we get to the GOP and presidential debate where all of the candidates undercut their own power and humiliate themselves, raising their hands saying that they would support Donald Trump who was not even there, even if he becomes a convicted felon. This is the politics of fear, and what you are describing is these are dynamics that are also typical of correction, because this is how, fear is how corrupt authoritarians get people to do things. What Donald Trump's been doing, and we can look back at this, is what ever since fascism, all authoritarians do, they try and change the perception of violence in the minds of the population, from something repugnant to something that becomes necessary and even morally righteous."
She continued, "And Donald Trump has been doing this through his campaign events since 2015, and so when we cover in the media or otherwise his campaign rallies, his appearances, including going to the gun store, these are radicalization events. And the goal is interesting because today, as January 6th proved, and also January 8th in Brazil, because you can't get the military to cooperate with your coup attempt or whatever you're trying to do, you have a civilian army that you've been cultivating — civilian thugs. That is why there's an end game to this cultivation of violence as well."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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