Trump couldn't persuade you, so he's trying to 'terrify' you instead: expert

In late March 2025, then-Yale University scholar Jason Stanley expressed his opposition to Donald Trump's second presidency by accepting a job offer from the University of Toronto, resigning from Yale, moving to Canada and leaving the United States. Stanley, an author known for his expertise on the history of fascism, reportedly took a pay cut when he left Yale. But he is expressing no regrets about the decision, as he believes that Trump isn't growing any less authoritarian.

During a Saturday morning, October 18 appearance on MSNBC — the day roughly 2500 No Kings Day protests, according to organizers, are being held in cities all over the United States — Stanley highlighted a dangerous shift in Trump's rhetoric and actions. The U.S. president, Stanley argued, has gone from trying to persuade people to trying to "terrify" them.

When Velshi — who is Canadian but now lives in the U.S. — told Stanley the Trump Administration believes they "do not need public opinion anymore," he got no argument from Stanley.

The University of Toronto scholar told Velshi, "You see it when the government shifts to hard propaganda against its own citizens, when it says: Look, you know, we're not trying to convince you of anything — we're just trying to terrify you. We're telling you (that) you will get rewards if you're on our side and you will get punishment — you will lose your job, we will take you to court — if you're not on our side. We're not trying to convince you anymore. We're not trying to spin a story. We're just doing to you what we do to external enemies."

Stanley continued, "And look, that's what they've been telegraphing they're going to do. That's why they're saying the real enemy is internal. The real enemy is the Democrat Party. That's not an attempt to convince Democrats to support them."

With live images of a No Kings Day rally in New York City appearing on the screen, Velshi noted that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other MAGA Republicans are describing the events as "hate-America rallies" dominated by Antifa agitators, Hamas sympathizers and far-left communists.

Stanley told Velshi, "This is a classic move from history…. We can point to history, and then, we should emphasize the fact that these people know that history. So, it is standard. The Nazis called the social democrats — the center, the center-left in Germany at the time — they called them Marxists, communists, enemies of the state, right? So, that is extremely typical: You call the opposition party Marxists and communists. You call anyone who's against you Marxists and communists, an existential threat to the state. We're seeing that exact strategy. People say, 'Why always draw things back to Germany?' Because I think, someone is looking at German history here."

Stanley continued, "And so, that move of saying, 'If you're not 100 percent for us, if you're not just repeating our line, you're anti-American because what America is right now is Donald Trump' — it's Donald Trump and his agenda, according to this idea, according to this move the administration is making."

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