Ruth Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. She writes frequently for MSNBC and other media outlets on threats to democracy around the world. Her latest book, Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present examines how illiberal leaders use corruption, violence, propaganda, and machismo to stay in power, and how resistance to them has unfolded over a century. She also has a substack called “Lucid” that I highly recommend.
In our most recent coversation, we talked about:
How many Americans are naïve about what democracy is.
Why autocrats hold elections. Turkey, Hungary, Thailand? What do these elections do for the autocrats? What can we learn from Erdogan’s win in Turkey?
The spread of authoritarianism within the republican party.
How to sever the relation between authoritarian leaders and their followers.
The impeachment by Republicans of one of their own, AG Ken Paxton in Texas.
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