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HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE: “He threatened the press, joked about ruling for life, bullied everyone..When an investigation threatened to reveal his financial corruption and complicity to criminal acts, he destroyed democracy to remain in power.”- @ruthbenghiat https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/06/19/when-investigators-threatened-his-power-he-declared-himself-dictator/
“Mussolini created the world’s first Fascist dictatorship not just as a counter to the powerful Italian left..but as a desperate act to avoid prosecution.
“His time as prime minister of a coalition government (1922-1925) offers lessons in how..autocracies are born”- @ruthbenghiat
“His time as prime minister of a coalition government (1922-1925) offers lessons in how..autocracies are born”- @ruthbenghiat
“Mussolini undermined the institutions and culture of Italian democracy persistently and methodically. He denounced any negative press coverage of him as ‘abusive’ and ‘criminal,’ and demanded that the offending reporters and editors be fired”- @ruthbenghiat @washingtonpost 2018
“He made offhand remarks about..becoming a dictator. He dismissed officials who were insufficiently servile. He bullied Parliament into passage of an electoral law that guaranteed his victory..He stayed silent when Fascists beat up or killed opposition politicians.”- @ruthbenghiat
“Among those was Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti—murdered by Mussolini’s secret police—not only because of his loud opposition to Fascism but because he was about to reveal evidence of illegal Fascist Party financial transactions that involved Mussolini and his family.”-RBG
“To save himself, Mussolini took the plunge into dictatorship, announcing..he and his party were above the law. ‘If Fascism has been a criminal association, I am the head of that criminal association,’ he said, letting govt know the window to unseat him had closed.”- @ruthbenghiat
”Much in this sad tale may sound familiar to those who have watched Trump degrade the culture and institutions of American democracy and seek to eliminate anyone who obstructs the expansion of his power.”- @ruthbenghiat @washingtonpost 2018
”From his calls to have his political opponent in the 2016 election, Hilary Clinton, imprisoned, to his firing of FBI Director James B. Comey, Trump has followed the authoritarian playbook first written by Mussolini.”- @ruthbenghiat @washingtonpost 2018
“Mussolini would have applauded Trump’s boast that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any followers: It told America if he were elected, no one would be able to hold him accountable.”- @ruthbenghiat @washingtonpost
“It is indeed high time for Americans to sit up and listen carefully when the president tells them what he would like to do to expand his authority, whether it is removing limits on his time to govern, censoring the media or putting his political opponents in jail.”- @ruthbenghiat
”We can’t protect our republic if we don’t take seriously those who threaten it, especially when they behave in such a chillingly similar fashion to those who have destroyed democracy in the past.”- @ruthbenghiat @washingtonpost 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/06/19/when-investigators-threatened-his-power-he-declared-himself-dictator/
I learned of the work of historian and author Professor @ruthbenghiat watching a screening of @UnfitMovie. Pay attention please: this is not a drill. https://twitter.com/Heidi_Cuda/status/1274728710160039936
Addendum: “Mussolini enjoyed a cult following among his base.”- @ruthbenghiat 2018
