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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/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/demo...
“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
“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
“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
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">https://twitter.com/Heidi_Cud...
Addendum: “Mussolini enjoyed a cult following among his base.”- @ruthbenghiat 2018
