by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Apr 27, 2017 | Global Authoritarianism, Writing
Document, April 27, 2017 Creativity thrives in times of upheaval, and many of us now certainly feel the ground shifting under our feet. For the foreseeable future, we’ll be living with and governed by a “whirlwind of negativity,” as the artist Sylvia Maier terms the...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Apr 18, 2017 | Donald Trump And the GOP
It’s a haunting image. A basement space with blacked-out windows, crowded with camera equipment and journalists who were assigned to cover the Leader during the state visit of a foreign dignitary but were not allowed to look outside. Was this Vladimir...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Feb 1, 2017 | Forecasts, Global Authoritarianism
CNN.com, February 1, 2017 We’re not even two weeks into the Trump presidency. Has your head exploded yet? If so, you’re right where Donald Trump and our shadow ruler, Steve Bannon, want you to be. The onslaught of executive orders and threatening talk,...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Jan 22, 2017 | Forecasts
The Atlantic, January 22, 2017 In The Captive Mind, Czeslaw Milosz tells a story about a man who ventures out in the immediate aftermath of the fall of a regime. Papers full of state secrets lie in the streets, their knowledge less important for the moment than...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Jan 17, 2017 | Forecasts
CNN.com, January 16, 2017 n less than a week, America will embark on a new political experience: rule by an authoritarian President. Donald Trump won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million. So, for every American who looks forward to...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Jan 2, 2017 | Propaganda
“America’s favorite mischievous gay conservative,” is how publisher Simon & Schuster bills its newest high-profile author, Milo Yiannopoulos. The news that the Breitbart senior editor had received a reported $250,000 advance for his book...
