by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Jun 14, 2020 | Propaganda
Essay written for CNN, June 11, 2020 “Who are you essential to?” yelled a New York Police Department officer on June 2 as he confronted badged Associated Press (AP) videographer Robert Bumsted and AP photographer Maye-E Wong as they sought to report on a...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Jun 14, 2019 | Propaganda, Writing
The Washington Post, June 4, 2019 Since President Trump’s election in November 2016, optimists have gone on trying to reassure each other. “Our institutions will hold,” they say. Our institutions will only hold, however, if they are defended with concrete actions....
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Oct 24, 2018 | Propaganda
CNN.com, October 24, 2018 Anyone who wonders about the link between hateful threats and actual violence was given something serious and grave to think about this week. Authorities found several pipe bombs delivered to people and organizations that for years have been...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Sep 20, 2018 | Propaganda
The Washington Post, September 20, 2018 Earlier this week, President Trump gave an interview to two correspondents at the Hill. The interviewers served him softball questions and plenty of adulation. His claim that his attacks on the FBI could one...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Dec 21, 2017 | Propaganda
The Washington Post, December 21, 2017 The strongman knows that it starts with words. He uses them early on to test out his plans to expand and personalize executive power on political elites, the press and the public, watching their reactions as they arrange into the...
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat | Nov 8, 2017 | Propaganda
CNN.com, November 8, 2017 How does a democratic political culture turn into something more authoritarian? How do leaders persuade people to accept their repressive agendas, scapegoat targeted groups and disrespect democratic norms? In the year since his election as...
