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☆ Opinion: Trump gives Biden one big lift
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Former President Donald Trump’s favorability ratings are only slightly better. The bipartisan legislation to control the flow of migrants across the southern border was blown up by opposition from Trump. One thing that is going right for Biden is Trump himself. “I want to vote for Donald Trump in November, wrote Marc A. Thiessen in the Washington Post. … Just like office holders have released their tax returns (up until former President Donald Trump), I would like to see more candidates release their physical and mental health assessments,” Schurman observed.

Persons: Oscar, ” Ramy Youssef, hungers, Max McCandles, Godwin Baxter, “, Frankenstein, Willem Dafoe, McCandles, Baxter, who’s, ”, Joe Biden’s, Donald Trump’s, Biden, Clay Jones, Trump, Ruth Ben, Ghiat, “ Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Adolf Hitler, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong, Saddam Hussein, —, — Donald Trump, ‘, ” Ben, Donald Trump, Marc A, Thiessen, Will, that’s, Dana M, Peterson, Erik Lundh, Will RFK, Mary ’, Aaron Rodgers, Julian Zelizer, Kamala Harris, Andrey Spektor, Hunter Biden, Andrea Hailey, We’re, Frederick D, Dennis Aftergut, Bill Bramhall, Hilary Krieger, Gary Schmidt, ” Bradley Schurman, …, Schurman, Robert Hur, Jack Ohman, Patrick T, Brown, Hur, Republicans “, Biden’s, Franklin D, Roosevelt, Willis, Fani Willis, Willis ’, Nathan Wade, Wade, Norman Eisen, Danya Perry, Joshua Kolb, Scott McAfee, Wade’s, ” “, ’ Biden, ” Jose Antonio Vargas, “ It’s, ” Dana Summers, Garry Pierre, Pierre, Ariel Henry, Henry, America sneezes, Frida Ghitis, TikTok, ” Ghitis, Catherine, Princess, Kate, George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, ” Rosa Prince, Louis ’, William, ’, ” Prince, Ekaterina Kotrikadze, Jonathan I, Fareed Zakaria, Carrie Sheffield, Noah Berlatsky, Kristen Stewart’s, queerness, Doug Heye, MAGA Trump, Dean Obeidallah, Katie Britt’s, Amy Hanauer, Naomi Walker, Robert Downey Jr, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Arturo Holmes, Jeff Yang, Jack Palance, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, they’d, ” Yang, Cord Jefferson, Lily Gladstone, “ Gladstone, she’s, Leonardo, DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Emma Stone’s, Bella, ” Stone Organizations: CNN, Trump, Hamas, GOP, Washington Post, Mar, Hungarian, ”, Conference Board, Will RFK Jr, White House, American Enterprise Institute, Biden, Union, Republicans, Twitter, Pew Research Center, Content Agency Haiti, Haitian Times, Haitian, America, Kensington Palace, AP, Reuters, Agency, North, Hollywood Locations: Gaza, Israel, Ohio, Washington, Ukraine, Afghanistan, America, Georgia, Fulton County, Fulton, he’s, Florida, Texas, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Maryland, China, Wales, Kensington, North America, La, American

☆ Opinion: Trump’s praise of dictators tells us all we need to know
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Opinion Ruth Ben-Ghiat | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Adolf Hitler, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, Saddam Hussein: What do they have in common? Some of it is no doubt Trump airing his fantasies of the kind of authority he could exert as president. He praises Hitler, Chinese leader Xi, Russian President Putin and others because of their absolute power, not in spite of it. Thus Xi, in Trump’s telling, is “strong like granite. But Americans are the most important audience for the stream of praise he directs to autocrats.

Persons: Ruth Ben, Ghiat, Strongmen, Mussolini, CNN — Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Adolf Hitler, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong, Saddam Hussein, —, — Donald Trump, “, Jim Sciutto, Trump, Hitler, Xi, Putin, ”, ” Trump, Hussein, Erdogan, Kim, autocrats Organizations: New York University, CNN, GOP, Trump, Turkish, White Locations: Russian, Trump’s, Ukraine, Russia, Hollywood, Iowa, Turkey, cybercrime, Germany

☆ Politically motivated 'swatting' incidents reveal how common anti-government terrorism is becoming, expert warns
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

She told Business Insider that the increasing spate of swatting attempts is an intensification of anti-government extremism plaguing the country. An FBI report reviewed by CBS indicated there may be more than 500 recorded swatting calls nationwide since May of 2023. "These are tactics that terrorists have used in the past to disseminate chaos and fear with fake bomb threats — they're not new tactics," Ben-Ghiat told BI. "The thing about these threats is, whatever form they're taking, they normalize the idea of threatening public officials," Ben-Ghiat told BI. Advertisement"That's what Trump does 24/7, hammering the idea 'We're coming for you, don't resist, we're coming for you,'" referring to his administration and supporters, Ben-Ghiat told BI.

Persons: —, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen, Rick Scott of, Michelle Wu, Arthur Engoron —, Donald Trump —, Ruth Ben, Ghiat, Strongmen, Mussolini, they're, Ben, Trump, they'll, isn't, Andrew Thomas Finch, Casey Viner, Shane Gaskill, Gaskill, Viner, Tyler Barriss, Brian, he'd, Finch, Barriss, Donald Trump's, he's, Utah Sen, Mitt Romney, who've, autocrats, swatting, aren't, Liz Cheney, they've, that's Organizations: Service, Business, Georgia, Boston, New York University, FBI, CBS, Wichita, Gaskill, Republicans, Fifth, MSNBC, Trump, Ben, Wyoming, Republican Party, GOP Locations: Rick Scott of Florida, York, Utah, Ben

This turn inward has sounded new alarms among experts on autocracy who have long worried about Mr. Trump’s praise for foreign dictators and disdain for democratic ideals. They said the former president’s increasingly intensive focus on perceived internal enemies was a hallmark of dangerous totalitarian leaders. Scholars, Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans are asking anew how much Mr. Trump resembles current strongmen abroad and how he compares to authoritarian leaders of the past. “There are echoes of fascist rhetoric, and they’re very precise,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University who studies fascism. These ambitions include using the Justice Department to take vengeance on his political rivals, plotting a vast expansion of presidential power and installing ideologically aligned lawyers in key positions to bless his contentious actions.

Persons: Trump, ”, Ruth Ben, Mr Organizations: Trump Republicans, New York University, Justice Department

☆ Trump and Gaetz Are 'Re-Educating' Fans to Embrace Violence: Historian
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at NYU, accused Trump on Wednesday of encouraging violence. Trump is "re-educating" his followers, she said, wanting them to see violence "in a positive light." Trump "has been re-educating Americans since 2015," Ben-Ghiat said, "using his rallies, using his events, to see violence differently; to see violence in a positive light." AdvertisementAdvertisement"That's why he went to Waco," she said, referring to where Trump rallied his followers in March. Violence, Ben-Ghiat argued, has indeed been normalized in MAGA politics.

Persons: Ruth Ben, Trump, Ben, Ghiat, —, Donald Trump, MAGA, Ghiat —, Trump's, — he's, Bill Clinton, Prosecutors, Matt Gaetz, … Organizations: NYU, The New, Service, New York University, . Waco, Capitol, Trump, Florida Republican, Fair Locations: New York City, The New Republic, United States, Manhattan, Chile, Waco, ., Florida, Iowa, Washington

They can also rile up Trump's own party, which then incorporates the former president's vendettas and impulses into its own agenda. Though most in his party have stayed quiet, Trump's comments about Milley horrified some Republicans. On the debate stage last week, Trump’s rivals for the GOP nomination didn't address the former president's more incendiary rhetoric. Democrats, including Biden, have warned that Trump and supporters in his Make America Great Again movement are a threat to American democracy. At last week's California Republican Party convention in a hotel ballroom in Anaheim, Trump’s rhetoric reached yet another level.

Persons: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, lowlifes, ”, Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong, Ruth Ben, ” Ben, Ghiat, Rodrigo Duterte, Trump's, Jack Smith, Mark Milley, Milley, “, ” Milley, Mike Pence, John Kelly, Kelly, ” Trump, Steven Cheung, Biden, ” Alex Conant, Ron DeSantis, Conant, Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco — how’s, Jonathan J, Cooper, Michael R Organizations: Republican, Democratic, White, NBC, New, North, New York University, Trump, U.S, Capitol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Republicans, GOP, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington's Georgetown University, The Associated Press, White House, CNN, Marine Corps, Florida Gov, California Republican Party, Associated Press Locations: United States, New York, Philippines, Mexico, U.S, China, Florida, ”, California, Anaheim, San Francisco, Anaheim , California

☆ Opinion: Why Lindsey Graham was booed by a Trump rally crowd
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Dean Obeidallah | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But what GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham was subjected to at former President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Graham’s home state of South Carolina was far worse than I ever personally witnessed. However, Graham soon began to grasp that a large segment of this Trump crowd — some of whom were yelling “traitor” — was not kidding around. Later when Trump took the podium, he needled Graham, saying, “You know you can make mistakes on occasion,” adding, “Even Lindsey down here, Sen. Lindsey Graham.” When the crowd began to boo again, Trump “half-heartedly defended“ Graham, according to The Greenville (South Carolina) News. When Trump declared that everyone makes a “mistake,” including Graham, it appeared that the mistake was not being fully loyal to Trump. Trump supporters boo and heckle Graham during Saturday's campaign event for the former president in the senator's home state of South Carolina.

Persons: Dean Obeidallah, GOP Sen, Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump’s, Graham, ” —, ” Graham, “, Trump, President Trump, …, don’t, needled Graham, Lindsey, Sen, ”, boo, “ Graham, “ We’re, we’re, We’re, heckle Graham, Sean Rayford, —, Vladimir Putin, he’s, “ I’m, Jason Stanley, Facebook Stanley, ” Stanley, ‘, ’, Ruth Ben, “ Strongmen, Mussolini, Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Ben, Ghiat Organizations: CNN, GOP, Trump, Fox News, ABC, Yale University, NPR, KCRW, Twitter, Facebook, ” New York University, Representatives, US Locations: Graham’s, South Carolina, Greenville, Manhattan, Pickens County , South Carolina

☆ Opinion: Trump, the hoarder in chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Photos included in the 38-count indictment of former President Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta show bankers boxes stacked in a bathroom and other parts of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Trump has always hung onto news clippings, documents and other mementos,” The New York Times reported. “Trump is chaotic and unpredictable in a way that could lead other Republicans to believe that there is a chance he won’t make it to the convention. As Zelizer noted, “Trump has denied wrongdoing, claiming he is being unfairly targeted.”But “given this unusual context, Republicans have legitimate reasons to think that there could be an upset.

Persons: Harry Fellowes, Fellowes, Harry Fellowes couldn’t, Donald Trump, Walt Nauta, Trump, Kim Jong, Mr, Jack Smith’s, Peter Bergen, ” Bergen, Nick Anderson, David Zurawik, “, ” Zurawik, ” Clay Jones, ” Trump, Jill Filipovic, ” Dana Summers, John Avlon, MAGA hasn’t, Gautham Rao, Donald Trump’s, Dean Obeidallah, Hillary Clinton, Phil Hands, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Julian Zelizer, “ Trump, ”, Facebook Trump, Zelizer, Republican Alice Stewart, Joe Biden, Mike, Pence, Agency Stewart, I’m, that’s, Chris Christie, Christie, Cupp, ’, Frida Ghitis, Mucutuy, –, Cristin, Tien Ranoque, ” Ghitis, David Andelman, Ruth Ben Ghiat, Brett Bruen, Sébastien Roblin, Michael Bociurkiw, Father’s, Edward S, Feldman, Harrison Ford, David G, Allan, Tom Hanks, ” Allan, I’ve, Ford, Indiana Jones, Steve Majors, Young, Joyce M, Davis, Pete Buttigieg, ” Davis, Buttigieg, Don’t, Tom Stiglich, Syndicate David Culver, Opal Lee, Dion Sims, Black, Juneteenth Scott Hodge, Roxanne Jones, LeBron James, NBA Joshua Douglas, Samuel Huneke, Jere Hester, they’re, Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon’s, Yoko Ono, Lennon’s, McCartney Organizations: CNN, White, The New York Times, West Wing, Tribune, Agency, US, Trump, Miami Mayor, Republican, Twitter, Facebook, intel, New, New Jersey Gov, Paramount Pictures, “, Syndicate, NBA, Central Press, Hulton, Beatles, BBC Locations: Trump’s, Mar, Miami, New Jersey, China, Philadelphia, Atlanta , Georgia, Harrisburg , Pennsylvania, Jamaica

☆ Opinion: Before Trump or Viktor Orban, there was Italy’s Berlusconi
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ruth Ben-Ghiat | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —“I’m the most persecuted man in all of history,” then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claimed in 2009, just after Italy’s constitutional court stripped him of immunity from prosecution, leaving him vulnerable as he faced yet another corruption trial. Berlusconi, the three-time Italian prime minister who died this week at 86, wrote the script for an authoritarian style of leadership within a democracy. The flamboyant billionaire owner of a business, media and sports empire, Berlusconi privatized Italian television in the 1980s. Italian television had been limited to three state-owned RAI national networks, but by the 1980s Berlusconi’s Mediaset conglomerate owned the three largest private channels. Berlusconi also raised fears in Italians about the loss of “tradition,” using the specter of Italian demographic decline to justify anti-immigrant policies that preceded those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other far-right leaders.

Persons: Ruth Ben, “ Strongmen, Mussolini, CNN — “, ”, Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, Benito Mussolini —, Vladimir Putin, Marcello Dell’Utri, Publitalia, Ferdinando Meazza, “ Mussolini, ” Berlusconi, Viktor Orban, Fininvest, Sergei Chirikov, Donald Trump, “ Organizations: CNN, New York University, Italian, Forza Italia, National Alliance, Italian Social, Northern League, AC Milan soccer, RAI, AC Milan, Milan, Milan's, Italian Communist Party, British, Kremlin, Getty, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Italian, Milan, Milan's San Siro, Italy, Western Europe, Hungarian, Moscow, AFP

☆ Republican response to Trump indictment shows they're stitching their own straitjacket
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The roar of outrage from Republican leaders to that indictment restored Trump’s grip on the party after frustration over his role in the GOP’s disappointing 2022 midterm elections had loosened it. Repeating the pattern from other moments of maximum threat to Trump, the GOP response has been marked by a pronounced communications imbalance. (The poll was conducted after Trump’s indictment in Manhattan but before the recent federal charges.) At another point Trump insisted, “These criminals cannot be rewarded” – presumably by frightening Republican voters away from nominating him. Yet, Robinson believes, by echoing Trump’s claims of unfair treatment, the other candidates are encouraging Republican voters to accept his framing of the race.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, Kevin McCarthy, South Carolina Sen, Lindsey Graham, Trump’s, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, –, William Barr, John Bolton, John Thune –, ”, he’s, Ruth Ben, Ghiat, thrall, “, “ Strongmen, Mussolini, Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, machina, Bill Kristol, Jack Smith, Fani Willis –, Dave Wilson, Craig Robinson, “ Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Jennifer Horn, ” –, “ They’ve, Donald Trump, ” Robinson, Robinson, Asa Hutchison, ” Kristol, Biden, Nikki Haley –, Mike Pence, Pence, she’s, ” Ben Organizations: CNN, Republican, Trump, GOP, Marxist, Republicans, NPR, PBS, Marist, Whites, CBS, Forza Italia, New York University, District, Iowa Republican Party, New, Georgia GOP, “, Trump “ Locations: Manhattan, South Carolina, lockstep, Fulton County , Georgia, New Hampshire, Georgia, America, Thune, Trump, Trump’s, South Africa, Chile

☆ Opinion: Why Erdogan’s win isn’t all it seems
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Opinion Ruth Ben-Ghiat | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In the run-up to the first round of voting, Erdogan’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, tellingly likened the election to the 2016 attempted coup. Off the back of Erdogan’s win, we can expect Turkey to draw even closer to Russia, which supplies more than one-third of its petroleum and oil products. So look for Erdogan to follow whatever geopolitical path benefits his Russian patron, including continued opposition to Sweden joining NATO. Erdogan’s economic policies have contributed to horrific inflation: over 80% in October, a 24-year record, and still at 44% last month. For all his bluster about modernizing Turkey, Erdogan has created an environment of fear, hostility and economic hardship.

☆ Pelosi attack suspect says he was motivated by politics, telling police that Democrats had been 'persecuting' Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The man charged with attacking Paul Pelosi told police that he was motivated by hatred of Democrats. David DePape echoed former President Donald Trump, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen. In the days following the arrest of David DePape, some allies of the former president suggested the attack was not politically motivated, insinuating it was a domestic spat. "When Trump came into office, what they did went so far beyond spying on a rival campaign," DePape said. "Not only were they spying on a rival campaign, they were submitting fake evidence to spy on a rival campaign, covering it up, persecuting a rival campaign.

☆ Republicans who questioned the 2020 results are bringing back an old norm: Admitting defeat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Seitz-Wald-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — The losers of this year’s midterm elections are winning praise for doing something that would be entirely unremarkable in another era — admitting defeat. Of course, dozens of Republican candidates who questioned the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s election won on Tuesday and will end up in Congress, including Ohio’s J.D. This year, Trump helped Cox defeat a well-connected moderate in the GOP primary to run for governor of Maryland. “I will pray for them and their new role for all of us.”Most losing Republican candidates followed scripts more like Cox’s than Trump’s. Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon initially said Tuesday night that she wanted to see more results before admitting defeat.

☆ A timeline of threats against Nancy Pelosi — from the January 6 death threats to a claim about beheading her 'jihadist style' — that preceded the attack on her husband
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A man who violently attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, may have been looking for her. Nancy Pelosi has faced several threats, including some that resulted in charges or conviction. "Nancy Pelosi is apart [sic] of a satanic cult and so are the people who work closely with her. A relative had informed her of a text Meredith sent in which he threatened Pelosi, prosecutors said. "The attacker who injured Paul Pelosi was looking for Nancy Pelosi, likely wanting to finish the job."

☆ Assault on Nancy Pelosi's husband is dangerous escalation of political violence because individuals now feel 'empowered' to carry out these acts alone, extremism expert says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But one extremism expert told Insider that the isolated assault is in many ways more dangerous. Individuals now feel "empowered to carry out those acts of political violence," Eric Ward said. "This is the unfolding of events since January 6," Eric Ward, senior advisor to the Western States Center, told Insider. Authorities said a 42-year-old man broke into the Pelosi residence early Friday morning and violently attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, sending him to the hospital. "The attacker who injured Paul Pelosi was looking for Nancy Pelosi, likely wanting to finish the job of Jan.

☆ The attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband echoed threats pro-Trump rioters made during the Capitol riot. An expert on authoritarianism warns there could be more to come.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The attack on Paul Pelosi could be a sign of more violence to come, per an expert on authoritarianism. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an NYU history professor, said the attack could be a continuation of the January 6 insurrection. "The attacker who injured Paul Pelosi was looking for Nancy Pelosi, likely wanting to finish the job," she said. Paul Pelosi, the Democrat's 82-year-old husband, was attacked with a hammer early Friday morning in the couple's home. "The attacker who injured Paul Pelosi was looking for Nancy Pelosi, likely wanting to finish the job."

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