Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat said theres a very precise purpose for Donald Trump ramping up of his divisive and fascist rhetoric, which came under scrutiny again after the former president said immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country at a New Hampshire rally this weekend.
The Trump campaign has made it very clear what they want to do to immigrants, Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor and the author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, told CNN s Jim Acosta on Saturday.
She cited reported planned mass deportations, mass detentions, likely abuses and violence in those operations if Trump wins back the White House in 2024.
Trumps language dehumanizes immigrants and is a way to get Americans prepared now to accept these repressions later on, she said. Thats whats so terrible and thats also another thing thats so fascist about this.
Ben-Ghiat also suggested immigrants wont be the only ones targeted.
Anyone who thinks this isnt going to bother them because theyre not an immigrant, theyre not going to stop with immigrants, she said. Im quite concerned that he is mentioning what he calls mental institutions and prisons so often. In another speech, he actually talked about the need to expand psychiatric institutions to confine people, and he mentioned special prosecutor Jack Smith as someone who should end up in a mental institution.
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This is what fascists and especially communists used to do to critics, Ben-Ghiat added. They used to put people who didnt believe in the propaganda of the state or who were troublemakers into psychiatric institutions. So the swathe of people who are going to be targeted certainly doesnt stop with immigrants.
Watch the interview here:
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