We’ve never seen this in the United States.

• Not a Nazi, but …
  • Trump borrows from the old tricks of fascism | Timothy Snyder | Opinion | The Guardian
  • The GOP has gone from tea party libertarianism to Trumpian authoritarianism – The Washington Post
  • Authoritarianism in 2020: Checking the checklist
  • Why comparing Trump’s America to Nazi Germany misses the point. 
    “America’s had a bad war in Iraq, it’s had a financial crash, but nothing equivalent to what Germany experienced after the First World War, or what Italy experienced.” Right. Germany was dangerously unstable and had economic chaos. We don’t. That’s good. But where we’re going is still pretty bad.
• Burn the truth
  • COVID-19
    • CDC Virus Testing Guidance Was Posted Against Scientists’ Objections – The New York Times
    • Trump calls Birx’s dire warning on widespread coronavirus in the US ‘pathetic’
  • Climate change
    • Donald Trump is using Stalinist techniques against climate science | Michael Mann and Bob Ward | Opinion | The Guardian
    • I’m a scientist. Under Trump I lost my job for refusing to hide climate crisis facts | Maria Caffrey | Opinion | The Guardian
  • Mick Mulvaney fires all 25 members of consumer watchdog’s advisory board – The Washington Post
  • Trump ousts Vindman and Sondland, punishing key impeachment witnesses in post-acquittal campaign of retribution – The Washington Post
• Lying, using the Mussolini and North Korean model of flattering the king
  • National Archives exhibit blurs images critical of President Trump – The Washington Post
  • Trump administration steps up efforts to turn broadcasters into propaganda outlets | Media | The Guardian
• Enemies and scapegoats
  • Trump Tweets Attack on John McCain – The Atlantic
  • The ‘caravan’ of migrants is not a threat. But Trump would rather ignore real crises. – The Washington Post 
    “Like many a would-be authoritarian before him, Trump ignores the real threats that his country faces, preferring to manufacture nonexistent crises that enable him to play on popular prejudice to consolidate his own power.”
  • ‘He’s my guy’: Trump praises Gianforte for assault on Guardian reporter | US news | The Guardian
  • Alarm over leaked US database targeting journalists and immigration activists | US news | The Guardian
  • There is no ‘right’ v ‘left’: it is Trump and the oligarchs against the rest | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian 
    “From the start, Trump’s deal with the oligarchy has been simple: he’ll stoke tribalism so most Americans won’t see CEOs getting exorbitant pay while they’re slicing the pay of average workers, so most Americans won’t pay attention to Wall Street demanding short-term results over long-term jobs, won’t notice a boardroom culture that tolerates financial conflicts of interest, insider trading and the outright bribery of public officials through unlimited campaign “donations”.”
  • Trump ousts Vindman and Sondland, punishing key impeachment witnesses in post-acquittal campaign of retribution – The Washington Post
• Voter suppression
  • In North Carolina and Florida, is the Trump voter suppression plan working?
  • No, you can’t text your vote. But these fake ads tell Clinton supporters to do just that.
  • Justice Department to North Carolina: Stop Illegally Purging Black Voters From the Rolls
• How we can react
  • Donald Trump wants to be a dictator. It’s not enough just to laugh at him | Jonathan Freedland | Opinion | The Guardian
  • Opinion | Trump’s Acts Show the Urgent Need to Curb the Imperial Presidency – The New York Times
  • Authoritarianism is making a comeback. Here’s the time-tested way to defeat it | Maria J Stephan and Timothy Snyder | Opinion | The Guardian 
    “Civil resistance is strategic. Movements articulate clear, achievable goals (achieving independent trade unions in the case of Solidarity; de-segregating public places during US civil rights movement) and know when and how to declare small victories. They must endure inevitable set-backs – like arrests, large counter-mobilizations by regime supporters, and legislative defeats – while maintaining momentum.”