“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power ... becomes illegal,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat said.

“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power … becomes illegal,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat said.

Donald Trump is ramping up his rhetoric depicting his political rivals and critics as criminals, while dropping a long trail of suggestions that he favors outlawing political speech that he deems misleading or challenges his claims to power.

In a speech Friday in Aurora, Colorado, the Republican presidential nominee blasted the immigration system and lobbed a rhetorical grenade at his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“She’s a criminal. She’s a criminal,” said Trump, who was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial. “She really is, if you think about it.”

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  • NineMileTower@lemmy.world
    4·
    16 days ago

    I don’t think it’s as close as the news says it is. They want eyeballs. I think it will not be as close as these polls say.

      • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
        7·
        16 days ago

        So did I but it must be said that none of these elections in recent memory have been fair elections. The Democrats win the vote totals. Voter laws in “red” states are so thoroughly fucked that they exclude and oppress voting rights so that the Republican voters outnumber the voters who may vote against them. Then you have gerrymandering on top of that. Despite the prosecutions of Republican voter interference, nothing systemic has changed to make voting a fair competition. Any discourse on changes to these problems seem to get silenced.

        The current system is broken, seemingly intractable, and favors Republicans. Wash, rinse, repeat every four years.

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
        75·
        16 days ago

        And so did everyone else.

        A lot of people don’t want to look into the mirror, but it really says a lot about the Democratic party that 3/3 of their picks have struggled so hard against someone like Trump. Trump is vile dog shit but what does it say about you (the royal ‘you’) when you can’t even come off as something more appealing than that?

        • evatronic@lemm.eeEnglish
          9·
          16 days ago

          A huge swath of Republican voters are not voting for Trump. They are voting against “Democrats”. Propaganda in the US has turned politics into a team sport, and you always root for your team, even if your team is having a rough season.

        • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          16 days ago

          The problem is the media, the lack of education, and the hatred of enough people to choose Trump despite his blatant lies.

          Blaming the other candidates is brainless and completely ignores the actual fucking issues

        • Feathercrown@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          16 days ago

          Your thinking here is incomplete. Appealing to who? Some people want exactly the qualities that we think makes Trump dogshit.