Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat Says Trump and Republicans Priming People For Fascist Violence: ‘I’ll Do Anything That Is Asked Of Me’
Historian and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat told radio host Dean Obeidallah that former President Donald Trump and many Republicans use “replacement theory” rhetoric to prime followers for political violence with fear of annihilation.
On Friday’s edition of The Dean Obeidallah Show, the host asked the “Strongmen: Mussolini To The Present” author to explain the difference between polarization, and what she calls “survivalist mode.”
Ben-Ghiatt laid out her view on the issue, slamming Trump, Tucker Carlson, and “far-right Republicans” in the process:
Dean Obeidallah: It is deeply worrying that in the U.S., Republicans are not just accelerating polarization but shifting into survivalist mode. Please explain what survivalist mode is and why it’s so alarming.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Yeah. I’m going to write more about this because it’s very dismaying. So polarization is us versus them. Survivalist mode goes beyond that. It’s us or them, like only one of us can survive.
Dean Obeidallah: Wow.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: And unfortunately, that is what leads people to become violent, to approve of violence. In fact, there was a poll in January 2021, and people said, I think like 68% of Americans polled agreed with the statement that, ah, the traditional way of life is disappearing so fast in America that it might be necessary to save it with violence, with force, and so that we are…
Think about great replacement theory. It is literally that, delivering a message to white people that they are going to be annihilated or become extinct, be replaced by somebody else. That’s an example of — Tucker Carlson has mentioned it 400 times since 2016. That’s an example of something designed to create survivalists. It’s me or them, but both of us can’t survive. And then Trump in January 6, on January 6, at the rally, one of the last things he said, he said, We got to fight like hell because if we don’t fight like hell, there won’t be an America anymore. So I’m really concerned, because from many different points of view, the far-right Republicans are feeding Americans all these messages that they’re going to be annihilated. There won’t be in America, this like psychological fear of a void, of being obliterated. And that is getting, that’s designed in history… It’s been used by fascists and other people. It’s designed to get people into a mode where they say, I’ll do anything that is asked of me if we can survive.
Watch above via SiriusXM.
