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Ruth Ben-Ghiat — Todd Blanche, the latest tool: how autocrats use personal lawyers. {Lucid 11 August}
https://lucid.substack.com/p/todd-blanche-the-latest-tool-how
It required millions of enablers, distributed across nearly every sector of society, and an unprecedented mass brainwashing campaign, to make it happen: the now-former United States of America hath come to revolve entirely around the ego and ambitions of a single individual. Somehow, all of this hath been largely normalised, such that any earnest endeavour to correct course shall be met with violent resistance from a terrifyingly substantial — and heavily armed — segment of the general populace.
FTA: The appointment of President Donald Trump’s personal criminal lawyer, Todd Blanche, as Attorney General, is the latest sign that America is experiencing a form of personalist rule. This is a form of autocracy which organizes governance around the self-preservation of a leader whose private interests prevail over national ones in shaping domestic and foreign policy.
While it is more common in established regimes, personalist rule can emerge in degraded democracies, such as Italy under Silvio Berlusconi, and in countries in transition from democracy to autocracy, which is the case with today’s America.
Personalist leaders have no interest in public welfare or serving the people. Holding public office is a vehicle of private enrichment for them, their families, and their allies, and a means of finally solving their abundant legal, financial, and other problems once and for all.
Having the right custodian of justice, who real job is freeing the autocrat from the obligations and burden of obeying the law, is key to success.
‘Personalist rule’. Now, remember fellow #Muricans, you are deranged (afflicted with ‘TDS’), a Communist, and hate Jesus Himself if you perceive anything whatsoever amiss with the USA becoming Trumpistan. God bless President Trump — we would be unable to wipe our own asses absent his divine guidance and providential wisdom. Sarcasm aside, there hath not been a single day in the past ten years — including throughout the four years of his exile, during which we remained subjected to him in the media cycle around the clock nonetheless — upon which I have not shaken my head in disbelief and disgust. Revulsion partially towards Donald Trump himself, and even greater anger at all the people around us who have forced us to undergo this ordeal. And disbelief, always — for this extreme state of affairs is absurd to the nth degree, and all efforts to normalise it must be vehemently rejected.
Yet, it is only getting worse. Trump himself grows worse; the #MAGA rank-and-file grow worse; and the country is in the throes of a dystopian nightmare. Whilst an exceedingly modest number of his followers and enablers have latterly turned away — in certain of these instances, precisely because Trump hath not gone as far (yet) in the direction of totalitarianism as they would like, or because he is too cosy with Israel for their Jew-hating sensibilities — the vast majority are standing by their man, and the GOP is goosestepping in unison. We are not waking up from this nightmare anytime soon; and do not count on it being over by 20 January 2029, for the groundwork is being laid, quite unmistakably, to establish him as President-for-life.
What y’all voted for, #Murica. And I know, ‘y’all’ remain thoroughly pleased with yourselves. In due course, however, karma will come for thee.
🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈
