My book #Strongmen turns 5 today! The paperback edition, with a new epilogue on January 6, is now 4. The book built a large readership gradually and became a New York Times bestseller in Nov. 2024. Thank you to all who read it and share its warnings about what such leaders do to societies.

How the shutdown relates to autocracy. For the tyrant Congress and Parliament are expendable. I am the only one that matters Trump tells us. We deserve good governance and leaders who care about our welfare.

"Instead of toilet paper we were given pages from books by writers and philosophers to use. The secret police wanted to show their contempt for ideas." -- @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social , "Strongmen: Mussolini to the present"

An incredible and prescient analysis by @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social of how our situation harkens back to autocrats past ... open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...

Live from the Zohran victory party

Moral leadership isn't public consensus, or found in institutions. It's created by singular individuals, whose perspectives may conflict with popular values. Moral adaptibility, is useful. Speak softly, carry heavy. @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social

On Election Day, Nov 4, The Left Hook is rolling out an awesome lineup! 3 pm ET: @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social 4 pm ET: @levparnas.bsky.social 5 pm ET: @hannahgais.bsky.social Join us! No paywalls. Thelefthook.substack.com

Resistance means using all the tools and spaces you have for peaceful opposition. My latest video.

A moving essay by @mollymckew.bsky.social www.greatpower.us/p/the-sacred...

🤩Super excited that Le Monde have published a summary of our piece for @JoDemocracy on the "Myth of Democratic Resillience", with a stronger focus on the implications for Latin America 🤩 This version is for Spanish speakers out there ... www.eldiplo.org/notas-web/el...

Inevitable and tracks with the cycles of regimes

That's the authoritarian dream

Always told liberals Bill Maher was a racist piece of shit, especially against Muslims and Arabs, and we were ignored for years. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Bannon says Tr*ump is acting as a vehicle of divine providence. This is an old authoritarian propaganda theme.

From last night: How @runforsomething.net's plan to expand the map will actually work, why Schumer doesn't get a say in where we invest, and why it matters to create many paths to victory in the next five years. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D_d...

It's an amazing book. Congratulations to @joycevance.bsky.social!

Flip the script on democracy's destroyers. It's Day One of the new phase of the fight for our democracy.

My comments on what President Tr*mp's AI video tells us about autocrat psychology: youtu.be/JNt8YoqQzWE

"The appeal of these leaders for many rests on their having the power to get away with things that ordinary men cannot, whether in the bedroom or in politics." -- @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social , "Strongmen: Mussolini to the present"

Giant copy of the Constitution being carried down Pennsylvania Avenue.

In protesting peacefully we reclaim our cities and communities from state brutality. These are our spaces, our homes.

Important: this is exactly how propagandists operate.

Chris Christie: “Thie is no longer, the Department of Justice, is no longer the premier prosecuting office in America. What it is now is a capo regime who goes out and executes hits when directed by the Don to do so. That’s what it is.”

* Over 20,000 Palestinians killed since January * 100s starved to death, including kids * Congress bypassed to send more & more bombs to Israel * US citizens murdered in the West Bank I hope this ceasefire holds & I am glad the hostages are free, but this is Trump’s *actual record* so far.

Just in case the dramatically low Leni Riefenstahl-style angle was too subtle, they used a word from her most famous movie

This is happening right now, to a friend of mine in Chicago. This is a peaceful area, with no previous unrest or crime problem. Just people trying to live their lives. My heart hurts. They're having conversations no family should have to have.

What an emblem of the billionaire class—descending on a peaceful city in a private jet on the horn to NYT asking for the place to be invaded by federal authorities because the rent-a-cops you employ for a week to harass a few junkies outside the convention center cost too much.

A diseased population is easier to control

It was great working with Zeteo’s editors and rigorous fact-checker. And I’m most grateful they let me say this in the last graf, something I’ve been try to get at with these ICE flights for awhile.

Sign you live in a police state

Israeli-American billionaires Michael and Gil Dezer’s Gulfstream IV plane flew 10 migrants to the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, flight data shows. The Dezers made billions on Trump-branded condos. Now they're cleaning up with no-bid contracts to fly prisoners to foreign concentration camps.

💕

Israeli attacked a residential building in Gaza City and, according to Al Jazeera, killed and injured more than 70 civilians with most of them still under the rubble.

Things authoritarian states do.

Today, I drove an hour and a half with my wife and a couple friends to pick up a neighbor who was summarily, inexplicably arrested by ICE at a check-in ten days ago and then just as inexplicably released, 100 miles from home today. It was a happy occasion, all things considered, but...

An 84-year-old said she sustained a concussion and was hit with a projectile after she and her husband, a Vietnam vet, were knocked down by federal officers.

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Donald Trump knows what he is doing in attacking democracy. Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat shares a warning about Trump's next authoritarian moves and we discuss how we can fight back. Please watch and share. youtu.be/ovorLE6E494

Carrie A Lee: It underscored the admin’s intention to shift its focus... toward homeland issues, and provided the clearest indication yet that US partners and allies will have to contend with a military increasingly operating outside of international law. www.gmfus.org/news/rough-s...

Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook Fascism expert @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 youtu.be/ovorLE6E494?...

Called it last week: The true rationale for the change to Department of War is the war Trump is waging on America: lucid.substack.com/p/trumps-war...

"Strongmen" by @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social is an invaluable read right now. The whole playbook we're seeing in the US is laid bare for all of us to see. "On Tyranny" & "On Freedom" by @timothysnyder.bsky.social are also both must reads given the current moment. www.goodreads.com/book/show/53...

PSA: A "Major Terrorist Organization" (MTO) is not a thing. The Immigration and Nationality Act *delegates* power to the State Department to designate *FOREIGN* terrorist organizations (FTOs) based on certain criteria. It doesn't apply to domestic orgs. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

They don’t have the power to do what they’re threatening on a grand scale. But they want us to think they do.

Once Donald Trump gets the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law – what comes next?

Don’t say “Dems aren’t doing anything.” There’s just little attention to the courage of these Missouri Dems resisting the extreme gerrymandering of Republicans desigmed to increase Republican numbers in the House. www.kfvs12.com/2025/09/05/m...

Alt text here: bsky.app/profile/alt-...

My collaboration with Ivan Ehlers for the @latimes.com

Called it last week: The true rationale for the change to Department of War is the war Trump is waging on America: lucid.substack.com/p/trumps-war...

This excellent essay is published by Lucid but it is written by @marceldirsus.com