1. Is Trump a weak & ineffective president or is he an authoritarian menace? Spoiler alert: you can be both!
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3. Think of many of the Russian Czars: stupid, easily manipulated by advisors, unable to carry through on policies. Yet for that reason authoritarian.
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4. I puzzle through the incompetent/authoritarian debate here, with guest appearances by
@DouthatNYT@CoreyRobin@davidfrum@jonathanchaithttps://newrepublic.com/article/146748/trump-weak-effective-authoritarian …Show this thread
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It's like the people who think authoritarians must be intelligent. That's absurd.
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If you’re strong and effective, you generally don’t need to be authoritarian.
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It’s a school bully’s approach to power, insecurity and weakness are baked in.
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Kershaw's thesis on actual Nazi governance is similar. Not at all a well-oiled machine, but a chaos of ppl claiming to speak in the name of the Fuehrer
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You've just sent me on a really interesting Wikipedia spree about Kershaw et al. Thanks!

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Hence the train joke in The Great Dictator?
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The predictable either/or framing around this discussion illustrates the extent to which 'authoritarianism' is imagined by Americans to be effective, efficient, & productive. After all, why would they challenge that presumption? It's exactly the regime they labor under daily.
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