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Tonight, we’re bypassing our usual “Five Questions” column so I can prep for Saturday morning. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor at NYU and the author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, has asked me to join her this Saturday, January 17, at 11 a.m. ET, for a Substack Live. I will be studying tonight to get ready. Ruth is one of the most brilliant people I know, and I want to be able to keep up!
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Ruth publishes Lucid, a Substack newsletter on threats to democracy in the U.S. and abroad. As one of my friends commented today, ever since Donald Trump entered the political arena, Ruth has been right about him and where he would take our country. She has been right about who Trump is and about what he would do. Her background in authoritarianism has made her one of the most insightful assessors of where Trump is headed and what we could and should be doing about it, which means she’s someone it’s always important to listen to.
Tomorrow, our topic is resistance, and specifically, what history teaches us can work.
Ruth wrote about resistance in her Substack column last night, concluding: “Time and again, when the state becomes a hostile force, or is absent at times of crisis, people have come together to mourn the dead, forge networks of assistance and solidarity, and engage in spontaneous and righteous action to help those being targeted. Resistance rises when the toll of organized lying and negligent and malevolent governance becomes difficult to ignore. All of this is now unfolding in the United States. It is our turn to mobilize peacefully in the face of abuses of power.”
There’s never been a more important time for a discussion like this. I hope you’ll join us.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
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