"Americans are not immune to the charms of authoritarianism. We did not need Trump to know this about ourselves; racial authoritarianism has existed within and alongside our democracy from the beginning. Trump was in essence a rearguard action by those who wish to preserve the racial hierarchy that has defined America from its founding. Given the lure of authoritarianism, divided government in 2021 poses a very real danger. If our government’s capacity to provide for the American people remains hobbled by a conservative minority’s intransigence, more people will lose faith that democracy can provide the economic security and stability they long for and deserve. If Americans are excluded from the material power that is the right of a democratic citizenry, more voters will choose the symbolic proximity to power that racial authoritarianism and patriarchy provide, and others will cease to participate entirely. In other words, four years of gridlock will be an engraved invitation to fascism."
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Vanessa Williamson, Confronting the enduring appeal of fascism, Brookings, 6 November 2020
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
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Authoritarianism
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