With the first, and possibly only debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris behind us, the candidates will be sprinting toward this November’s election, now less than two months away. In his new book, “The Inflection Election: Democracy or Fascism in 2024,” former New York City public advocate and author Mark Green compiles a long and well documented list of Trump’s authoritarian policies while in office and what he pledges to do if re-elected. Beyond Trump’s racist, xenophobic, homophobic and misogynist rhetoric, the book details the former president’s embrace of white supremacy, political violence and anti-science conspiracy theories, which paint a frightening picture of our nation’s future if the former reality TV show host wins back the White House.
As the twice impeached, four-time indicted and convicted felon — liable for sexual assault and is accused of inciting a coup attempt — campaigns for re-election, he charges that any election result other than victory, will be evidence of fraud and a rigged process. Just days before his debate with Kamala Harris, Trump posted threats of jailing his adversaries for “unscrupulous behavior” with lengthy prison terms if he wins the election.
Here, Green talks about his new book which warns Americans that this November will be a choice between a party of progress and a party of dangerous extremism that may determine the path for American governance for generations.
MARK GREEN: Denial is a great psychological device. When a loved one dies, your girlfriend runs away with your best friend and your car is skidding into a guardrail. How many of us say, I can’t believe this is happening? All of us. Well, a large body of people called MAGA — I call a MAMA — make America a Monarchy Again want, you know, the litany of racism and homophobia, lying and violence.
Probably half of Trump’s 45 percent say, Bring it on. You can’t reason someone into a conclusion they didn’t reason themselves into in the first place. You can’t reason them out of it. So I would guess that of the 46 percent that Trump won in both 2016 and 2020, probably half of them are hardcore and “don’t bother me with the facts.”
And they know all the bad things about him because they’ve been — we have scandal fatigue. There’s so much bad stuff about him that people kind of shrug. And you’ve seen that. The other half or about 25 points of his base or, you know, regular Republicans — what used to be regular Rockefeller Republicans — are reasonable people. But they’ve been scared into thinking Democrats are some kind of communist party.
And those are the people that have to be appealed to, not you or me.
SCOTT HARRIS: Mark in your book, you talk about your hesitancy to use the word “fascist” throughout your political career. But today, with all that’s at stake, you feel obligated to label Donald Trump, as well as his Republican party sycophants — as fascists, to bluntly warn the American voters the threat Trump poses to U.S. democratic institutions. Make the case for our listeners who maybe aren’t convinced or haven’t heard enough argument why you think Trump deservedly should be labeled a fascist.
MARK GREEN: He’s admitted it. The point I made about denial is because we’ve never had, I mean, at the state level, Huey Long local candidates. Father Coughlin in the ’50s with a reach of 40 million radio listeners.
They were obvious fascists. But in elected office, it’s rare to nonexistent. So people go, “Oh, come on, you’re exaggerating.” Well, he finally admitted after hours of interviews with Bob Woodward. Well, the thing that guides me that helps me win is I shouldn’t say this. I’m quoting now, fear. And so American presidents should lead by example policy, emulation autocrats, dictators, fascists. call it what you will.
This is something that Ronald Reagan and the both Bushes would not call conservative. But he wants to scare people by coaxing violence. The Tree of Life synagogue where Pittsburgh nine were killed. The killer quoted Trump’s screeds about the southern border. Fascists control the military threaten to use it against civilians, as Trump has done this week, that he wants to imprison his political opponents.
Putin is many things. But when he’s asked, “Oh, we in Russia support Kamala Harris,” everyone laughs in Russia and around the world because he feels, as a former spy, that lying is simply another tool in the tool chest.
Well, Trump will always lie to wiggle out of a corner. Who does he laud? Has he ever lauded Trudeau? Macron or Western leaders?
He does not. And I’m saying what you know and your audience knows, he lauds “I love Kim. Putin is a genius.” His favorite autocrat abroad is Orban. Well, he’s always admiring fascists and he promises to act like them.
I’m glad for your show to, you know, reinforce and educate progressive Democrats. But what’s essential is that people who go to sleep thinking that they’re not racists, they don’t like rapists, they don’t like lawyers, have to realize what they’re buying into.
And we don’t need 20 percent to flip from Trump to Harris. Of Trump’s usual 45 percent based on 2016 and 2020, if 5 to 10 percent said — as Dick Cheney most famously did this week — as 90 corporate leaders like Mark Cuban did this week, like 200 former GOP ex-staff to Republican presidents did this week: “He is the greatest danger in American history to our democracy.”
He doesn’t like voting. How do I know? He says he’ll follow the results if he wins, but he won’t if he loses. It’s not a very democratic spirit there.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Mark Green (29:20) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the Related Links section of this page.
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