signalmankenneth
Verified User
Consider yourself warned.
1. Exaggerate their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a landslide [3]even after losing the popular vote.
2. Repeatedly claim massive voter [4] fraud in the absence of any evidence, in order to restrict voting in subsequent elections.
3. Call anyone who opposes them “enemies [5].”
4. Turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize them, calling them “deceitful [6]” and “scum [6].”
5. Hold few if any press conferences [7], preferring to communicate with the public directly through mass rallies and unfiltered statements [8].
6. Tell the public big lies [9], causing them to doubt the truth and to believe fictions that support the tyrants’ goals.
7. Blame economic stresses on immigrants [10] or racial or religious minorities, and foment public bias and even violence [11] against them.
8. Attribute acts of domestic violence to “enemies within,” and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit civil liberties [12].
9. Threaten mass deportations [13], registries [13]of religious minorities, and the banning of refugees.
10. Seek to eliminate or reduce the influence of competing centers of power, such as labor unions [14] and opposition parties.
11. Appoint family members [15] to high positions of authority.
12. Surround themselves with their own personal security force [16]rather than a security detail accountable to the public.
13. Put generals [17] into top civilian posts.
14. Make personal alliances with foreign dictators [18].
15. Draw no distinction between personal property and public property, profiteering from their public office [19].
By Robert B. Reich
1. Exaggerate their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a landslide [3]even after losing the popular vote.
2. Repeatedly claim massive voter [4] fraud in the absence of any evidence, in order to restrict voting in subsequent elections.
3. Call anyone who opposes them “enemies [5].”
4. Turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize them, calling them “deceitful [6]” and “scum [6].”
5. Hold few if any press conferences [7], preferring to communicate with the public directly through mass rallies and unfiltered statements [8].
6. Tell the public big lies [9], causing them to doubt the truth and to believe fictions that support the tyrants’ goals.
7. Blame economic stresses on immigrants [10] or racial or religious minorities, and foment public bias and even violence [11] against them.
8. Attribute acts of domestic violence to “enemies within,” and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit civil liberties [12].
9. Threaten mass deportations [13], registries [13]of religious minorities, and the banning of refugees.
10. Seek to eliminate or reduce the influence of competing centers of power, such as labor unions [14] and opposition parties.
11. Appoint family members [15] to high positions of authority.
12. Surround themselves with their own personal security force [16]rather than a security detail accountable to the public.
13. Put generals [17] into top civilian posts.
14. Make personal alliances with foreign dictators [18].
15. Draw no distinction between personal property and public property, profiteering from their public office [19].
By Robert B. Reich
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