Donald Trump Saturday delivered remarks at a Bitcoin conference, and his comments were straight out of the authoritarian playbook, an expert said.
Trump, speaking in Nashville, told the cryptocurrency group that, if the Democratic Party wins the 2024 presidential election, "every one of you will be gone."
"They will be vicious, they will be ruthless," Trump said. "They will do things that you wouldn't believe. But right now, because of me, they're leaving you alone. So please say thank you."
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American historian and expert on authoritarianism Ruth Ben-Ghiat almost immediately chimed in about Trump's comments.
She called it and "old authoritarian trick" that Trump was employing.
"If you want people to feel helpless and bonded to you as a savior, create a sense of existential threat, as in: 'every one of you will be gone,'" she said on X Saturday. "Not subtle."
Joe Rossi, general assignment/investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Tribune, said, "This unhinged lunacy from this creepy weirdo — this ridiculous, dangerous fool — will be mentioned by zero mainstream media outlets."
"I will stop saying that Trump and Republicans are held to absolutely no standard when it stops being so blatantly and transparently true," Rossi said.
