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In reply to the discussion: IT IS A CRIME. PERIOD. A VERY SERIOUS CRIME! [View all]wnylib
(21,433 posts)that says that avoiding the appearance of partisanship right now is exactly what we should NOT be doing.
The article was an interview with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history and Italian studies at NYU. She was discussing her book about how authoritarians gain control in democracies and destroy them. The book title is Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. She says that Italians in government did the same thing in regard to avoiding partisanship and trying to stay above the fray, which Mussolini took advantage of to gain power.
According to Ben-Ghiat, instead of waiting for Republicans to denounce Trump's behavior, Dem leaders need to go public in calling out Trump for what he is doing. Not in a complaining way, but firmly and strongly. They need to state bluntly that Trump's pressure on governors to overturn the votes in their states is illegal, unAmerican, anti democracy, and amounts to an authoritarian coup attempt.