50: The Threat of Authoritarianism to Democracy with John Dean

Jen Rubin's Green Room

Politics, News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.8 • 578 Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2024

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Dean discusses his study of authoritarian personalities and the lessons learned from Watergate. He explains that there are two approaches to understanding authoritarianism: studying the way authoritarian governments operate and studying the personality traits of those attracted to authoritarian leaders. Dean describes the traits of social dominators and right-wing authoritarian followers, as well as the enablers who support them. He emphasizes the importance of voting them out of power and the need for collaboration between the study of authoritarian governments and authoritarian personalities. Dean also discusses the challenges of changing the beliefs of authoritarian followers and the threat they pose to democracy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the show. This is Jen Rubin. This is Jen Rubin's green room. So as we sit here on Tuesday, I must admit I'm somewhat stunned. Not only is Donald Trump in court on 34 counts
0:28.8	of falsifying business documents. Not only are we hearing testimony from one David Pecker
0:36.5	to talk about the catch and kill. In other words, the
0:40.9	attempt to cover up Trump's extramarital affairs and shut these women up. But, and this is what's
0:48.7	truly frightening, we have someone who refuses to abide by the judge's orders. The judge has told him he cannot
0:57.5	threaten witnesses, he cannot threaten jurors, and that's what Trump has done over and over again.
1:04.8	Even after the DA filed his motion to show cause, Even after he knew that this hearing was coming,
1:13.7	Donald Trump refused to follow that.
1:15.9	He must attack.
1:16.9	He must be aggressive.
1:18.1	He must be in control.
1:20.4	And he's going to pay a penalty for him.
1:23.2	The judge may not put him in the pokey this time.
1:30.1	But he's going to find him and he's going to warn him.
1:36.0	And my words, I think he's going to wind up behind bars for some period of time.
1:42.3	Maybe it's just an afternoon, maybe it's overnight, because he doesn't accept anyone's authority. He will not follow the rules. And his lawyer tried to make
1:47.5	every argument, and of course got nowhere, wound up pissing off this judge something fierce.
1:54.3	When a judge says to an attorney, you're losing all credibility with me. That's scary. And the trial has only just begun. There are
2:03.7	a thousand other decisions he's going to make. And if you already alienated the judge at this stage,
2:09.6	you're in big trouble. So the judge is not buying any of this. He's not buying the lawyer. He's not
2:15.3	buying Trump's excuses. And right now, there's a test. Is Donald
2:21.2	Trump going to defy the power of the court? That's what he's been trying to do all along. He doesn't
	...

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