meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Hartmann Report

Daily Take: Was the GOP Plan All Along to "Break" America to Make Room for an Authoritarian Strongman?

The Hartmann Report

Thom Hartmann

News, Debate, The Hartmann Report, Economics, Thom Hartmann, Democracy, Climate Change, Congress, America

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You have to break government pretty badly before people are willing to trade in a normal democracy for a dictatorship, but it’s sure happened before...


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Was the GOP plan all along to break America to make room for an authoritarian strong man?

0:07.0

Recent reporting suggests that Trump followers by and large are fine with him being or becoming a dictator.

0:12.0

Seems crazy, but there it is,

0:13.7

irrefutable. They'd rather have Trump as a dictator than Biden or any Democrat as a

0:18.0

normal president. But why? When I was 22 years old on the advice of an old friend I took the Dale

0:24.1

Carnegie course it was literally a life-changing experience and I credit that

0:28.0

course with a good bit of the success I have enjoyed in business and the

0:30.8

media in the intervening years.

0:33.0

In one of the early weeks of the course, we each had to get up in front of the class and act out with great emphasis, this statement, almost a mantra.

0:40.0

I know people in the ranks who will stay in the ranks why I'll tell you why simply because they haven't the ability to get things done

0:49.5

The ability to get things done is a high value for business, but it applies to politics as well,

0:54.8

and that's where authoritarian strongmen come in.

0:57.5

The most appealing thing about a dictator is that he can get things done.

1:01.6

Dictators don't have to worry about bureaucracies hindering

1:04.1

them or pesky laws and regulations. They don't care about local opposition to

1:08.7

their projects or their impact on the environment. From making the trains run on time to building an auto bond and a car company to go with

1:15.2

it, dictators famously get things done.

1:18.9

The corollary to that old Nostrum is that when things are going well, when things are working smoothly, when the people

1:24.0

are getting what they want from their government, there is little interest in putting a

1:28.3

dictator into office. You have to break government pretty badly before people are willing to trade in a normal democracy for a dictatorship

1:36.7

But it sure happened before.

1:39.0

Germany wouldn't have embraced Hitler if it weren't for the depression the country had slid into because

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Thom Hartmann, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Thom Hartmann and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.