Dismiss Donald Trump and the GOP’s attacks on the 2020 election at your peril, warns Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian and author of the new book, “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.” In our recent interview for Salon Talks, Ben-Ghiat — a professor of history and Italian studies at NYU — observes that Trump probably hasn’t actually studied other leaders in history who transformed functioning democracies into authoritarian regimes. Nonetheless, his actions line up almost perfectly with many who have done just that, from Benito Mussolini in fascist Italy to Vladimir Putin in contemporary Russia.
Watch: Top Georgia GOP election official excoriates Senate GOP for abetting Trump in extraordinary video
“Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop. We need you to step up and, if you’re going to take a position of leadership, show some.”
US Covid deaths soar as Barr dismisses Trump’s election conspiracy theories
According to the Johns Hopkins University figures, the US has now seen 13.7m coronavirus cases and exceeded 270,000 deaths. There were 180,083 new cases of the coronavirus in the US recorded yesterday, and 2,597 more deaths. It is only the fifth time the US has recorded more than 2,500 Covid deaths in a day, and is the first time this has happened since April.
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