Ruth Ben-Ghiat - Always the Victim: A Century of Strongman Scams

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

Ruth Ben-Ghiat
@ruthbenghiat
·
Follow
Always the Victim: A Century of Strongman Scams. Trump is hardly alone in crying persecution. Victimhood is integral to the strongman profile.

lucid.substack.com
Always the Victim: A Century of Strongman Scams
Authoritarians pose as persecuted individuals to justify their violence and crimes
10:09 AM · Aug 24, 2022

https://lucid.substack.com/p/always-the-victim-a-century-of-strongman


"I'm the most persecuted man in all of history," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claimed in 2009, just after Italy's constitutional court stripped him of immunity from prosecution, leaving him vulnerable as he faced yet another corruption trial.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump would disagree with the scope of this claim. "A friend of mine once said that I was the most persecuted person in the history of our country," Trump announced in July at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. "Certainly, there's been no politician or president treated like I've been treated."

The idea that the strongman is a victim is one of the more durable scams of authoritarianism. The August FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, which was prompted by his storage of highly classified state documents in his private residence, has given new life to Trump's version of the con. It’s designed to vindicate his assertions that his enemies (codified as the "Deep State,&quot are out to get him.

New polls that attest to Trump's increased popularity since the raid within the GOP and among grassroots supporters demonstrate the power of posing as the victim -- a power strongmen leaders have long exploited to create lasting bonds with followers and justify their violent and criminal acts.

*snip*

[The Unmitigated Gall]

1. Victimhood. It's what bullies do whenever

They’re called out and confronted.