Posted on 06/27/2022 9:35:19 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
Analyzing Trump's presidency, a fascism expert argues he tried to use the office to make money. The historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat described Trump to Insider as a "dedicated" and talented "grifter."
When looking back on President Donald Trump's time in office, Ruth Ben-Ghiat sees someone who pursued a unique goal among his predecessors, one requiring extreme discipline and dedication from the unlikely leader.
"Trump's aims as president were totally different from any other president, Republican or Democrat," Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University who is an expert on fascism, told Insider. "His aims were autocratic in that he wanted to turn public office into a vessel of making money for himself — to have private profit off of public office."
With the House committee hearings over the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot prompting renewed scrutiny over Trump's final days in office, Ben-Ghiat spoke with Insider's Charles R. Davis about the insurrection, its ongoing aftermath, and the divisive former president at the center of it all.
This week, in the congressional committee's second televised hearing, lawmakers focused on Trump's massive fundraising efforts following the 2020 US presidential election, in which his campaign sent emails to millions of supporters claiming "the left wing mob" was threatening the integrity of the election and encouraging people to "step up" and "fight back" by donating.
Investigators say Trump's lies about voter fraud ultimately resulted in $250 million in donations from Trump supporters following Joe Biden's victory. Ben-Ghiat said, "He was extremely disciplined in grifting and in trying to use the presidency to make money."
"Autocrats despise their followers and they use them. And that's where him grifting off of his followers — because he is not grifting off of Democrats, he's bilking his own followers."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
For some reason, Pres Trump left presidency substantially poorer than when he started.
Unlike the Clintons and the Obamas!
Biden family is totally moral of course
right is wrong and wrong is right according to msm
Are these affirmative action graduates?
Oh my goodness they are scraping the bottom of the toilet.
On what planet?
Bill, Hillary, Barack, Michelle, Joe and Hunter all say hi.
Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University who is an **expert on fascism**.
Yes and he just used it and no word of who Xi owns.
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