By Ayesha Munawar
He may be out of office, but former president Donald Trump will continue to build his base, using his family to keep a foothold in politics, says New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on fascism.
“The psychology of men like [Trump] can’t just be in the shadows, he lost his Twitter account and now the ban has been made permanent. But he has to be in the spotlight and he also has a need to humiliate others and control others,” Ben-Ghiat told a UC Santa Barbara audience last week.
NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, upper right, discussed her new book “Strongmen” last week via Zoom. The event was moderated by Susan Derwin, director of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, bottom center, and translated into American Sign Language by Katie Voice
“It is very unlikely that he will release his grip on the GOP. He may run for office in 2024, I’m not sure if he will or not, but he is building a political dynasty with his children who are going to likely run for office.”
Ben-Ghiat is an NYU professor of History and Italian Studies who talked about her new book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present at a webinar hosted by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.
She is known for her research on fascism, authoritative leaders, propaganda, and threats to democracy around the world. Her new book is about the evolution of authoritarianism and how she views Strongmen such as Trump as a subset of authoritarians. “Corruption, propaganda, violence, and the myth of national greatness tend to make up the authoritarian playbook,” she said.
“One reason I wrote the book was to help Americans have a frame for what they were experiencing under former president Trump beyond American history. And it’s the first book to put Trump’s presidency in the global historical context,” Ben-Ghiat said.
Her book says autocratic leaders often meddle in the voting process, most often in one-party states. “It argues that Trump’s actions are one manifestation of how authoritarianism works today,” she said. “When people come in through elections, they have to manipulate elections to stay there.”
Ben-Ghiat has discovered in her research that authoritarianism always starts the same way, with a charismatic figure – usually a man – offering an apparently fresh solution to current ills.
“An individual appears on the political landscape who seems to stand for something new and grand. Skilled in the arts of self-presentation and emotional manipulation, he captures the hearts and minds of millions, telling them he will clean up the country.”
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by NYU professor and historian, Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
Susan Derwin, the director of UC Santa Barbara’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and a professor of German and Comparative Literature moderated the event. Derwin asked Ben-Ghiat why she chose to study strongmen and authoritarianism.
The NYU author said the prospect of Trump’s potential reelection prompted her to set aside her other projects and move quickly with this book, which came out last fall, a week after the election.
“I was very concerned that we are in a period of very active revisionism with the history of authoritarianism globally,” she said. Ben-Ghiat added that a main lesson in her book is to fully understand the “legitimation of lawlessness.”
Besides men, women leaders have also been in positions of power where they have acted tyrannically. But the bulk of Ben-Ghiat’s research has focused on male, right-wing authoritarians, “the corruption, the violence, and how it interacts with the Machismo.”
The powerful presence of political leaders, such as Mussolini and Trump, has played a role in the emotional manipulation of the public, having a cumulative effect to embolden strongmen.
Ben-Ghiat said she believes that, as time goes on, more and more skilled propagandists will arise.
Ayesha Munawar is a fourth year UCSB student majoring in Communication. She is a web and social media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.