Quotessence
Home / Books / Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

Book by Anne Applebaum · 2 quotes · Democracy, Politics, America

Filter quotes by topic

AllDemocracyPoliticsAmericaAuthoritarianismConspiracy TheoriesLiesAlexander HamiltonBeliefsComplexityConspiraciesCovidCovid 19Donald TrumpFake NewsGovernmentHistoryMediaNewsRadicalizationRevolution

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism Quotes

“And this is what [Donald] Trump has proven: beneath the surface of the American consensus, the belief in our founding fathers and the faith in our ideals, there lies another America--[Pat] Buchanan's America, Trump's America--one that sees no important distinction between democracy and dictatorship. This America feels no attachment to other democracies; this America is not "exceptional." This America has no special democratic spirit of the kind [Thomas] Jefferson described. The unity of this America is created by white skin, a certain idea of Christianity, and an attachment to land that will be surrounded and defended by a wall. This America's ethnic nationalism resembles the old-fashioned ethnic nationalism of older European nations. This America's cultural despair resembles their cultural despair. The surprise is not that this definition of America is there: it has always existed. The surprise is that it emerged in the political party that has most ostentatiously used flags, banners, patriotic symbols, and parades to signify its identity.”

AmericaDemocracyUnityNationalismDictatorshipRepublican PartyDonald TrumpRepublicansAmerican Exceptionalism
Book:Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
Create image

“These groups and movements were also inspired by a conviction that democracy is worthless, that elections cannot bring real change, and that only the most extreme and desperate actions can stop the decline of a certain vision of America. By 2016, some of the arguments of the old Marxist left--their hatred of ordinary, bourgeois politics and their longing for revolutionary change--met and mingled with the Christian right's despair about the future of American democracy. Together, they produced the restorative nostalgic campaign rhetoric of Donald Trump.”

PoliticsDemocracyRevolutionCampaignsMarxismElectionsDonald TrumpMagaChristian RightRadicalization
Book:Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
Create image