{"id":27899,"date":"2017-11-16T15:12:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T21:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/?p=27899"},"modified":"2017-12-05T21:49:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T03:49:45","slug":"despots-apprentice-donald-trumps-attack-democracy-book-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/16\/despots-apprentice-donald-trumps-attack-democracy-book-note\/","title":{"rendered":"The Despot&#8217;s Apprentice: Donald Trump&#8217;s Attack on Democracy (Book Note)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1510735852\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=1510735852&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=grlasbl0a-20&#038;linkId=d35dbb20745a9ca11fd511071245ca3f\">The Despot&#8217;s Apprentice: Donald Trump&#8217;s Attack on Democracy<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=grlasbl0a-20&#038;l=am2&#038;o=1&#038;a=1510735852\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/> by Brian Klass.  It is the current Amazon best seller in the category &#8230; wait for it &#8230; &#8220;facism.&#8221;  Here&#8217;s the details: <!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>An ex-US campaign advisor who has sat with the world\u2019s dictators explains Donald Trump\u2019s increasingly authoritarian tactics and the threat they pose to American democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Donald Trump isn\u2019t a despot. But he is increasingly acting like The Despot\u2019s Apprentice, an understudy in authoritarian tactics that threaten to erode American democracy. Whether it\u2019s attacking the press, threatening rule of law by firing those who investigate his alleged wrongdoings, or using nepotism to staff the White House, Donald Trump is borrowing tactics from the world\u2019s dictators and despots. Trump\u2019s fascination for the military, his obsession with his own cult of personality, and his deliberate campaign to blur the line between fact and falsehood are nothing new to the world of despots. But they are new to the United States. With each authoritarian tactic or tweet, Trump poses a unique threat to democratic government in the world\u2019s most powerful democracy.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Trump\u2019s apprenticeship has serious consequences beyond the United States too. His bizarre adoration and idolization of despotic strongmen?from Russia\u2019s Putin, to Turkey\u2019s Erdogan, or to the Philippines\u2019 Duterte?has transformed American foreign policy into a powerful cheerleader for some of the world\u2019s worst regimes.<\/p>\n<p>The Despot\u2019s Apprentice: Donald Trump&#8217;s Attack on Democracy will explore how Trump uniquely threatens democracy?and how to save it from him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/the-last-word\">Here is a discussion with the author. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Despot&#8217;s Apprentice: Donald Trump&#8217;s Attack on Democracy by Brian Klass. It is the current Amazon best seller in the category &#8230; wait for it &#8230; &#8220;facism.&#8221; Here&#8217;s the details:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5024],"tags":[40,1200,964,5020],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Despots_Apprentice_Book_Note_Greg_Ladens_Blog.png?fit=945%2C564&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5fhV1-7fZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27901,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27899\/revisions\/27901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}