A New York University professor recently accused President Donald Trump of authoritarianism and claimed that wanting to “[r]estore the will of people” is “fascist.”
The professor, Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who teaches History and Italian at New York University, wrote on X on Feb. 19: “Restore the will of the people=fascist talk,” in response to a video showing Elon Musk saying: “All we’re really trying to do here is restore the will of the people, through the president.”
She also commented on the State Department’s pausing of subscriptions for certain outlets, claiming it’s “[w]hat autocrats do,” in a Feb. 19 post. That same day, she also expressed her agreement with a post that stated “[t]he USA is now an open enemy of democracy–and needs to be understood as such.”
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In response to a VanityFair article claiming that Republican lawmakers “fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit political violence against them if they don’t rubber-stamp his actions,” Ben-Ghiat commented: “Want a clue you are in an authoritarian situation? Politicians from the leader’s party fear they will be targeted for physical harm if they displease the leader.”
She further accused Stephen Bannon of doing a “fascist salute” and wrote “[a]uthoritarian leader cult alert” regarding House Speaker Mike Johnson’s CPAC speech.
Ben-Ghiat also compared President Trump to fascist dictator Benito Mussolini because of some of his pardons, and claimed that privatizations are used “by right wing autocrats.”
Ben-Ghiat serves as a member of the advisory board of the Seneca Project, a group dedicated to fighting against the supposed “dangerous threat posed by Donald Trump’s presidency.”
In one interview with the Seneca Project, Ben-Ghiat claimed that Elon Musk is carrying out a “coup” against the United States government, and compared Trump’s administration to that of authoritarian Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Her Substack newsletter website, Lucid, claims to be “a space of caring and solidarity where we help each other process the losses we suffer due to negligent and repressive governance, racism, misogyny, homophobia, environmental plunder, and gun violence.”
Some articles on the site include, “America, ally of autocrats,” “A New Kind of Coup: Trump and Musk are Updating the Autocratic Playbook,” and “Violence is Trump’s Brand.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and New York University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
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