Professor of History at Yale Timothy Snyderauthoritarianism expert, argued this weekend that former President Donald Trump’s recent “fascist displays,” “obscure language” and “attempts at intimidation” are only about one thing: scaring people.

“Once you understand this trick, once you recognize that this is all they have, then you see: ‘OK, Trump is a tyrant that I can bring down with my little finger, or just a tyrant whom I can overthrow with my hand.’ use to vote”, Snyder, the author of “On tyranny: twenty lessons from the 20th centurysaid Ali Velshi of MSNBC.

Velshi had asked Snyder what he was telling people about “feeling overwhelmed, scared and anxious” ahead of the 2024 election, which polls show is still remarkably close between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris , his Democratic rival.

“It’s the perfect question because the people who want to bring down the system, the people who want to make America a different kind of order, authoritarian, they want us to be afraid, they want us to be anxious.” , Snyder replied. .

“This is exactly what they are aiming for, and it is their most powerful weapon,” he added. “And so when you feel that way, you have to recognize, ‘Aha, this is part of the diet change, this is their thing, and I’m not going to fall for that.’ What I’m going to do is make sure that I’m not just thinking about the right things, that I’m doing the right things and that I’m doing them with other people.

Snyder has repeatedly expressed fears about what would happen if Trump wins back the White House.

“Unless Trump loses,” he said. warned in July“America is ending.”

Watch Snyder’s conversation with Ali here:

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