Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Monday addressed the moment at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee when Republicans chanted the word “fight” soon after GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump walked into the auditorium.
The chant referenced the former president saying the word — while pumping his fist — immediately after surviving an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend.
Radio host Dean Obeidallah shared a video of the scene from the convention on X, the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly named Twitter.
“Bone chilling to see at #RNCConvention people chanting ‘Fight’ in unison with one arm punching in the air,” he wrote. “Instantly conjures up rallies from 1930s Germany. There is no other way to put it.”
Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University and the author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” who has frequently warned of the authoritarian aspects of a potential second Trump presidency, reposted the clip.
She wrote, “You know what to do, Americans. We can avoid this nightmare. Never become resigned or fatalistic. That’s what they want.”
Following the attempt on Trump’s life, there have been bipartisan calls to tone down political rhetoric (which Republicans didn’t really adhere to during the first day of the convention).
Trump himself has claimed he’s changed his planned “humdinger” of a convention speech attacking President Joe Biden. “It is a chance to bring the country together,” he told the Washington Examiner on Sunday.
Ben-Ghiat, however, commented: “The pivot delusion/propaganda point has returned! Sorry but Trump’s idea of unity is everyone behind him or else. He tells his own supporters that if they vote for him and die ‘it will be worth it.’ No pivoting out of that.”