The Guardian: How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world

[Dennis Donovan]

The Guardian - (archived: https://archive.md/qd1tm ) How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world

In the wake of Trump’s unnerving appointees, the investigative journalist and veteran of the libel court offers pointers on coping in an age of surveillance

Carole Cadwalladr
Sun 17 Nov 2024 03.00 EST



1 When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Last week Donald Trump appointed a director of intelligence who spouts Russian propaganda, a Christian nationalist crusader as secretary of defence, and a secretary of health who is a vaccine sceptic. If Trump was seeking to destroy American democracy, the American state and American values, this is how he’d do it.

2 Journalists are first, but everyone else is next. Trump has announced multibillion-dollar lawsuits against “the enemy camp”: newspapers and publishers. His proposed FBI director is on record as wanting to prosecute certain journalists. Journalists, publishers, writers, academics are always in the first wave. Doctors, teachers, accountants will be next. Authoritarianism is as predictable as a Swiss train. It’s already later than you think.

3 To name is to understand. This is McMuskism: it’s McCarthyism on steroids, political persecution + Trump + Musk + Silicon Valley surveillance tools. It’s the dawn of a new age of political witch-hunts, where burning at the stake meets data harvesting and online mobs.

4 If that sounds scary, it’s because that’s the plan. Trump’s administration will be incompetent and reckless but individuals will be targeted, institutions will cower, organisations will crumble. Fast. The chilling will be real and immediate.

5 You have more power than you think. We’re supposed to feel powerless. That’s the strategy. But we’re not. If you’re a US institution or organisation, form an emergency committee. Bring in experts. Learn from people who have lived under authoritarianism. Ask advice.

/snip

[Native]

1. Broligarchy - such an unserious moniker for such a serious state of affairs. Not a fan.

[kirby]

2. Is it really unserious?

It sounds 'funny', but it perfectly describes the 'Crytpobros' who have fallen into huge sums of money based on nothing more than putting their money into a ponzi scheme. They are the cast of characters...

[Native]

3. you said it sounds funny. how is that serious?

it certainly isn't seriously funny. I also think it sounds flippant and cavalier.

on edit. you also reference a cast of characters. This is real life, bro.

[kirby]

5. I meant it may sound funny to you...

and maybe to some others. But Cryptobro has taken on a meaning of a non-thinking frat-boy scam-peddling con man. As far as cast of characters, that is how Trump sees it...fill the roles of government with various characters that show loyalty and look good / tough on TV. There is nothing funny about it.

[niyad]

4. KNR and bookmarking.

[GenThePerservering]

6. I prefer "Chudocracy"

Don't give bros any room.