WATCH: Trump’s secret police and the force multiplier of fear

We just talked live with our regular Monday guest, the scholar of authoritarianism Ruth Ben-Ghiat, and 2,400 of you, and she told us about:

* How the new budget turns ICE — the masked, unidentified, plainclothes agents who’ve been taking people off the streets — into something new for America: a secret police force.

* Why masked gangs of enforcers are a “force multiplier of fear,” letting authoritarians exercise power beyond their numbers and popular support.

* How to reclaim patriotism from the far-right and own it — the far-right isn’t the ship, it’s a barnacle.

* Rejecting the idea of a fortress America in favor of the older, better idea of a nation of immigrants, with all of its diverse flavors and tastes.

* How Hungary’s fearless Pride marchers point the way forward for opposing authoritarianism.

You won’t want to miss any of it. Just click on the video player above to watch the entire conversation.

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Join us for more Live conversations this week!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 8, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be joined by former Department of Homeland Security official and Donald Trump critic Miles Taylor and Wesleyan University president Michael S. Roth. Then on Wednesday, July 9, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll meet with The Ink Book Club. And on Thursday, July 10, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll talk again with messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio.

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