What A Day How Trump Wants To Wield The Shutdown
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Oct 1, 2025 In this discussion, Zack Beauchamp, a Senior Correspondent at Vox specializing in global democracy and right-wing populism, delves into the implications of the recent government shutdown. He explores how Trump views shutdowns as opportunities for consolidating authority, akin to tactics seen in authoritarian regimes. Beauchamp also addresses the alarming admiration among American conservatives for leaders like Viktor Orban, and discusses the necessity for grassroots resistance to combat these trends. His insights highlight both the risks and the potential paths forward in the political landscape.
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How Democracies Become 'Competitive' Authoritarian
- Competitive authoritarianism pretends to be democratic while stacking rules and institutions to make fair opposition nearly impossible.
- Zack Beauchamp warns this mix of media control, regulatory capture, and civil-society suppression undermines real electoral competition.
Kimmel Incident Shows Coercing Private Media
- The FCC threat to pull local TV licenses forced media conglomerates to pull Jimmy Kimmel briefly off air before pushback reversed it.
- Beauchamp says this episode showed how governments can coerce private actors to do repression for them.
'Media Bias' As A Pretext For Control
- Authoritarians often claim media bias and then justify legal or regulatory action as 'fairness' measures.
- Beauchamp cites Viktor Orban and others using this rhetoric to impose control while claiming legitimacy.