Ezra Klein is Wrong: Trump and Musk are Enacting an Administrative Coup that Does Not Require our Approval to Succeed
"We are drifting toward territory only occupied by developing countries with whom we have little to no cultural connection. Anne Appelbaum just told The Bulwark podcast, “We’re now in the realm of illegality.” I spent one year in Cairo studying the Egyptian government where my readings left my jaw agape at how methodically Hosni Mubarak had gutted the oppositional husk from every institution, company, and organization. They were all crafted to serve the president, his family, and his military through an intricate web of incentives, bribes, and threats such that any internal pressure that emerged was squashed like a gnat.
Only two institutions stop leaders like these, the military and the people. This century, mass protests aided by military defections have brought down autocrats in Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Libya, South Africa, Sudan, Yemen, Zimbabwe, and most recently in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These are foreign to American political instincts. We have never needed to dig for this tool."
#coup #corruption https://brentgiannotta.substack.com/p/ezra-klein-is-wrong-trump-and-musk
