“Think of Putin, Xi, Kim, Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu – they’re all odious thugs,” he said. “We need our own odious thug to stand up to them.”
I demurred, saying that direct confrontation could lead to more bloodshed, even nuclear war.
He continued: “We need an odious thug to shake up Washington, stir up all the ossified bureaucracies now destroying America, do all the things no one has had the balls to do.”
When I looked skeptical, he charged: “We need someone to take control!”
As soon as he uttered those last words, he and I both knew the conversation was over. He had spilled the beans. He was impatient with the messiness and slowness of democracy. He wanted a dictator.
-Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, recounting an encounter with a Trump supporter.
This is the reason that I also believe that the Bidens message on democracy will not work. Too many people believe that democracy doesn’t work for them any longer.
