"'The use of lies [by strongmen types] takes place in a larger effort to turn the public against alternate sources of authority,' [Ruth Ben-Ghiat] said. Those sources might include independent courts, legislative bodies and law enforcement agencies. Or — it may be the fourth estate."
~ Odette Yousef
"'What Trump is doing is, he's asking for personal loyalty to him to outweigh the rule of law,' said Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. 'We see this in any authoritarian takeover of a system. We see the authoritarian say, 'Devotion to me is more important than the rule of law.' "