According to an expert on authoritarianism, Donald Trump pursued a unique goal as former president of the United States, which required extreme discipline and dedication from an unlikely leader.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University and expert on fascists, told Insider that Trump's aims were completely different from any other president. He wanted to have private profit off of public office in order to turn it into a vessel of making money for himself.
Ben-Ghiat spoke to Insider's Charles R. Davis about the insurrection, its ongoing aftermath, and the divisive former president at the center of it all.
In the congressional committee's second televised hearing earlier this week, lawmakers focused on Trump's massive fundraising efforts following the 2020 presidential election, in which his campaign sent millions of emails to supporters claiming "the left wing mob" was threatening the integrity of the election.
According to investigators, Trump's lies about voter fraud resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from his supporters. The panel said that the majority of the money raised ended up in a political action committee.
Ben-Ghiat said there was a lot of grift going on. He tried to use the presidency to make money.
Ben-Ghiat said that the millions of dollars that Trump was able to pull in from small-level donors shouldn't be a surprise.
People love Trump and autocrats can be very popular. She said that he has a cult. They don't like their followers and use them. He grifted off of his followers. He is bilking his own followers because he isn't grifting off of Democrats.
Ben-Ghiat said that Trump's presidential penchant for money-making began before the 2020 election. The Washington Post reported in December that in his first three years as president, Trump spent nearly a third of his days at a Trump- branded property.
The money-making schemes of the former president have been going on for a long time. Trump was under investigation when he first ran for president. Ben-Ghiat claimed that the grifting is his model.
The economy is not advantaged if someone is authoritarian minded. She said that they are not there for the public welfare. They aren't there for the public's well-being. They're there to make money for themselves and their family.
According to Ben-Ghiat, the former president behaved like an autocrat because he was focused on money.
She said that he was a prolific user of the social media platform. Trump was very disciplined at doing those things.
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