'Authoritarian' GOP has become 'dependent on violence for its identity': historian

During a Thursday, September 28 speech in Arizona, President Joe Biden paid tribute to the late conservative Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and sounded the alarm about the threats that "MAGA Republicans" pose to democracy in the United States.

Biden's tone was not anti-conservative. He was joined onstage by McCain's widow, conservative activist Cindy McCain, and Biden fondly recalled his years working with John McCain in the U.S. Senate. But the president attacked the MAGA movement as dangerously authoritarian — a warning that author/history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat agreed with during an appearance on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" a few hours after Biden's speech.

Ben-Ghiat, known for her expertise on authoritarianism and her book "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present," told liberal host Joy Reid, "We really need to take very seriously how this fusion between the Proud Boys and all these other extremist groups is going on. And so, this is part of the GOP's trajectory to become an autocratic party."

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When Reid mentioned that former Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) joined former President Donald Trump in suggesting that Joints Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley should be executed, Ben-Ghiat responded, "Unfortunately, for us, in America…. we only have these two parties. And one of them has become an authoritarian party that is dependent on violence and on corruption for its identity."

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