Jason Stanley, a Yale University professor and author known for his expertise on the history of fascism, recently made a bombshell announcement: He is leaving the United States and moving to Canada.
Stanley, author of the 2018 book, "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them," accepted a job offer at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. And he is being candid about his reasons for leaving the country: Stanley believes the U.S. is moving in an increasingly authoritarian direction during Donald Trump's second presidency.
The Yale scholar told the Daily Nous he wants "to raise my kids in a country that is not tilting towards a fascist dictatorship."
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Stanley isn't the only well-known American who is making such a move. Actress Rosie O'Donnell, a liberal Trump critic, is now living in the Republic of Ireland — where she says she is "sleeping better."
Stanley discussed his move to Canada during a Monday morning, March 31 appearance on MSNBC, stressing that leaving the U.S. was not a decision he made lightly.
When MSNBC host Ana Cabrera asked Stanley why he doesn't stay in the U.S. and be part of the "pushback" against Trump policies he opposes, the Yale scholar/author responded, "I will continue to throw punches against fascism and bullies from Canada, don't worry. I have two Black and Jewish kids. I think my kids actually are more important to me than anything else…. And I want to send a political message, as I've been doing with my work."
Stanley added, "This comes at great personal cost…. I'm taking a huge salary cut. I'm not a super wealthy person. I'll still be well- paid, but I'm taking like a 25 percent salary cut and moving myself from my homeland that I love."
Stanley defended Yale during the interview, pointing out that his decision to leave the U.S. has nothing to with the Connecticut university. And he warned that Trump's threat to cut off Columbia's funding is historically dangerous.
"Yale has, to this extent, protected its scholars — unlike Columbia (University), who forced, for example, Katharine Frank, a prominent law professor, into early retirement," Stanley told Cabrera. "So, it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with my children and my desire to send a warning to Americans that is consonant with the work I've been doing…. Never before has the federal government intervened to put a department into receivership, much less an excellent department like the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University…. Needless to say, this crackdown, Columbia's capitulation to this, is a grave sign about the future of academic freedom in addition to, say, hauling people off the street and sending them to Louisiana prisons like they did at Tufts University for co-authoring op-eds in the student newspaper."
Stanley added that the Trump Administration will only escalate its tactics in the months ahead.
Stanley told Cabrera, "Right now, they're targeting non-citizens for writing in student newspapers. I suspect they'll start pulling people's passports, targeting U.S. citizens for various reasons, and exploiting Americans' ignorance generally…. They're trying to, and I fear they will succeed, in destroying America's higher education system — which is by far the best in the world.
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