Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton are urging protest and political action to protect democracy from the threat of fascism under President Donald Trump.
In remarks Saturday at Wellesley, where both graduated, Clinton — without saying Trump’s name — took aim at “the strategy” of distraction that is lulling Americans into inaction, the Boston Globe reported.
“The idea that, ‘Oh it can’t happen here,’ is just old fashioned, my friends,” she said.
“There seems to be no staying power for these really serious threats and that’s part of the strategy. You know, you do something today that’s even more outrageous than what you did yesterday. You say something that’s totally beyond the pale of what should be expected from any public official. And so what happened yesterday is quickly lost in what’s happening today.”
She also decried a “classic pattern” of using symbols combined with verbal and physical intimidation, Boston’s 25 News reported.
"I think given the rapidity with which information can be conveyed today because of the internet, it is an even more dangerous set of circumstances,” she said.
Clinton said the final report of special counsel Robert Mueller both laid out the massive interference by Russia in the 2016 election, and laid out a case for obstruction of justice.
“People just want to quit hearing about it and get back to their normal lives,” she said, Boston’s 25 News reported. “There is nothing normal about undermining the rule of law. There is nothing normal about attacking the press. There is nothing normal about trying to undermine another branch of government.”
Albright, whose book “Fascism: A Warning,” was published last year, noted Adolf Hitler in Germany and Benito Mussolini in Italy came to power constitutionally.
And according to Albright, the book’s best quote came from Mussolini, whom she quoting saying: “If you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, nobody notices,” the Boston Globe reported.
“I think there’s a lot of feather-plucking going on now,” Albright said, the Globe reported, and adding it’s one reason she wrote her book.
“I’m often asked if I’m an optimist or a pessimist,” she added. “I’m an optimist who worries a lot and so that’s why I decided to put out the warning.”
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