Notes
1: Demagogues and Artists
3. “Chileans, who had long prided . . . succumbed to dictatorship.” Levitsky and Ziblatt, How Democracies Die, p. 116.
5. “ruled harshly but left behind the most successful country in Latin America.” Packenham and Ratliff, The Hoover Institution, “What Pinochet Did for Chile,” January 30, 2007.
5. “I think Pinochet . . . dreamer and even a visionary.” The Washington Independent Review of Books, September 9, 2015.
7. “Friend . . . Well, ya got trouble, my friend.” The Music Man, Meredith Wilson.
8. “Golden rule of democracies.” Eli Merritt, “Civics 101: Keep Demagogues Out of Democracy.” The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and Democracy, available here: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/unity/
9. “intolerance of ambiguity.” Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford. The Authoritarian Personality, 325.
9. “oneness and sameness.” Hope Not Hate, January 11, 2020.
10. “Difference-ism . . . avoiders of complexity . . . another way to be human.” Ibid.
10. “punitiveness toward dissidents and deviants.” Ibid.
10. “not a fundamental and enduring dimension of human nature.” Ibid.
11. “Societies seem to thrive when there’s a balanced mix of folks who monitor the boundaries and guard against the strange and unfamiliar, and others who seek out novelty and variety.” Ibid.
16. “the style of thinking characterized by rigid adherence to a dogma and a rigid social identity.” The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking,13.
17. “The spirit of liberty . . . minds of other men and women.” Learned Hand, “The Spirit of Liberty,” 1944,
18. “In a given community . . . to come out.” Zmigrod, The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking, 201.
18. “The spiral reflects . . . ideological environment.” Ibid. 199.
19. “pain that is always there . . immortality itself.” Yalom, Love’s Executioner, 3.
22. “Where, if not from the impressionists . . . exaggerated and over-emphasized.” Wilde, “The Decay of Lying,” 1913.
23. Coleridge, Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1836.
23-24. “One of the most sublime . . . of all time.” Hegel, Lectures on Aesthetics, 464.
26. “The world will be saved by beauty.” Dostoevsky, The Idiot. Available here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2638
2: These are the Times that Try Men’s Souls
27. “All times . . . became common.” Edelman, The Symbolic Uses of Politics, 13.
28. “Zenger Trial.” To read more about the Zenger Trial, see: https://terikanefield.com/juries-and-the-zenger-trial/
31. “2,500 or more was 5.1%,” U.S. Census Bureau.
31. “4% of colonists,” “Read the Revolution,” Museum of the American Revolution.
32. “80% of Americans,” U.S. Census Newsroom, “Redefining Urban Areas.”
32. “40% of Americans,” Pew Research Center, “Religious Landscape Study.”
30. “71% of the electorate.” Pew Research Center, “Demographics of Trump and Harris Voters,” available on the Pew Research Center website.
32-33. “Christian nationalism . . . preserve our cultural identity.” Christianity Today, “What is Christian Nationalism?”
32. “All persons . . . shall be freely tolerated.” 1778 South Carolina Constitution.
37-38. “That God designed . . . exceptional cases,” Bradwell v. The State, 83, U.S. 16 (1872).)
39. “Woman’s sustenance . . . his power over her,” Harper, Life and Work, vol. 1, 231.)
44. “Yeah, that’s here . . . You can do anything.” Access Hollywood, available here: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37595321
45. “Hey there . . . a big bad wolf would want.” Lyrics, Sam the Sham, Red Riding Hood. Available on YouTube.
46. “The militia may be here destroyed . . . by disarming them,” Waldman, The Second Amendment: A Biography, 46.
46. “ultimate safety . . . detested everywhere.” Waldman, Waldman, The Second Amendment: A Biography, 38.
47. “A little rebellion . . . a good thing,” Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, January 30, 1787.
48. “Republican extremism . . taken from them,” Levitsky and Way, “America’s Coming Age of Instability.”
3. The Appeal of Autocracy
49. “charismatic leader,” Weber, “Politics as a Vocation.”
50. “59% of Americans . . . disapproved,” Gallup Vault, “Americans Narrowly OK’d 1964 Civil Rights Law.
53. “Democracy is messy. Authoritarianism is neat,” Swan, Michael, “Protect Messy Spirit of Ukraine’s Democracy.”
56. “ If men were angels, no government would be necessary,” The Federalist Papers 51.
62. “replied stubbornly. . . stay in,” Andrea Most, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.”
62. “underlying philosophy . . . Moscow,” Ibid.
62. “It’s not born in you . . . carefully taught,” South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein.
62. “Life is difficult . . . no longer matters.” Peck, The Road Less Traveled, 1.
4. Rage Merchants
68. “Media producers sought . . . as wide a swath as possible,” Young, Wrong! How Media, Politics and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation, 172. 70. “I happen to have great entertainment skills,” Chafets, The New York Times, July 6, 2008.
70. “Feminism was established . . . Jesse Jackson?” Zurcher, BBC, February 17, 2021. Available here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56105331
71-72. “The Phenomenon of the Partisan Pundit . . this seems to be the case,” Young, Wrong! p. 144 – 145.
74. “minute-by-minute rating data,” New York Times, Confessore, Nicholas. “What to Know About Tucker Carlson’s Rise.”
75. “85% of MSNBC . . . 54% factual reporting,” Jurkowitz,“Is MSNBC the Place for Opinion?”
75. “As partisan political views . . . merely has opinions,” Ciciora, Illinois News Bureau.
76. “respectively 67, 68, and 71,” Shafer, Jack “Old People Love Cable News — and They Vote,” Politico.
76. “Conspiracy theories . . . public in the dark.” Young, Wrong! How Media, Politics and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation” 42.
77. “Our date indicates . . . even nastier.” Sobieraj and Berry, The Other Divide, 42).
78. “132,000 prime time viewers . . . 2.2 million viewers.” Patten, Deadline, “MSNBC Ratings Crater to All-Time Lows, Fox News Tops Q1 Results, CNN Up.” See also: See also Adweek, available here: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/2020-ratings-msnbc-sets-network-records-ranks-no-2-in-total-viewers-but-no-3-among-adults-25-54/
79. “May not be good for America . . . CBS.” Moonves, Politico, February 29, 2016.
5. Social Media Makes it Worse
80. “Often . . . sometimes.” Pew Research Center, “Social Media Fact Sheet.
81. “The Pew Research Center has found . . . rather by algorithms.” Available here: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/16/algorithms-in-action-the-content-people-see-on-social-media/
82. “angry content,” Zubrow, “Facebook Whistleblower Says Company Incentivizes Angry, Polarizing, Divisive Content.”
82. “Daily Wire . . . (D-NY).” Platformer, available here: https://www.platformer.news/the-secret-list-of-twitter-vips-getting/
83. “tightly controlled propagandist state . . . radicalizing spaces,” Zmigrod, The Ideological Brain, 222.
90. “A bond of this size . . . privately held business,” Rushe and Aratani, The Guardian, “Trump Civil Fraud Case.”
91. “This is so infuriating,” clip available here: x.com/TPostMillennial/status/1772297738928988164
93. “It’s incredibly serious, unbelievably serious . . . trying to make me complicit in it,” Italiano, L., “Judge Scolds Trump Lawyer.” Available here: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyer-scolded-bigly-after-botched-hush-money-delay-bid-2024-3. See also Lawfare’s reporting on the hearing: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-trial-date-certain-ish-ny-trump-case-set-to-begin-april-15#:~:text=Merchan%20now%20comes%20to%20page,defendant’s%20efforts%20to%20obtain%20evidence.”
94. “The Justice Delay,” clip available here: https://x.com/WagnerTonight/status/1768749117377847335
96. “Wide-open border … drug addled.” “Unfounded Conspiracy Theories Spread Online after Baltimore Bridge Collapse,” NBC News, available here: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-conspiracy-theories-online-rcna145105
Toward a More Enlightened Tomorrow
99. “Presenting new thigs . . . chance of success is greater,” Bellizzi, “Cognitive Biases and Brain Biology Help Explain Why Facts Don’t Change Minds.”
103. “In the only country . . almost universal concern,” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 60.
Bibliography
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Articles and Essays
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Cases Cited or Mentioned
Bradwell v. The State, 83 U.S. 130 (1872)
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940).
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856)
Gamble v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 1960 (2019)
Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905)
New York v. Trump, No. 25-1236 (1st Cir. 2025)
The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, No. 71543/2023
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944)
State v. A. B. Rhodes, 61 N.C. 453 (1868).
Cable News Clips
“This is so Infuriating,” Tristin Snell on MSNBC. Clip available here: x.com/TPostMillennial/status/1772297738928988164
“The Justice Delay,” Andrew Weissman and Lisa Murray on MSNBC. https://x.com/WagnerTonight/status/1768749117377847335
Unfounded Conspiracy Theories Spread Online after Baltimore Bridge Collapse,” NBC News, clip available here: www.nbcnews.com/tech/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-conspiracy-theories-online-rcna145105
Artists and Performers Cited
Ledroit, Stephanie, Paintings can be found on her website. www.StephanieLedroit.com
Munch, Edvard, “The Scream,” 1893.
Preston, Robert performing Meredith Wilson’s “Ya Got Trouble,” 1962.
Sam the Sham performing “Little Red Riding Hood,” 1966.