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Trumpism is patrimonialism, says David Brooks

Trumpism is patrimonialism, says David Brooks

Roy Cohn planted seeds of insanity into Trump’s mind

Gary A Schlueter's avatar
Gary A Schlueter
Apr 18, 2025
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Acorn Archive
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Trumpism is patrimonialism, says David Brooks
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Last Friday on the PBS Newshour David Brooks credited Jonathan Rauch’s story in The Atlantic for refining our concept of Trump authoritarianism as in fact patrimonialism, a word I had not heard of before then. Brooks said, “Authoritarianism is based on institutions and a set of laws — but patrimonialism is the attempt to turn the government into a famil…

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