Authoritarianism expert has a warning about Nikki Haley’s refusal to condemn Trump

‘We are living through real-time preparation for an authoritarian crackdown,’ Ruth Ben-Ghiat says

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has refused to say whether Donald Trump should be disqualified for the GOP’s 2024 nomination after his comments suggesting that the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff should be executed for treason.

During NBC’s Meet the Press on 8 October, Ms Haley, a former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, called his comments “irresponsible” but did not say whether she believes his comments are disqualifying.

“I think any man or woman who served our country deserves our highest respect,” she said. “They sacrifice a lot. Their families sacrifice a lot. And we should honour them every chance we get.”

Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat of New York University said Ms Haley’s refusal to outright condemn Mr Trump’s increasingly violent rhetoric offers a grim warning of a growing tolerance for authoritarian violence.

“Apparently the idea of executing Milley is now the Party Line,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We are living through real-time preparation for an authoritarian crackdown. We are in phase of ‘getting the public used to the idea of violence.’ Having authoritative voices like Haley endorse violence is key.”

Ms Ben-Ghiat, an historian and author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, had recently warned against the former president’s “endgame” in “cultivating as many individuals as possible and preparing them psychologically to be willing to persecute his enemies.”

Pointing to his rhetoric in campaign events, his calls for violence in the wake of his criminal indictments, and a recent appearance promoting a handgun, “it is clearer than ever that inciting political violence is Trump’s political project, and his campaign appearances and events must be seen in that light. Trump is a marketer,” she wrote.

Mr Trump’s comments about Gen Milley were amplified and more explicit among his supporters, including far-right US Rep Paul Gosar of Arizona, who wrote in a newsletter that “in a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung”.

Mr Gosar also called the four-star general with more than four decades of military service a “traitor.”

In response to Mr Trump’s remarks during an interview with CBS News last month, Mr Milley said that “as much as these comments are directed at me, it’s also directed at the institution of the military, and there is 2.1 million of us in uniform.”

“And the American people can take it to the bank, that all of us, every single one of us, from private to general, are loyal to that Constitution and will never turn our back on it no matter what,” he added. “No matter what the threats, no matter what the humiliation, no matter what.”

The former president’s comments have also prompted Mr Milley and his family to take “safety precautions,” he said.

Ms Haley, meanwhile, is in a tightening competition for the No 2 spot in the crowded field of Republican nominees alongside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, all still trailing Mr Trump in early polling. Her campaigns have reported raising more than $11m within the third quarter.