'Even authoritarian regimes need a measure of public support — the consent of at least some of the governed'

'Trump is behaving as if he has no opponents that matter'

Jamelle Bouie at The New York Times

In the "right-wing world," there is a "belief in the immateriality of popular political opposition to Trump — a sense that it is less the response of ordinary people with agency than it is a plot by outside agitators," says Jamelle Bouie. Trump has "never recognized the legitimacy of opposition against him," but to succeed in any conflict," a "skilled leader needs the ability to take a read of the land." His "refusal to recognize dissent may end up being his "fatal miscalculation."

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'Israel sees the truth as a threat to be eliminated'

Dave Zirin at The Nation

Oscar-winning documentarian Hamdan Ballal was recently thrown into jail. Basel Adra, his codirector on "No Other Land," told The Associated Press: "We came back from the Oscars and every day, there is an attack on us. This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like punishment." In an effort to "silence Ballal" and keep Palestinians from "speaking truth," Israel's "solution is to just kill the artists," says Dave Zirin.

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'Intuition severed from science cannot solve the mental health crisis'

E.J. Dickson at The Cut

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed opening "wellness farms" where "children addicted to drugs" or "taking prescribed psychiatric medications, like SSRIs and Adderall," could "detox," says E.J. Dickson. "The idea that health may be arrived at by a type of purity, by throwing away chemical compounds and healing ourselves with fresh air, has deep emotional appeal" — but "wellness farms, like so much else proposed in the second Trump administration," may easily become a "means of control."

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'The only thing certain with the Trump administration is uncertainty, and Europe must plan accordingly'

Michael John Williams at Foreign Policy

There was once a "firm European belief in the steadfast commitment of Washington to the security of Europe," but "today, that no longer holds," says Michael John Williams. "Europe must act in accordance with this reality." Luckily, "plans for a European nuclear deterrent exist in the archives, and the European Union would do well to dust them off." Without America, Europe "finds itself unarmed in a dangerous, nuclear world."

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