Fascism Expert Timothy Snyder Speaks in Amsterdam, and I Ask Him a Question
Friday, 24 January, 2025
Timothy Snyder was hosted by the John Adams Institute at the Dominicuskerk Amsterdam
A Fascism expert. What better way to celebrate the second inauguration of Donald Trump?
US author & professor Timothy Snyder spoke in Amsterdam on “Imagining and Designing a Better America.”
(Maybe he was talking about somewhere else in North America.)
Timothy Snyder is best known for his book On Tyranny, which describes how democracies die. His phrase “do not obey in advance” has been trending on social media since Election Day 2024. Snyder: “I wish my book was NOT a best-seller right now.”
One Snyder line that stuck with me: “Oligarchs have more in common with each other than they do with their own people.” Hence Trump’s first foreign leader invite was to Netanhayu. And Trump’s first Big Phone Call was to Putin. To coordinate the heist.
Snyder’s new book is On Freedom, which he’s promoting now. He said he wanted to ask the question: “What is it that makes a Trump possible?” His answer: the US has the wrong idea of freedom. There’s “The Freedom TO” vs. “The Freedom FROM”.
-The Freedom TO is referenced in the US Declaration of Independence: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Positive Freedom.
-The Freedom FROM is negative. It comes from a place of entitlement and blame. “If not for X, then you would be free. (And only I can fix it.)” Negative Freedom.
The Four Freedoms
Unfortunately for Snyder, someone in the audience brought up the famous “Four Freedoms” of Franklin Roosevelt. (The freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom FROM hunger and the freedom FROM fear.) Snyder argues that it’s semantics, and the first two freedoms define the four, and they’re primarily about the freedom TO exercise your own free will.
The US Republican party promises the freedom FROM: immigrants; woke culture; and… the government itself. Ronald Reagan was charismatic and indeed a great communicator, when he said “the nine most frightening words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Snyder argues that Donald Trump also is intelligent & charismatic & good at politics. And a fascist.
Interesting point from Snyder: any time the term freedom is applied to an object – it implies authoritarianism. The term “free market” = you humans have the duty to NOT intervene.
Another interesting point: Negative freedom empowers people to abandon empathy. Fascism relies on lack of human empathy.
Someone from the audience asked “here you are in Amsterdam with a liberal audience. Aren’t you just preaching to the choir?” Snyder argues that “Preaching to the Choir” is 100% good! It’s empowering to hear friends & neighbors make their case. And it helps encourage human empathy.
My question for the Timothy Snyder Q & A:
“I was thinking of the quote from Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, about the ‘pleasant falsehood vs the unpleasant truth.’ And negative freedom seems to be doing a good job of promoting the pleasant falsehood! But does there come a point when the unpleasant truth becomes unavoidable? Like in America? Basically, you’ve studied a lot of democracies slipping into dictatorship… can you tell us what happens next?”
Snyder answered that “More Negative freedom will lead to people being less free. At some point, Negative freedom will crash out.”
Snyder predicts Trump will experience extreme unpopularity, starting 6-12 months into this term.
I hope he’s right.
In 2024, Greg Shapiro toured his show Leaving Trumpland 2.0: No Country for Old Men
https://gregshapiro.nl/blog/theater-reviews-leaving-trumpland/