Should be read in the context of Trump v. United States.
From #JohnGanz, interviewed by #IsaacChotiner https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-american-election-that-set-the-stage-for-trump ht @ryanlcooper
Text: Some people would argue that Trump actually does work within the system—that he broadly pursues Republican policies and governs like a Republican. I don’'t happen to agree with this, and I don’t think you do, either. People have a very cartoonish understanding of what happens in dictatorships or what happens during fascist seizures of power. For many years, Mussolini ruled in a constitutional context. He was doing illegal and coercive things, but he did not get rid of the constitution. There were elections, even if they were not exactly on the up-and-up. So there’s always a hybridization of conventional politics and this sort of stuff. Mussolini had to be appointed Prime Minister through constitutional means, as did Hitler They both had allies, coalition allies, that were not in their party. Because of the dramatic endings to all these stories, it’s forgotten that there are often prosaic beginnings, during which these political actors make the same sorts of adjustments and alliances and compromises that you see in other forms of politics. They’re just more willing to push and break things when they don’t go their way. Of course, Trump did not successfully break the constitutional system last time around.