BUCK: Where does the threat of authoritarianism come from? If you believe the corporate-Democrat media, you would think that it must have been Trump for four years, right? We’re always being lectured about how Trump was scary. He was a totalitarian. He was going to overthrow the government, override the Constitution, all this stuff. You heard all that; it wasn’t true.

As you know, the apparatus was used against him. He was supposed to, as the elected president of the United States, be able to trust in the federal government — as long as his will is constitutional and expressed lawfully — to enact his will. But instead, they tried to subvert it. The Russia collusion nonsense that Clay and I have been talking to you about be with all of that, an effort as what could be called the soft coup from inside the apparatus itself.

The elites and the apparatus of control were never on Trump’s side. He was in opposition to it, which is why they hated him so much. Where are you likely to see more authoritarianism when 95% of media and communications are against the regime? No. It’s actually when 95% of the media are with the regime. That’s what authoritarianism looks like.

I’m just laying this out because there was recently a discussion over on PBS with Margaret Hoover hosting, and she asked the very famous Chinese dissident, Ai Weiwei, about whether — and this is a classic. Margaret is doing what Democrats want to hear which is the, “Oh, isn’t Trump a authoritarian!” Let’s talk about authoritarian Trumpism and Ai Weiwei who — if you don’t know — is a long-standing Chinese dissident.

To be a dissident in China means to risk torture, imprisonment, execution, the torture of your family, et cetera. That’s real dissent stuff right? In this country, we have Brian Stelter thinking if he has to wait an extra 10 minutes for the croissant before he goes on CNN, he’s a hero. But in reality, the journos here all opposed to people like Trump.

And they all work together and they all get richer and more famous for lying to you about things. Anyway, here is Ai Weiwei — a true dissident — when asked when Trump and Trumpism and the right in this country, are they the authoritarian threat? You really…? The little… It’s not super easy to understand, so listen closely. But this is what he says.

HOOVER: Do you see Donald Trump as an authoritarian?

WEIWEI: If he were authoritarian, you have to have a system supporting you. You cannot just be an authoritarian by yourself. But certainly in the United States in today’s commission, you can easily have an authoritarian. In many ways, you already in the authoritarian state. You just don’t know it.

HOOVER: How so?

WEIWEI: Many things happen[ing] today in U.S. can be compared to Culture Revolution in China.

HOOVER: Like what?

WEIWEI: Like people trying to be unified in certain political correctness. That is very dangerous.

BUCK: Clay, can I just for everyone here: You have to have the system supporting you to be an authoritarian. We’re already in an authoritarian state here in America right now. The Cultural Revolution is what he’s comparing this to, the Maoist Cultural Revolution and political correctness. He’s saying the threat comes from the left.

CLAY: Of course it does, and this is why so many dissidents in China were such massive supporters of Donald Trump. I mean, massively they supported Trump because he was standing up to China more than we have ever seen America stand up to China before. And because they knew… And this is also why the Venezuelans and the Cubans turned out in such massive numbers to support Donald Trump in 2020.

It wasn’t ’cause they thought he was a perfect leader. It was because they understood — having seen what true totalitarianism can be — what authoritarianism is. It is when you have a leader who is supported almost by the totality of the media, and that was why all of the criticisms of Donald Trump as a dictator rang so hollow for me.

Because I’m not sure there has ever been a president more criticized by the media than Donald Trump. In fact, certainly it hasn’t happened in my life. And if you look now just use covid as an example, what did Trump do with covid? He mostly deferred to the mayors and governors of states and let them look at the local numbers in their locations and make the decision that was best for their state.

Even when sometimes that led to Draconian overreach in New York and California, for instance. Look at what Joe Biden has done. Joe Biden… In other words, Trump embraced federalism, probably too much for many people out there listening in the early days of covid. He allowed local jurisdictions and local states to make their own determinations about safety during covid. Look at what Joe Biden has done.

He has shown up in office and immediately implemented the largest federal overreach in history that I can think of with this vaccine mandate. Now, thankfully the Fifth Circuit slapped it down aggressively on Friday. But all of the arguments that Trump was a dictator and authoritarian, a totalitarian, were laughable on their face based on what this dissident is laying out.

And look at what is going on right now with Joe Biden and how the media is cheering his usurpation of local power and local authority. And that’s why right now this vaccine mandate spells such a massive legal challenge. Is the Supreme Court, are these circuit court judges, going to be as brave as the Fifth Circuit has been so far and slap down the Biden administration? Because if they’re not, that’s the real danger of authoritarianism.

BUCK: It’s amazing that the journos out there really think of themselves as democracy’s firefighters when really, they’re the arsonists in so many ways. They, in this Rittenhouse case, have lied relentlessly and as we now see remorselessly too. They don’t care. Joe Scarborough goes on national TV and says numerous provably, demonstrably false and stupid things. He does not care.

He is telling the people watching MSNBC what they want to hear, and this is all about my team/their team. What’s going, though, in the context of authoritarianism is the Democrat team can call upon 95% of media — maybe you could say 90% if you want to give a little bit of a different estimate — to support their cause.

I know something about truly authoritarian states, Clay, having had to study and spent time in places like Iraq, where I can assure everybody all of the people with access to newspapers and all the people with access to communications in Iraq were in support of the regime. They weren’t in opposition to the regime.

Authoritarianism happens when the elites, when the media, when academe, when journalists go along with the people in power. That’s actually how it happens, and that’s why this whole notion that the threat of authoritarianism on the right exists is just them accusing us of what they’re doing, which is a constant tactic.

CLAY: And it also is, to your point on the journalists, they think they’re being brave by carrying water for the biggest companies in America, for the biggest industries in America, for all of these people out there. When have you ever seen a…? This is why the protests are so funny to me. When have you ever seen a rebellion in favor of everybody in positions of power? ‘Cause that’s really what woke protests are.

You’re protesting the overwhelming might of your political authority. You are protesting the group — “woke capitalism” — when every place that you’ve ever bought anything for sent you out an email letting you know that they were standing in solidarity with BLM in May and June of last year. The brave thing to do was not to be standing up in favor of woke capitalism.

It was to be taking a step back and saying, “Wait a minute. What’s going on here?” And this, by the way, Buck, is why our audience is exploding on this show, because of your point on Joe Scarborough. To me, the only thing we have to sell ultimately, Buck, to our audience — the only thing we have to share — is trust. When you get facts wrong, you are telling your audience, “I don’t respect you,” and that’s what Joe Scarborough does, that’s what MSNBC and CNN actually do.