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The producer of a radio show I went on this morning said the host wanted to talk about Ilhan Omar, so I went back and listened to a bunch of the press coverage from last week to refresh my memory on the details. And I realized that the US media still doesn’t know how to talk about authoritarianism.

Ami Fields-Meyer

@fieldsmeyer.com

The people many of these shows had on were legal experts, law professor types, who could thoroughly discuss individual charges, precedent, procedure, and even point out that all this is “highly unusual,” etc. But they could not say—this is what happens in other countries.

20/10/26, 3:50 pm3 reposts32 likes

Ami Fields-Meyer

@fieldsmeyer.com

The best context for understanding isn’t not the American legal system. We are talking about something else here. The comparisons are authoritarian countries. The intellectual and political lineage is Soviet thuggery: “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.”

Ami Fields-Meyer

@fieldsmeyer.com

It seems almost trite to still be making this point in Oct 2026. But each new breakthrough re-triggers this cycle of bewilderment and disorientation. A crucial first step in getting off this path is using the words, phrases, frameworks, and historical analogues that help people see what’s happening.