Oslo Freedom Forum: Srdja Popovic- Interviewing Bassem Youssef: 'Revolution For Dummies'

Source:Oslo Freedom Forum- Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef, talking about his book Revolution For Dummies.

"Following the Egyptian Revolution, Bassem Youssef turned to comedy to expose corruption in the country. He hosted "Al-Bernameg,” a satirical newscast inspired by “The Daily Show,” that attracted over 40 million viewers. In response to his scathing commentary, the Egyptian government charged him with insulting the president and reporting false news. Youssef was eventually forced to stop the broadcast and leave Egypt. At OFF in NY, he sat down with Serbian non-violence expert and activist Srdja Popovic for a discussion about his new book, "Revolution for Dummies." The two spoke about the similar methods dictators use to exercise their control - and the best ways we can challenge them." 

From the Oslo Freedom Forum

What I would say about this is that it takes a special type of narcissist to want to be a dictator, let alone actually be a dictator. Regardless of whatever authoritarian ideology you come from. Whether it's communism, religious theocracy, militarism, oligarchy, nationalism, whatever it might be. It takes a special type of narcissist to believe that you're so great and you're like a God ( even if you're a Communist ) to believe you're so great and so brilliant, that you're not only great with your own personal life, that you're qualified to run the personal lives of everyone else in your country.

You believe you're so brilliant that you can make great decisions for people you've never met before and know what's best for perfect strangers. That you just don't just see yourself as a dictator, but a psychic and a mindreader as well. You see into the future and see what perfect strangers need and what they should think and how they should act and every other personal decisions that people make in their lives everyday. Maybe that is why Donald Trump admires dictators ( or at least Vladimir Putin ) because he sees himself that way as well.

Dictators might see themselves as brilliant and godlike (even if they're Communists) before they come to power, but once it becomes clear even to the regime that things aren't going very well and country is now in bad shape that power is not just over centralized with the national state, but the dictator himself, the dictator has to find others to blame or the people and even his own regime will lose faith in their so-called great leader and look for other leadership. 

According to Fidel Castro it was never his fault that the Cuban Marxist economy was failing. It was always the fault of the Americans according to Fidel. The same thing is now going on in Venezuela where of course the Maduro Regime won't take the blame for their failing socialist economy that doesn't have the ability to provide their people with even the basic necessities of life like toilet paper.

Mark my words ( or some cheesy bullshit like that ) if the American economy were to start sliding in 2018-19, President Donald Trump won't take an ounce of responsibility for that. The economic downturn will become the Obama downturn according to President Trump and his Administration. Even though President Trump would've been in office for 1-2 years at that point and the Trump economic policy will have already been in place. 

If the economy starts to fall, the deficit and debt will go up even more than it's expected to go up because of the new tax law. And according to the small world or brain of Donald Trump, it will become the Obama deficit and debt.

And I know I'm using the word dictator with Donald Trump loosely. President Trump as much as he would like to be a dictator and have the U.S. Justice Department and White House Office of Legal Counsel, as his personal law firms and lawyers and the Congress as lackeys who are only in office to please their master which is what you see in Russia and China, even Donald Trump as President has real checks and balances in the U.S. Government. The independent Russia investigation is a perfect example of that. But Trump sees himself as a dictator and wants the power to be able to do whatever the hell he wants to protect himself and stay in power and damn the consequences.