me award for his role in the untouchables 2 best is and 3 golden globes the scottish actor was knighted by queen elizabeth in 2000 for his services to film and on a he called one of the proudest days of his life. this is just there are these the top stories just 3 days until the u.s. presidential election both candidates are in battleground states donald trump is holding 4 rallies in pennsylvania a state he won by just one percent to 26 saying meanwhile biden for former president barack obama to woo voters in michigan. and barbour says you're a simple the power to change your country is not fair is learning in your pants i don't care how far down truck drivers there's nothing like the senator there's no free that he can do to stop the people who station bravo to you know

overwhelming numbers terry came back this democracy. biden will imprison. your people your families in your house while letting rioters roam free and loot your streets and loot you store under pardon there will be no school no graduations no where you just don't. know christmas you know we sure do 4th of july there will be no future for our country other than that he's going to do a great job. at least 2 people have been killed a super typhoon gone a one of the most powerful this year hits the east in philippines. the weather agency says across the coast with catastrophic the vine the winds gusting up to 280 kilometers per hour about a 1000000 people have been evacuated from its projected path. britain's prime minister has announced a new 4 week lockdown in england coronavirus cases in the u.k.

now exceed 1000000 almost central businesses will close and people are being encouraged to work from home schools will remain open. his anger and frustration in spain over cope with 19 restrictions protests in several cities including with dread turned violent as demonstrators made fires and threw bricks at police offices the 6 month state of emergency came into effect this week because corona virus cases started rising once again. mexico says it has no record of unaccompanied migrant children entering the country as a response to a new york times report that says more than 200 children from central america have been expelled from the u.s. to mexico of the past 8 months they reportedly were sent back alone with no adults and no one to receive them across the border was the headlines more news on al-jazeera right off the up front twitches coming up next 'd. held for over 3 years in an egyptian prison cell denied their right to a fair trial no charges have been brought against al jazeera correspondent major

saying this crime journalist. to demand my release and voice solidarity told detained journalists sign the petition. 'd to say. as americans had to the polls many worry a 2nd term for president donald trump could usher in the end of democracy in the so-called land of the free and this week's upfront special we debate whether democracy across the globe is in peril and talk about the rise of strongman leaders . is democracy under attack across the world according to a report released earlier this year the majority of the world's countries are now

autocracies that's for the 1st time since 2001 the rise of right wing so-called strongman leaders in recent years from donald trump in the u.s. to victor orbán and hungry and arranger modi in india has fueled fears that liberal values are at risk because all this talk of democracy dying overblown and what makes a true democracy anyway joining me to debate this are ruth yat a historian and professor at new york university and the author of the book strong men miscellany to the present shadi hamid a senior fellow at the brookings institution in washington d.c. and a contributing writer to the atlantic and ashley farmer an assistant professor at the university of texas austin and the author of the book remaking black power how black women it transforms an era thank you all for joining me on front so ruth i want to start with you and your book strongman you said that combating authoritarian ascension is when the most pressing issues of our time so does that

mean you see converse leave that that democracy is on the decline and in fact even under attack. i do very much and in the book and in my writings i draw attention to the way that although authoritarianism is often presented by the u.s. and their own propaganda as a stable and productive system of government it's actually extremely destructive causing harm to business causing communities of exiles draining the nation of talent and as we've seen often handling national health crises like the coronavirus very badly so i conclude that it's a nexus central threat what your input on this show do you think that democracy is is on the decline democracy is on the decline in the world writ large but we have to be specific about what we're talking about. if we're talking about the us i think there's only one conclusion to reach and that's american democracy for all of

its flaws is still a democracy it's still functioning we've had a vigorous opposition to donald trump and i think for me the last 4 years have been something of a relief that it could have been much worse everyone who was predicting that trump would make america into some kind of pseudo dictatorship they've been proven wrong definitively and hopefully we'll have further confirmation of that fact after the elections next week. and so that's a more optimistic spin i suppose and i think words matter and the danger in saying that america is no longer a democracy then then words don't really mean much at all it doesn't make sense to compare the us to actual thora tarion regimes and this is coming from someone like me who thinks trump is really bad but badness is not the same as dictatorship actually i want your thoughts on this chinese saying yeah it's bad but it could

have been much worse what do you say is the state of democracy right now so i think you have to think about who is talking about what democracy is and for who are many african americans living in the united states and other mind and eyes populations on the question of whether the u.s. as it is a robust democracy has always been a question and under threat i agree that we can't get in kind of hyperbolic comparisons between some of the genocides that are happening around the world and authoritarian dictatorships and what's happening here but i'd like to remind people of that you know we can also say that african-americans have been under a stage in the cycle to exterminate and marginalized them out of democracy for the better part of several centuries so hey let's talk about what you're saying there ashley that that in a lot of ways what you're saying that the issues are much bigger than trump that the history of what women of people of color are being marginalized and they. democracy that as the u.s. what role that that play to you and how we've gotten to this point whether you have

to think about race and democracy on 2 fronts trade so a democracy kind of broadly defined as majority rule and active participation it's been baked into the very fabric of america from the constitution to today of a marginalization majority african-americans but also minority other minority groups and people immigrants except read an addition to that we have to think about how race functions as a way of moving us towards authoritarian regimes race is a way of other in people you then stoke fears about that other as opposition to american democracy and democratic ideals and then you kind of create this conspiracy theory that these others margery african-americans but i exclusively in the sense of trying immigrants are coming to take your land or your nation and you need to get behind the leader so i mean you know the act of race and racism in united states has not only made it so that large amount of people cannot participate in democracy but also have been a very big tool for moving us towards authoritarian rhetoric if not regimes in that

that race i would i would go ahead. yeah i want to jump in and say this is backed up by history over and over around the world. strong men appeal when a country has had they often find favor when a country is just had significant progress toward racial gender class equity and that's exactly when these individual finds favor as a way of kind of turning back the clock and they promise national greatness but it's at the price of of taming the others who shouldn't who should learn their place and go back to where they were before but it is dynamic that is now let me ask you about that because you've written about various people in your book and it sounds like what you're talking about is also something that the entire valsin r.-o. has been doing and brazil as well that other leaders have used to be

a dog whistle but it's really loud and playing right now the kinds of signals that they're sending to people they tap into racist economic background how to talk more about how they use those types of things to whip up what is basically white nationalism yeah and this differs of course from country to country but they legitimize and energize existing anti-democratic and extremist and racist tendencies that in the case of brazil from the very start both the narrow pose themselves as kind of reactivating the authoritarian energies of brazil's military dictatorship but also made himself the voice of the white european decided minority and brazil as a kind of you know guard against others who are not white european board minorities or origen minorities getting powers so it's all the more marked what has happened in brazil and there's also this recourse both scenario is backed by the eventual christians so that's this alliance that you see repeatedly.

at play including in the united. states i'd just like to add that i mean you know when you see this kind of playbook which comes ministration here it started with you know make it great great again which is a huge dog whistle to let's go back to a time when white people didn't get infringed upon and then we see him going to law and order and then most recently and you know the debate not the last one but the one before we see him just unwilling to disavow white nationalism so it went from this kind of dog whistle and veiled understanding we were going back to whiteness segregation in jena phobia and now it's just you know unveiled what national ok let's talk more about if i could drop in shaadi that my next question was do you study but go ahead i was just going to say that we have to separate between things here i mean racism is racism that's not the same as being authoritarian so when we talk about democracy we're talking about it in the procedural sense

alternation of power through regular elections we're talking about being accountable to the majority or to a plurality of voters democracies can still embark on racist policies so when we're saying when we're kind of conflating these things i think we're losing a little bit of precision racism is bad but it's bad for different reasons it's immoral for a different reason that racism can't be a tool of it at the orange hereon can it not. certainly a tool yeah yeah and i think there are any number of examples of but again i mean the u.s. has been embarking on reason especially in previous areas of our history you know we've had racist policies on the institutional level again does that mean that we were an authoritarian state in you know 50 or 60 years ago or even 30 years ago i mean that's sort of what we're talking about here ok so let's keep talking about donald trump in the u.s. right now because early voting has been going on for a few weeks record turnout the official election day is just

a few days away but donald trump has been read lentulus relentless and his attacks on the integrity of the election questioning ballots questioning melt mail and votes he specifically said we're going to have to see what happens the ballots are a disaster the ballots are out of control you know what that is a quote from donald trump so some people are concerned that he might not go if he loses he might not go quietly the hallmark of a democracy is a peaceful transfer of power ruth do people are they have a right to be concerned or are they overreacting here here's the thing there's a reason although i've spent decades studying fascism i never called on top of rationals. because every authoritarianism evolves over a 100 years and it's not going to look like hitler's germany or mostly nice italy

today and today authoritarians come in through elections and then they manipulate elections to stay in power and so i think that in warning since i started warning in 2016 before a truck was elected that he had authoritarian tendencies and as as shaddy says it is silly to say that i mean no one is saying i hope that america is a dictatorship because we wouldn't you know we wouldn't be doing all the work we're doing in the states my book wouldn't be coming out if that were true but all these leaders started somewhere and even miscellany was a prime minister of a democracy for 3 years before he declared dictatorship and but even leaving aside if we go to the 21st century look at what oregon's been able to do we now rules by decree he's completely domesticated the media and he's done this without significant physical violence so we if we look at how authoritarian ism is an evolution rather than

a revolution today then for me it it's very safe to say that we are heading in that direction we're not there yet but what is there what is there going to look like it's going to look different in every time and place so shadi let me ask you this you said i don't believe that donald trump is a fascist or a dictator in the making i don't believe america is a failed state and you've also been very specific to talk about words because words matter you said that you like to think of dollar more as an it liberal democrat you think that is is the proper term for him obviously nuance matters words matter supports anality matters having said that how do you think he will react to the election if you consider him an in liberal democrat. so i think he'll he'll complain about the results he'll attack them he'll try to you know rally his base and get them angry but if the results are clear and they're certified and there is media coverage about who won and we may have to wait for a few days to get

a fuller sense of the results as mail in ballots come in i mean trump can stay in the white house against everyone else's will we have institutions if biden is the clear winner republicans as a party will understand that the wind is blowing in a particular direction and they're not going to fall down with they're not going to sink with a sinking ship in this case the sinking ship will be donald trump and this is where i think there's there's a big difference between america today and say germany or italy in the twenty's or thirty's doe's where young democracies that didn't have a lot of history of democratic competition were one of the oldest democracies in the world and moreover most americans believe in the american idea people you know there is less misguided in america isn't it declare that maybe a lot of americans don't considering how many supporters donald trump has he has 60000000 people i mean i think that makes clear there is

a significant chunk of americans that are in fact not committed to this this universal i ideal that we all thought no i mean those are a fellow americans i don't think that we should see the 60000000 people who voted for trump as deplorable z. i disagree with them i think they have bad ideas but we're still part of the american family so to speak and i think that if you ask most of them do you believe in america in the founding documents in the declaration in the constitution and 776 matters i think most of them would say yes i mean there's a small percentage of who do they believe in that for that is that is the question they may believe in that for a certain segment but they're holding on for dear life to make sure everybody doesn't get it. when ashley and i. get that it hasn't come to us i mean i want to i want to ask you point 1st is i am also in agreement that i would not say that we are in

a fascist dictatorship what i would say is we can look to the americans who voted for and their issues with black people immigrants exact age and their willingness to allow the american nation state to eggs are kind of authoritarian or bordering on authoritarian rhetoric and or strategies to make sure that they are not part of the american dream or the kind of democratic ideals that we all are living up to as a harbinger of possible things to come and there is a an entire part of this population that really lives in a subjugated to a different understanding of american democracy and rules and the majority of folks that donald trump is talking about and appealing to and that deals igs and exclusively engages in state sponsored oppression you know lack of freedom of speech lack of freedom of movement except to add that are all very much kind of the canary in the coal mine of what the state is willing to do to its citizens and what we should be careful to watch out for earth you want to take but when true i'm sorry i'm sorry go ahead. but i'll just very quickly i mean when trump says and

does a racist things so i as a muslim and an arab you know we have experienced some of trump's racism with the muslim banner the travel ban whatever you want to call it when he became president but what was so great about being in this country as an american muslim is that we didn't say that oh we're going to leave or we have to give up on america and it's too late for america we said no we're going to fight back and we're going to claim these we're going to say we're just as american as anyone else and that trump is violating the american idea and we were able to make that case and that's what americans do every single day black and brown people who face police brutality and so on when they argue against it most of the time they're sick. this goes against the american idea we can become better and we believe in the idea of progress so that to me suggests that people aren't giving up hope they're saying that america has the potential to improve and we're in

a constant state of improving ourselves and that's been part of the american story getting better than the way we were before because let me put this to ruth so in a way it sounds like wit which saudi is describing is for lack of a better term almost growing pains in a way and that there is a mechanism for protests and such because our democracy is largely functioning even though it is being tested is that the do you agree with that route. oh absolutely it's it's an enormous laboratory right now starting with the fact that americans are very different than many other populations in the world and that they have never had foreign occupation they've never had an experience of national dictatorship and although i don't actually believe we're an old democracy because until african-americans had civil rights and could vote we were not a democracy the other thing i want to point out which is very sobering there's been a lot of comparative politics studies coming out about the g.o.p.

people norris that harvard and others have done these studies that place the platform of the g.o.p. in comparative perspective with many other parties and find that it is a very when you look at its positions and also the weight acted in the leader follower relationship with trump it's 2020 platform was just and evil of all content except let's support trump. he's wrapped them around you know his finger so the g.o.p. is actually in many respects far right party ideologically and it lines up as these studies show with the heir to one party and certain things with modis party and so i think that what i've tried to do as a as a not i i'm not a historian of america my parents are not american and i come to this with a global viewpoint and i looked at how trump maps on very well to this kind of authoritarian leaning playbook and so does the g.o.p. the way that you p.s. behaved with him conforms as they want to pick up on something that that ruth said

specifically about them about the the republican party donald trump said back in march in reference to make trying to make voting easier and give as many people you know an easier time at the poll he said you never have a republican elected in this country again he said that out loud and reference to soon to not suppressing the vote and as i said over the course of history. people women have been disenfranchised right and it's clear that the republican party has made an effort to have as few people participate in the process as possible having said that what do you make of this almost the country convulsing and away with protests over the last few months of people trying to use their voice people who have not been able to use their voice for so long you know i mean i think this brings up 2 points so yes we have never had a dictatorship or a foreign occupation but that being said the checks and balances aren't working in

the same in the breast ways that everybody thinks there is i mean that people are more black people more than anybody are kind of in this group have believed in the american dream and fought for it but nevertheless we still continue to fall short and not live up to the democratic ideals one of the things that has always worked in the past for us it is going to the streets and making a broader call for democracy than we do or maybe just at the ballot box especially being disenfranchised and i think what that's done for a lot of people is made them realize how different of a world black people live in then the majority of white people and how tenuous their own rights are if you can watch on black people being shot in the street if you can watch on people being turned away at the polls and so like i said before really the index of a democracy is how the quote unquote lowest of the low are able to engage in its basic you know participate principles and what people have shown this right are you know kind of robust interest in america nobody seems to be more kind of you know

supporting america and saying we are american more than us because we built there still is a willful effort to kind of negate us from the even the best basic principles if donald trump wins the election what do you think that means for democracy in the u.s. . well i think that it's clear that it is going in a direction where the checks and balances are not as robust as we think they are yes he can be quote unquote democratically elected but we also know that the g.o.p. is going to get behind him and become a party that is investigating authoritarian rhetoric and strategies if not a full on regime that he feels and agrees that he should be unchecked by congress and the supreme court we watched him put in the supreme court nominee in a matter of being and i also think it means that we're going to have to be engaged in a lot of civil unrest to make our democratic ideals know that we have seen that at the ballot box it's not being represented or kind of adequately reflected so i

think we can expect a lot of kind of counterbalance in the form of civil protest as well ok but this put this to you i mean you have said that you know we're a democracy if you don't like him you can vote him out that you know our guard rails and structures are largely still in place but if donald trump wins what word do you think we're headed with all of those things. you know i mean one reason i really hope donald trump. doesn't win is so we can avoid testing this proposition i feel like we've acquitted ourselves pretty well the past 4 years it was a difficult test it was challenging and but america has been resilient i don't know if i want to have 4 more years of stress on the system troubled as a chaos agent he poisons everything he touches he polarizes american politics he makes americans turn against each other i think if in the worst case scenario he wins and he sowed a close victory it will be a tough 4 years i think we'll be able to get past it again because we're more

resilient often than we think but it will not be an easy time and i think americans writ large we need to have some relief after the exhaustion of the past 4 years and also i think it's worth noting one thing that trump has been quite bad at is emboldening autocrats abroad and we haven't talked about that as much but trump doesn't care about human rights abroad he doesn't talk about supporting democracy he's close buddies with some of the worst authoritarians in the world like sisi in egypt or m.b.a.'s in saudi arabia so that's in some ways a part that i more than right out there in russia the list is long and i think that 4 more years of trump turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in key countries. that's not good obviously and no one another reason to hope that there's a certain outcome i think that's a great point that saudi made ruth if donald trump wins and gets 4 more years in

the u.s. what do you think that means for democracy in the u.s. and broader because shotty makes a very good point i mean that donald trump and what happens in the u.s. has a knock on effect in so many other places i was about to make the same point in fact that there's also the issue of content you can call it contagion. halid example but when there's the air leaders who want to ban the international order which he clearly does think of the number of treaties and conventions that the us has withdrawn from think of the reconfiguring of our alliances this is huge this is a part where we get so rightfully so wrapped up with what is going on inside our very enormous country that it's hard to step back i've been calling this axis 2.0 since 2016 again not because it's fascist because that's not the right word to refer to heir to juan and putin

a lot of that the thing that's going on and this relates back to the strongman thing these are the rulers who also use their personal relationships based on mutual profit if they're all about exploitation and making money. and foreign policy become subjugated to their private deals with other despots. and so this is something that will continue on if if he is reelected ok that will be the final word rethink yat shadi hamid ashley farmer thank you all for joining us for this discussion we appreciate it very much thank you and that is the show for this week up front we'll be back next. week. thank you. november on al-jazeera. who will be the next president of the united states join us

for extended coverage of the u.s. elections on november 3rd and full of. all hail the lockdown explores the complexities of all global response to the coronavirus pandemic could a proposed traffic scheme threaten one of the world's most famous heritage sites we'll report from stonehenge up front returns with emmy award winning journalist richelle carey she'll cut through the headlines and be rigorous debate and former french president nicolas sarkozy will face trial on corruption charges we'll bring you the latest november on all jersey. frank assessments look at checkers not going anywhere the protesters are going anyway either to belittle the revolution and in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines who is it that's really out there on the street inside story on how just 0. we understand the difference is and similarities of cultures across the wound so no matter how you

take a al-jazeera bringing you the news and current affairs that matter team. down to 0. in search of victory president donald trump and his rival joe biden make their final push in crucial swing states ahead of tuesday's u.s. election. and i'm going with al this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up 7 pro-democracy politicians in hong kong are arrested over a scuffle during a legislative council meeting back in may. at least 2 people killed this super typhoon going to hit the philippines with when .